A MOTHER was traumatised when she found her four-month-old baby dead under a duvet.

Carter Barnard was described as a “much-loved and healthy baby” by his mother, Elley Withers.

She said: “He was just the perfect baby.

“He always smiled and never seemed to cry much.

“He loved his bath time, he would laugh and giggle so much in the bath.

“He was a really lovely little boy.”

Carter was last seen alive and well in the early hours of the morning on November 5 last year when Elley fed him in their then home in Campbell Road, Brighton.

She put him back in his Moses basket, next to a cot where his brother Alfie, 21 months old, slept.

Elley fell asleep in her bed next to her two babies, during which time Alfie’s duvet fell on to his little brother’s face, an inquest heard.

Their mother woke up to find Carter under the duvet and unresponsive.

She called her father, Roman, who immediately advised dialling 999.

Elley was instructed to perform CPR on her little one and the paramedics arrived within four minutes to take over.

Shortly afterwards, Carter was taken to the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton and resuscitation efforts continued.

But he was pronounced dead soon after arrival.

A post-mortem report carried out after his death by Dr Simi George, consultant pathologist at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, gave the provisional cause of death as “sudden unexpected death in infancy”.

She said there was no sign of trauma or other injuries to the baby.

But the duvet, according to her, was a significant factor in Carter’s death.

Detective Sergeant Matthew Stevens, attending the inquest held at Woodvale in Lewes Road, Brighton, confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances linked to the four-month-old’s death.

He said: “This death is not being treated as suspicious.

“This family have been a very close unit and have been so supportive of each other throughout.”

The court heard Carter behaved in a “perfectly normal way” the day before he died and was his usual well-behaved self.

Ms Withers said: “He just never cried.

“He was a happy little boy.

“My other little one cries more than he did.

“He’s still with me, and always will be.”

The post-mortem report confirmed he was a “healthy, well-nourished” baby with no major health concerns and certainly nothing that would have triggered instant death, the court heard.

Assistant coroner for Brighton and Hove Sean Horstead said there was nothing more the family and paramedics could have done to save the baby.

He told the family, including Carter’s father Ben, maternal grandfather Rowan and paternal grandmother Tracy who attended the inquest, that everything possible was done to try to prevent the tragic death.

Addressing Elley he said: “You were doing everything you could have done.

“The ambulance was there so quickly and the paramedics did everything they could.

“And for you to do what you did is very admirable.”

He recorded the cause of death as unexplained sudden unexpected death in infant and concluded it as “unascertained.”

Mr Horstead closed the case addressing the family, saying: “Myself and my staff offer our sincere condolences.

“In the four months he was with you I imagine he was a happy thriving baby.”

The inquest took place on Thursday.