A five-month-old boy allergic to cow's milk died after being given it in breakfast at a nursery, an inquest heard

yesterday.

Thomas Egan was taken ill minutes after staff at the Jigsaw Nursery in Milton Keynes gave him cereal containing milk powder, a coroner's jury heard.

His mother, Wendy, rushed him to her GP and he was transferred to hospital, but he was pronounced dead just over an hour and a half later.

Milton Keynes coroner Rodney Corner said Thomas had been dropped off at the nursery by his mother on April 11 last year around 9am.

''Reasonably shortly after that, breakfast was served to these young children by an employee and that breakfast consisted, among other things, of milk. Powdered milk,'' he said.

''You will hear that young Thomas had a reaction to milk, in other words he was allergic to it. He had an allergy to cow's milk.

''It was fed to the child by one of the employees, and not long afterwards he was seen to be very unwell.

''The child was far from well. He was taken to a general practitioner's surgery and shortly afterwards to Milton Keynes Hospital, where he died.

''Of course although the death occurred in hospital, the events were set in train at the nursery and the facts were reportable to the Health and Safety Executive.

''It is that matter which means that the coroner has to have a jury.''

Mrs Egan sobbed as she told the inquest that she had told the nursery about Thomas's milk allergy and given them strict dietary instructions.

''He was my heart and soul, he was just a baby,'' she said. ''He was the most important thing to me so there was no way I was going to let him come to harm within my control.''

But she said staff told her they had given him Sunrise banana food for breakfast before he died, which she later found out contained milk.

Thomas, her first child, had first displayed the allergy in December 2001 when she tried him with formula milk as well as breast milk as he was a ''very hungry'' baby.

She had to rush him to Milton Keynes General Hospital after he regurgitated the milk and developed a rash.

A dietician later recommended that she use soya milk.

The hearing continues.