A North Carolina mother who had two infant sons die in an 18 month span while she was sleeping with them has been charged with manslaughter.

Katherine Jennings, 33, was arrested in Charlotte on Tuesday and taken across the state to Brunswick County to face charges in the death of Luke Stephen Phillips. Luke was eight months old when he died on December 13, 2013 while Jennings lived in Oak Island, near Wilmington, North Carolina.

Medical examiners ruled the infant's death an accident, finding that he suffocated while he was sleeping with Jennings.

Katherine Jennings, 33, had two sons die while she was sleeping with them in an 18 month time span - the last in December 2013

In June 2012, Jennings' first son, James Robert 'Bo' Phillips, died when he was four months old. That death was ruled an accident, but later the cause was changed to 'undetermined.' The medical examiner said the fact that he had been sleeping with Jennings was a factor in his death.

Co-sleeping - the practice of infants sleeping with their parents - is a contentious issue in America. Most parents say they do it at least sometimes. However, many cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome that are reported every year actually show signs of being suffocation deaths from sleeping.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says infants should be put to sleep in a crib with no blankets or pillows. Experts say parents can accidentally suffocate their children while they are sleeping - and never realize until it's too late.

According to the Charlotte Observer, Jennings told police that when her second son, Luke, died, he was laying face up in her arms.

Booked: Jennings was arrested in Charlotte and taken across the state to Wilmington, where she was charged with manslaughter

Brunswick County Assistant District Attorney Lee Bollinger told MailOnline he has never prosecuted a co-sleeping case before.

He told MailOnline: 'She’s had two infants die and so that automatically makes this case different from folks who have an isolated incident of a child’s death.'

He declined to say, however, exactly what factors went into deciding to charge Jennings.

Jennings' husband, Seth Phillips, serves in the Coast Guard and was not home when either child died, according to the newspaper.

The couple also have a four-year-old daughter.