Mothers have been warned for years that sleeping with their newborn infant is a bad idea, because it increases the risk that the baby might die unexpectedly during the night.

The women were asked how many children they had given birth to and how many of them had died in Infancy.

The hospital has asked a paediatrician who works elsewhere to undertake a full external investigation, and the Stafford coroner has also opened and adjourned an inquest into their deaths.