How common is cot death?
Each year one in every 1,600 babies born in England and Wales dies from cot death. In about 300 of cases the cause is not found at a post-mortem examination and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is given as the reason for death. • When can cot death happen? Almost 90 per cent of cot deaths occur within six months of a baby being born, and very few occur after the age of one-year-old. • What is the chance of cot death happening again in the same family? Genetic disorders, such as a metabolic defect, may cause more than one infant in the same family to die unexpectedly. However, as genetics is a science in its infancy more research is needed to fully understand the causes. The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths say the risk of a family being affected does increase after the first death. “If a child dies suddenly and unexpectedly the risk of it happening again in the same family does go up,” says the foundation’s director Joyce Epstein.
