The parents of a five-month-old who died on her first day at a home daycare hope the findings of an inquest will help prevent other families suffering the same heartbreak they've experienced.(canvas prints photo on canvas canvas prints online)
Emma Hicks dropped her baby daughter Indianna off at the home of Tracey Cross, who provided services for the Sunshine Coast Family Day Care Scheme, on the morning of July 20, 2012.
After putting Indianna down for a nap that afternoon, Ms Cross returned to find her laying face down and pale.
Indianna and her brother Lachlan.
Attempts to resuscitate her failed and she was pronounced dead a short time later at Caloundra Hospital.
Ms Cross told the inquest that she thought she had been responsible for the death, only hearing about a sudden infant death syndrome verdict months later.
"I thought I must have wrapped her wrong or suffocated her or something and I blamed myself," she told the inquest.
Sobbing, she told the court that she hadn't known how to break the news to Ms Hicks when she arrived to pick up her daughter and her son from the daycare.
"I apologise to no end that we didn't get to Emma in time," she said.
"I knew Emma was going to turn up and I was worried about who was going to tell her. I knew I was in no position [to]."
After a two-day inquest concluded on Tuesday, deputy state coroner John Lock said he would hand down his findings on December 12.
He will look at the circumstances leading to Indianna's death, best sleeping practices for children aged three to six months, and how similar deaths could be prevented.
Outside court, Indianna's father Derek Hicks said he didn't want his daughter's death to be in vain.
"This inquest has identified problems that exist in regards to inconsistent and non-existent policies around safe sleeping practices - particularly among the childcare and family daycare industry," Mr Hicks told reporters.
"Nothing will bring our beautiful daughter back."
However, Mr Hicks said through such a tragedy, changes might be made to reduce the risk and stop "this happening to another family".
Although Ms Cross was qualified, the inquest heard no formal qualifications were required at the time of Indianna's death for carers in her role.
It also highlighted inconsistencies in advice for parents in regards to how to wrap sleeping children and the use of teething necklaces while sleeping.
Although Indianna's death was determined to have been due to sudden infant death syndrome, her family has called on Mr Lock to rule her cause of death as "unknown".
The family also called for a working group of key stakeholders, including families such as themselves, childcare professionals and medical experts, to help develop uniform policies and guidelines for daycare workers to adhere to.
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