Parents often talk about the overwhelming feelings of guilt they experience when their child has died suddenly and unexpectedly. Even with advances in understanding of cot death, no-one can either predict or prevent these tragic deaths and this should be clearly stated and emphasised.

Parents may ask about the risk of recurrence. There are no reliable statistics on this but the chances of another cot death in the family is very rare (perhaps 3-4 times the population rate of 0.5 per 1,000 live births) and should not deter families from having another child.