MP Antoinette Sandbach tearfully recalls her baby son's death in Commons speech
MP breaks down crying in Parliament as she remembers the harrowing night her baby son died
MP Antoinette Sandbach broke down in tears as she told the House of Commons about the night her baby son died. The Tory was speaking during a debate on bereavement care in maternity units on Monday evening, when she told MPs about losing her 5-day-old son to sudden infant death syndrome in 2009.
"The night my son died I woke to find him not breathing," she said.
"Arriving at hospital, looking at a flatline in the ambulance for over 20 minutes, a crash team was waiting for me - but it was too late.
"The consultant neonatologist was calm and a reassuring presence and the nursing staff were patient.
"I readily agreed to a post-mortem, as I wanted to know exactly what had happened.
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"Staff at the hospital were wonderful but I found myself in a plain room with questions being asked of me. I was told that I had to wait for the police.
"I had left in such a panic that I had left my telephone behind and I couldn't remember any telephone numbers and was there on my own."
As Antoinette welled up, a Tory colleague praised her for an "emotional and powerful contribution".
She thanked him and continued: "I arrived home later that morning to find the police officers going through my house," she said.
"Clearly they had to investigate as the death had been away from hospital, and I had to explain to my 6-year-old what had happened."
The Eddisbury MP praised charity Chrysalis Trust at The Alder Centre and said counselling arranged by them had been a "lifeline".
Watch her full Commons address in full below.
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