AN Indonesian maid cried for three hours before calling for help after an eight-month-old baby boy she had fed became breathless and motionless.

Miss Anis Nurhayatami, 28, who had fed the infant with Nestum earlier, was named a potential defendant at a coroner's inquiry on Friday into Mohamad Syakir Zufayri Mohamad Razali's death at a Tampines flat on the morning of Dec 21 last year.

Investigation officer Staff Sergeant Walid Raihan said that the maid had initially put the baby in a stroller and fed him.

As the playful baby kept moving around in the stroller, Miss Anis took him out and placed him on a mattress in his room.

She continued feeding him Nestum with a spoon while he was lying face upwards.

After about 10 minutes, she noticed that he was gasping for breath and his face started to turn blue. He stopped crying.

She picked him up and fed him some water in the kitchen.

When the baby became breathless, she put him back on the mattress, not knowing what to do next. Staff Sgt Walid said the baby then stopped moving and became unresponsive.

Miss Anis just sat beside him and cried for three hours before calling the maid agency to get an ambulance.

The baby was taken to Changi General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 3.45pm.

An autopsy showed that he choked on food due to aspiration of gastric contents.

The court heard that the baby had been unwell for one to two weeks before the incident. He was given medication for his cough with phlegm. He was also diagnosed with having upper respiratory tract infection.

Miss Anis, who had been working for the family for about three months then, chose not to say anything at the inquiry.

State Coroner Ronald Gwee returned an open verdict as he could not come to a firm conclusion as to what exactly caused the aspiration of gastric contents which led to the eventual choking.

According to Staff Sgt Walid, Miss Anis, who came to Singapore in October last year, had basic training on taking care of babies and elderly at the maid agency.

Together with other new maids, they were taught how to feed, bathe a baby and change pampers. Training videos were also used.

Ms Zuhaida Daing Abdul Hamid, a trainer at Sasha Management Resources said she told the new maids not to feed babies while they were lying down, but Miss Anis said she was not taught this.