A MAN forced a dummy into a crying baby's mouth with such force that he bruised the child's face.

Bolton Crown Court heard how Declan Waring has been looking after his partner's one-year-old son when he would not stop crying.

"He accepted that he was stressed and went too far," said David Lees, prosecuting.

Waring, aged 23, of Duke Street, Bolton, pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm to the baby.

The court heard how, on December 13 last year, the baby's mother put him to bed and went out to visit a friend, returning at 4am the following morning.

During the evening Waring sent her a text message saying the child had scratched his nose.

When she got home she found Waring on her side of the bed, with the cot beside him, and he would not move.

"She thought it was a little unusual but she didn't do anything about it," said Mr Lees.

During the night Waring went downstairs to get the baby's bottle.

"She decided, while he was out of the room, to check on the baby. She immediately noticed that the scratch was more serious than she'd understood it to be and she confronted Mr Waring about it," said Mr Lees.

"He said he had grabbed the baby's face when he wouldn't shut up, grabbing and pushing in the dummy. He did say he didn't punch him and he left the house shortly after that."

The mother, who is no longer in a relationship with Waring, immediately informed social services about the incident and police were contacted.

The baby had bruising to the right side of his nose.

Peter Warne, defending, told Judge Richard Gioserano: "Happily and perhaps ironically, given the child was so young, the chances of him being mentally affected by this are probably zero because he probably won't

remember.

"It was a reckless act in response to a crying child — something he was immediately remorseful for."

He added that Waring's own childhood had been "terrible" and he has now been diagnosed with emotionally unstable personality disorder.

Judge Gioserano said he accepted Waring's actions towards the child had bee reckless rather than deliberate and sentenced him to a two year community order. He will be subject to a mental health treatment order for 12 months and was ordered to participate in 25 days of rehabilitation

activities.

He told Waring: "If I had been sentencing you for a deliberate, intentional assault on a baby then no amount of mitigation would have save you from a prison sentence.

"It was a moment of loss of self control when you used more force than was necessary to put the dummy in this child's mouth."