Cot Deaths - Coping with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Jacquelynn Luben
Cot Deaths - Coping with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, commissioned by Thorsons Publishing Group, was first published
in 1986 and was reprinted in 1987. At the time, it was the
first self help book by a UK parent who had herself lost a
baby through cot death, and Jacquelynn Luben drew upon her
own experiences, and those of other parents whom she interviewed.
She set out to write a book that was free of jargon, with both parents
and professionals in mind, and The British Medical Journal described
it as 'an excellent book ... written with admirable clarity...'
Cot Deaths was extensively reviewed in both popular and medical
magazines; a review in the Health Visitor's Assocation Journal
described it as 'informative, empathic and enabling...', whilst the
Nursing Times said the book was written with 'sensitivity and
awareness...'
At the time when the book was published, the number of cot deaths
each year in the UK was approximately one or two per thousand live births.
As a result of research and the subsequent campaign advising parents
to place babies on their backs to sleep, the number of cot deaths was
considerably reduced. Nevertheless, when the book went out of print,
it was taken on for a further print run by another publisher, Bedford
Square Press, who brought out a new edition in 1989.
Cot Deaths
may still be available from some libraries or, failing that, second hand copies can be sourced through the Internet.
Jacquelynn Luben's autobiographical book, The Fruit of the Tree
also describes her experience of cot death.