A four-month-old baby died after sharing a bed with his parents.

Louie Chalcraft, from Crawley, “felt cold” when his mother Chailey Chalcraft woke up at around 5am on July 14 last year.

He had spent the night in his parents' bed as his cot had been wet. It was not the first time he had shared their bed.

An inquest into the baby’s death was held at Woodvale Coroner’s Court in Brighton yesterday. The court heard how Ms Chalcraft and her partner Samuel Elston, Louie’s father, had been up late drinking the night before Louie’s death.

Ms Chalcraft woke and went upstairs to use the toilet and Mr Elston stirred and rushed upstairs to raise his concerns about their son.

Emergency services were called to the scene at 5.15am and paramedics arrived shortly afterwards and began resuscitation but Louie was pronounced dead at 5.58am.

He had been asleep between his parents with a pillow beneath his head and a duvet over his body.

The inquest heard that bed sharing or “co-sleeping” is “not advisable”.

Dr Samantha Levine, consultant paediatric pathologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital who carried out Louie’s post mortem, told the court: “Bed sharing is not advisable, especially for such a young baby. Soft furnishings are also not advised. There is a risk if parents are heavily asleep due to alcohol.”

She said the baby was normally developed and there was no evidence of injury or trauma on his body.

“He was well nourished, there was no evidence of any injury or bruising and he was clean,” Dr Levine said.

Police also came to the scene when the ambulance was called.

Detective Inspector Darren Taylor, on the safeguarding and investigation unit at Crawley Police Station, told the court: “At their home there were a number of empty cans and cannabis paraphernalia.

“Neighbours heard loud music at around 2am which would suggest that the parents hadn’t gone to bed until that time.”

The parents were both arrested on suspicion of overlay and taken into custody where various tests were carried out.

In blood samples taken more than six hours after police were called, both parents had low levels of cannabis in their blood.

There was no evidence of alcohol in their blood, but the court heard that this could have been metabolised in the time between their arrest and the tests.

The court heard that the evidence provided did “not meet the threshold test” for a charge of overlay and the police investigation was closed.

Louie had been the subject of a child protection plan by West Sussex County Council which meant there had been home visits every ten days by social workers or healthcare staff.

Heidi Farr, head of assessment and family safeguarding at West Sussex County Council, told the court that social workers had last seen Louie on July 12 and no concerns had been raised.

Concluding the inquest into his death, assistant coroner for West Sussex, Brighton and Hove, Dr Karen Henderson said: “I have no doubt Louie Chalcraft was a much-loved son and I am sure his death has been devastating to his parents. He was a fit and well baby boy.

“He died of asphyxiation when co-sleeping with his parents.”