Parents of 15-month-old baby girl who lost her life to cot death warn older babies are at risk too

THE heartbroken parents of a 15-month-old baby girl who died from cot death are urging all parents to be aware of the condition.

In the UK, fewer than 300 babies die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) each year, with most deaths occurring when the baby is six months or younger.

But Emad and Jo Ewada's daughter Sophia was almost one-and-a-half when she died.

Now, her parents want others to learn from their loss, and know SIDS can affect older babies too.

Sophia was “fit and healthy” when her mum and dad put her to bed.

But it was the last time they would ever say goodnight to her.

Jo, from Brackla, Bridgend, said: “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.

“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.

“It would be more accurate to call it sudden death syndrome in children because it’s not just infants who are at risk.”

You think you know everything when you’ve had children before but after Sophia my confidence had completely gone.

Jo Ewada, Sophia's mum

Jo and Emad now want to raise awareness of cot death and SIDS and the advice offered by health visitors.

SIDS, often referred to as cot death, is the sudden and unexplained death of a baby.

The risk of cot death is rare and parents can reduce their baby’s risk by not smoking while pregnant or after the baby is born and placing the baby on their back when they sleep.

Jo said: “I feel so strongly about this.

"Important new research into cot death is going on but I still don’t have any answers.

“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.”

Flying Start helped the family get back on track and provided a family support worked to advise them.

Jo and Emad have begun counselling and their other children have been going to play therapy to help them come to terms with their loss.

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 Sam is always here for me to talk to if I need to.”

But from the tragedy came hope when Jo discovered she was pregnant again just months later.

Emad added: “We were happy and shocked when we found out Jo was pregnant but it was a different feeling to the other pregnancies.”

Jo added: “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.”

Early Years adviser Maria Harris also provided support to the family as she delivered an antenatal programme tailored to their situation.

Jo said: “You think you know everything when you’ve had children before but after Sophia my confidence had completely gone.

“Maria has reassured me all the way. She is still amazing and is helping me work with Aminah’s sleep patterns because the whole area of sleep is the main cause of my anxiety.”

Following Aminah’s safe arrival Sam arranged for her family to be part of the Care of the Next Infant (CONI) 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.

“All I can think about is just getting to Aminah’s first birthday and we will go from there.”

Emad added: “Without the help we have had from Sam and everybody else we would be lost. We had a lot of problems but they came in and helped us.

“The whole team does a really, really good job for people who need help. The service does really important work – it’s been fantastic.”

Sam said: “As a health visitor you don’t stop with just the baby – you extend that support to whoever needs it in the family.

“Jo and Emad are such an inspiration to all of us in the health visiting team because they’ve allowed us into their lives at such a difficult time and we have learned so much from them.”

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