SIDS refers to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which is when a newborn baby dies unexpectedly in the bassinet for a non medical reason.
This means that a totally healthy baby with no pre-existing conditions, that doctors or parents are aware of, can die as a result of suffocation, entrapment, or strangulation.
For instance if your baby died from climbing out of the bassinet, this wouldn’t technically be classed as SIDS or cot death.
‘Cot death’ is a colloquial term which refers to what is known in medical circles as SIDS.
Around 3,500 babies die per year from SIDS and around one-third of all deaths below the age of 1 are due to SIDS.