Police at the scene of the "sudden death" in Rānui this week. Photo: Stuff / Simon Morrow
The mother of a baby whose "unexplained" death is at the centre of a police investigation in Auckland lost another baby two years ago due to sudden unexpected death in infancy associated with "unsafe sleep," a coroner found.
Emergency services were called to reports of a "sudden death" in Rānui at about 7.50am on Tuesday.
A police spokesperson said on Wednesday police were continuing to investigate the infant's death.
"No arrests have been made, and the death is still being treated as unexplained.
"Police are still awaiting results of a post-mortem examination as part of our enquiries."
Stuff understands a woman who lives at the address was involved in a car collision just five minutes after the death was reported to police.
Officers at the property this week. Photo: Stuff
The mother of the baby is Auckland woman Ayla Stanley-Hunt.
Stuff can reveal Stanley-Hunt lost a baby at four months in April 2022 while living at the same address.
A coroner's recommendations recap summary on the baby's death, seen by Stuff says the baby, Tiana Jay Stanley-Hunt, her mother and two other children slept in a large bedroom of their home.
Each child had their own single bed and Tiana had a bassinet. However, about half of the time, Tiana would end up sharing the adult bed, the coroner's report said.
The report noted that Stanley-Hunt smoked up to 20 cigarettes a day during and after pregnancy.
On 4 April, 2022, Tiana had a runny nose, which was not serious enough to see a doctor.
About 10:30pm Stanley-Hunt placed the baby into a super king bed in the bedroom. Her 21-month-old child also got into bed, and she breast fed both children.
"Following this, Ms Stanley-Hunt fell asleep between the two children. Tiana was lying between her mother and the bedroom wall and perpendicular to the bedroom wall," the report said.
"Ms Stanley-Hunt woke around 8:00am on the morning of 5 April 2022. She rolled over to look at Tiana who, while still facing up, had moved about 45 degrees in the night to lie diagonally to the bed base, with her feet pointing towards the wall. The top sheet was over her face."
Stanley-Hunt pulled the sheet off and found that Tiana was dead.
"Post-mortem virology identified rhinovirus infection in Tiana's system, which likely adversely affected her breathing and restricted her ability to respond to an unsafe change in sleeping environment.
"Post-mortem toxicology also identified that Tiana had been exposed to methamphetamine. The pathologist noted that the effect and toxicity of methamphetamine in infants is not established, and that it could have made a physiologic contribution to death."
Coroner Alexander Ho found Tiana was "made more vulnerable to death" associated with unsafe sleeping practices because of her rhinovirus infection and her exposure to second-hand smoke while in utero and after her birth.
"The Coroner also noted that methamphetamine could not be excluded as a factor in Tiana's death, either as an independent physiological effect or by exacerbating Tiana's vulnerability to death from unsafe sleeping practices."
Coroner Ho said "considerable effort" had been made in New Zealand to promote the message that "every sleep for a baby should be a safe sleep".
"That is for every sleep, babies up to one year of age should be put to sleep on their backs, in their own sleeping space (being a firm, flat surface with no pillow) and with their face clear."
The coroner said while Tiana had her own bassinet, her mother said she often would sleep in the king size bed.
When police arrived after Tiana's death they also found the bassinet full of other household items.
"This suggests that although Ms Stanley-Hunt said she did not intend to fall asleep on the evening of 4 April, the co-sleeping arrangement that night was not an isolated occurrence."
The coroner said Stanley-Hunt said she was "very well aware" of safe sleeping messages and that this was discussed with her by "everyone".
"Ms Stanley-Hunt identified that there were some stresses in her life including the lack of support from her partner, who worked long hours, and the demands of the other young children in her life.
"It is unclear from Ms Stanley-Hunt's statements whether this was why she felt unable to consistently implement safe sleep practices and, if so, the extent to which each factor contributed to the sleeping arrangement which resulted in Tiana's death."
Oranga Tamariki and the police have been approached for comment.
This story was first published by Stuff.