Three cot deaths in a week

Press, 27 May 1988, Page 6

Three cot deaths in a week

Three Christchurch babies have died from cot death in the last week.

However, the cold weather cannot be blamed, according to the education officer of the Canterbury Cot Death Society, Mrs Stephanie Cowan.

Four babies died from cot death last May, which was the warmest May for many years, she said.

“Yet this is the coldest May, so it is not directly the cold — we don’t know what it is particularly.”

Mrs Cowan said June was the worst month for cot death. Babies were very much at risk then. Parents would be

advised to get a pamphlet produced by the Cot Death Society, “Cot Death — Reducing the Risks,” rather than sit in fear. The fear often meant parents were tempted to overcompensate •by not taking their baby out or “cooking” their baby with constant heat.

“It is this panicky fear that highlights the need for someone to find out what is going on in Christchurch. It is why we need a cot death researcher.” Christchurch service organisations are trying to raise $400,000 to pay for someone to research cot death in Canterbury.