A MOTHER screamed in terror when she found her eight-week-old baby had stopped breathing while sleeping on a make-shift bed with his whole family in the lounge.

Gemma Brown was about to give baby Ayaaz Ali Hussain his bottle when she found him ‘floppy’.

The family – including Miss Brown, her partner Kabier Hussain, baby Ayaaz and his three-year-old sister – had been sleeping on cushions at their Blackburn home while watching a film.

They were covered by duvets, with Ayaaz between his mother and sister.

An inquest at Blackburn Coroner’s Court heard how the baby’s death was unexplained and could be anything from cot death to suffocation.

A ‘tiny trace’ of cocaine found in the baby’s system was ruled out as a cause.

Miss Brown said she went to feed him at 4am. “His body was all floppy and we called an ambulance,” she said.

Mr Hussain added: “Gemma was screaming and I took over and did what the operator said.

“They said to cover his nose and mouth and push his chest eight times, but after three times blood came out of his nose. I don’t take cocaine frequently because Gemma would leave me, but I did that day. Obviously, I did not think about that when I needed to help my son.”

The hearing was told how the baby was found unresponsive at their Hollin Bank Court home last October. Dr Melanie Newbould, a consultant paediatric pathologist, said the cocaine had not caused his death.

She said the drug could have been passed to Ayaaz by his father when he attempted CPR.

Miss Brown said she had breastfed Ayaaz but was not a cocaine user. She told the court she had woken at around 2am to see him breathing normally.

Dr Newbould confirmed it was possible other factors could have caused his death.

Blackburn coroner Michael Singleton said: “There are a number of scenarios. There may be a medical condition we are not able to detect. His airways could have been obstructed or it could be a result of overheating.”

Returning an open verdict, he told the couple: “The cause of death is unascertained, which is not uncommon in cases of young babies like this. In spite of the best endeavours of highly experienced pathologists we cannot give you answers.”