The Mirror
·Jul 2026
‘Exhausted’ new mum, 18, wakes to find days-old baby dead in her arms
An inquest heard that 18-year-old Lydia Pass found her five-day-old daughter Arabella Mayer unresponsive in her arms after apparently falling asleep with her in a chair. Arabella was resuscitated and placed in an artificial coma at Royal Stoke University Hospital, but died after doctors determined her brain injuries were unsurvivable. Medical evidence cited possible asphyxia linked to unsafe sleeping or an undiagnosed genetic condition. Staffordshire Police and the coroner found no evidence of neglect or intentional wrongdoing, attributing the death to a tragic incident involving the mother’s exhaustion after a difficult birth.