2 year old dies in her sleep after slipping on marble floor and hitting her head

A 2 year old on a family holiday to Portugal with her parents died in her sleep hours after slipping on a marble floor in their holiday apartment, an inquest heard today.

Chloe Godding, two, had got straight back up after the fall and went to bed seemingly okay.
But her mother Lucy, 33, later found the two-year-old lying face down unconscious on a blood-soaked pillow.

The qualified nurse desperately tried to resuscitate her in the living room of the apartment while Chloe's dad Nicolas, 36, rang for an ambulance.

A passing English trainee doctor heard the couple's calls for help and came to their aid and helped with the chest compressions.

By the time she arrived at hospital after a lengthy 30 minute wait for an ambulance her parents were informed Chloe had died.

Mrs Godding told an inquest at Winchester Coroner's Court today how she checked Lucy over after the fall but there was no sign of injury.

She said: "She was straight up at that point. "She was not red at all, there was no bump or anything. "I think she would say if she was hurting."

Mrs Godding told an inquest at Winchester Coroner's Court today how she checked Lucy over after the fall but there was no sign of injury.

She said:"She was straight up at that point. "She was not red at all, there was no bump or anything. "I think she would say if she was hurting."

Later that evening, the inquest heard she behaved normally, eating dinner and reading a book before going to bed.

Lucy, from Chandler's Ford, Hampshire, put her daughter to bed and checked on her at around 9pm and found her snoring.

But when she checked on her again at 10.30pm to kiss her children goodnight, she described a smell of faeces coming from Chloe's bed.

She said: "She had never opened her bowels sleeping. "She was still lying face down but she was looking really uncomfortable. "Her face was straight down in the pillow.

"My husband sat on the bed and tapped her on the shoulder, and she didn't move. "He pulled her left shoulder up, her face turned over and I just saw approximately 20cm of blood on her pillow.

"Her eyes were closed but there was blood around her nose, and her lips were blue. "We both screamed. "I grabbed her and ran into the living room to begin trying to resuscitate her. 'It all seemed hopeless. "I picked her up and ran along the corridor screaming at people, saying 'help me please, help me'."

A coroner was on Wednesday unable to give a definite cause of death for the youngster, who died on May 8 this year in the seaside resort of Albufeira.

A Portuguese pathologist ruled she died from a severe head injury following a blow to the back of the head, but Dr Samantha Holden, who carried out a second autopsy, found little evidence to support this finding.

The blow was also not consistent with the way Chloe fell forwards, Winchester Coroner's Court heard.

Dr Holden said: "My belief is Chloe's death wasn't as a result of any trauma. "It would be unusual without seeing a skull fracture or severe hemorrhage, which was not described in the initial post mortem report. "Even after she had fallen she was acting quite normally."

Her autopsy found Chloe showed early signs of bronchopneumonia on her lungs and sepsis, but she couldn't definitely say this caused or led to her death.

Senior Coroner Grahame Short, recording an open verdict as her cause of death was unascertained, said:

"I do have some difficulty in this case. "Chloe was an apparently healthy two-year-old girl on holiday with her family. "She wasn't showing any signs of illness but was a bit tired.

"It appears to me this was an accidental slip of some kind, but precisely what happened is unclear.

"But upon hearing the evidence there is nothing to conclude that Chloe fell backwards and struck the back of her head in the way that seems to have been identified by the first post mortem."

He added: "Chloe Godding died due to an unascertained medical cause at around 5.30pm.

"I cannot think of anything worse than a death of this kind in the family. "I can only give you my sympathy. "It's very unfortunate we haven't come to a clear cause at the end of it."

After the inquest, heartbroken mother Lucy paid tribute to Chloe.
She said:

"Chloe will always be our beautiful daughter, she was always smiling and a lover of life. "We are obviously devastated that Chloe is no longer here with us and miss her every minute of every day."In such a heartbreaking and life changing tragedy, we try to take comfort in the fact that every day of Chloe's life was a happy one for her.