Wendy Egan told the hearing in Milton Keynes that when she registered her baby Thomas with the nursery in January 2002 she was reassured by its arrangements for caring for allergies. She understood that his allergy would be written up on a board so that everyone who came into contact with him would know about it and that he would only be fed what she specified - baby rice mixed with breast milk, pureed fruit and pureed vegetables.
She said that on the day of his death in April 2002, Thomas had breakfast at home before she dropped him at the nursery soon after 9am along with some expressed milk for later on. Mrs Egan gave him his inhaler before leaving him 'happy and bouncing around'. The inhaler had been prescribed after he fell ill with bronchiolitis, a viral lung infection, during the winter.
Mrs Egan broke down in tears as a photo of Thomas was passed round the hearing, and said, 'He was my pride and joy.' She recalled how she had received a call from the nursery at 9.50 asking if Thomas could be given his inhaler again, because he was having difficulty breathing, and rushed back to the nursery.
By the time Mrs Egan drove Thomas to her doctor's surgery he had stopped breathing. Attempts were made to resuscitate the baby at the surgery and he was taken to hospital where he was declared dead at 10.40am.
Mrs Egan said she first became aware of Thomas' allergy when she fed him a bottle of formula milk in December and he came up in a rash. She received medical advice to avoid milk products as well as dairy and peanuts.
Crystal Norman, the early years practitioner who made up the Farley's Sunrise Banana cereal for Thomas and fed it to him, said she knew he should not be given cow's milk, but did not realise the cereal contained milk, although the packet lid said 'with milk protein' and the ingredients listed 'skimmed milk powder'.
Thomas' personal documentation, filled in by his key worker and signed by Mrs Egan, recorded that he had a milk allergy, but not that Mrs Egan had received medical advice or that Thomas had had a skin reaction. Notices were put up in the milk kitchen where Ms Norman made up the cereal that said Thomas had breakfast at home.
Dr Michael Powers, representing Jigsaw Day Nurseries, extended 'deepest condolences' and apologies to Mrs Egan on behalf of Jigsaw and Crystal Norman for the mistake made in giving Thomas the cereal. He pointed out that procedures had been changed throughout all of Jigsaw's nurseries since the incident and that no child in any nursery, whether they had allergies or not, was given any liquid, food or medicine at all unless the child had first had it at home without any adverse reaction.
The inquest was continuing as Nursery World went to press.
