Parents issue cot death warning
THE parents of a 15-month-old girl who tragically lost her life to cot death have warned that older babies can still be at risk of the condition.
Emad and Jo Ewada, from Brackla, Bridgend, said their daughter Sophia was “fit and healthy” when they put her to bed.
But it was the last time they would ever say “goodnight” to her.
“I was an experienced parent. I put her to bed as normal but when I found her in the morning she had died – it was completely unexpected,” said Jo.
“Everyone thinks that the risk of cot death lessens as they get older – you get the impression that once your child passes six months it’s plain sailing – but people need to know the risks are there until a child is five.
“I don’t think the condition should be called sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
“It would be more accurate to call it sudden death syndrome in children because it’s not just infants who are at risk.”
Jo and Emad now want to raise awareness of cot death and SIDS and the advice offered by health visitors.
To reduce their risk a baby should always be put on their back to sleep, kept away from cigarette smoke during pregnancy and never placed on a sofa or in an armchair.
“I feel so strongly about this. Important new research into cot death is going on but I still don’t have any answers,” added Jo, who stuck to the guidelines.
“If by sharing our story it just helps save one child then it will have been worth it.”
Sophia was the youngest of Jo and Emad’s children and had an older brother called Yusef, now nine, and sisters Tamara, seven, and Alia, five.
Immediately after her death things got more complicated for the family when Emad lost his job and Jo had to give up college where she was studying health and social care.
Flying Start health visitor Sam Knight, who began supporting the family after the tragedy, said: “Jo and Emad’s lives changed in a second and their stable family life was no more.
“Not only did it have an unimaginable impact on their family and emotions but they were also hit financially.”
Dad Emad, originally from Egypt, said the family needed emotional support in the immediate aftermath of Sophia’s death.
He said: “The time between Sophia’s death and her funeral was difficult for me because I come from a different culture where burial takes place straightaway. That delay was killing me.”
But from the tragedy came hope when Jo discovered she was pregnant again just months later.
“We were happy and shocked when we found out Jo was pregnant but it was a different feeling to the other pregnancies,” said Emad.
Jo said: “We had talked about having another child but it happened so quickly. I had a perfectly normal pregnancy with Aminah – but my worries dominated everything. I felt all the time that something was wrong.
“Fortunately I had a brilliant midwife in Julie Kemble – nothing was too much trouble for her.”
Following Aminah’s safe arrival Sam arranged for her family to be part of the Care of the Next Infant programme, a specialist service for bereaved parents devised by cot death charity The Lullaby Trust.
“There has been a whole support network for us all and I am now at the stage when I don’t necessarily blame myself for what happened,” added Jo.