The heartbroken grandmother of a baby who suffocated in his parents' bed told an inquest that his devastated mum was following midwives' advice to get her son to sleep.

Bradford Coroner's Court heard yesterday from three-month-old Keyan Butters's grandmother Jacqueline Butters that midwives were promoting that it was safe to sleep in bed with babies once they were over eight weeks old.

Deputy coroner Mark Hinchcliffe, who recorded a verdict of accidental death, said it was not his job to attribute blame or give medical advice. But he warned parents would be taking big risks if they let young children sleep with them in bed.

He said: "I well understand a parent's desire to comfort a distressed child and that bringing that child to bed can give a calming effect, but those of us who work in the Coroner's court know there are clear risks associated with that.

"It is not safe, no matter how comforting it might seem. Parents are asked not to take children into bed with them to sleep.

"Whether they are three months or six months old there are still huge risks.

"An adult could inadvertently or in their sleep position themselves so that a child can't breathe. Children regularly die because of this."

The court heard how Keyan was a troubled sleeper from his birth and was not in the habit of getting to sleep in his cot.

The night before he died last November, his mum, 22-year-old Ashleigh Butters, had fed him a bottle before cradling him to sleep in her arms and putting him between her and his dad. The couple woke the next morning to find Keyan still on his back but "unresponsive." He was taken by ambulance to Bradford Royal Infirmary where he was certified dead.

In a statement read to the court, Miss Butters, of Little Horton, who also has a three-year-old daughter, said she had been especially tired that night because Keyan had not slept well the previous evening and she had not had enough sleep.

Consultant pathologist Dr Philip Batman, who carried out a post-mortem exam on the baby at BRI, said he was satisfied the child died from asphyxia.

After the hearing, a spokesman for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Midwives in Bradford would not advocate co-sleeping to any mothers.

"However, midwives recognise that this practice happens within the home setting, particularly where women breastfeed their babies in bed. In such cases, the midwife would then advise a woman how to breastfeed in bed safely."

The Royal College of Midwives cannot comment on individual cases but in the next few weeks will be issuing new guidelines on parents taking babies into bed with them.