THE BBC has been bombarded with more than 3,400 complaints following
EastEnders’ New Year cot death storyline.
Ronnie Branning, played by Samantha Womack, reacted to the harrowing loss of
her baby James by SWAPPING him for Kat Moon’s new-born son Tommy.
Broadcaster Anne Diamond – who lost her son Sebastian to cot death in 1991 –
was among those horrified by the plot. Here, the mum-of-four explains why.
AS a bereaved mother and a seasoned campaigner, I know only too well the agony
of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Back in 1991, when I found Sebastian dead in his cot one sunny July morning,
we Brits lost more than 2,000 babies every year to cot death.
After the Back To Sleep campaign — still the single most successful health
campaign there has ever been in the UK — that dropped to 300 and has
remained stubbornly around that figure ever since.
But it is still 300 too many and to every family hit by this tragedy, it is
a body blow that changes you forever.
So I was shocked to find cot death itself is no longer dramatic enough for
today’s screenwriters.
It wasn’t enough that poor Ronnie Branning should lose her newborn son. She
had to lose her senses, too, and swap her dead baby for Kat Moon’s healthy
son.
If I had known that was what they were planning, I would have raised the roof.
This crass twist to an otherwise credible storyline hasn’t done one iota of
good in educating a young audience about cot death. And it has upset a lot
of mums and dads who have been through the worst nightmare a parent can
endure and stayed sane, sensible and responsible. This storyline has undone
years of work.
Decades ago, cot death parents were treated with, at best, suspicion and too
often with outright hostility.
Cruel enough were the ignorant theories and homespun fables about what may be
the “real” reason behind the death — bad parenting, bottle feeding, sucking
dummies, old mattresses. All of them untrue.
Worse still, cot death was, for many, a stigma that haunted them long after,
casting doubt on their sanity or fitness to be future parents.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of my son’s death and the Back To Sleep
campaign, so it was always going to be a poignant New Year for me.
But 2011 also marks the 40th anniversary of The Foundation for the Study of
Infant Deaths — a charity that works tirelessly to support bereaved parents,
change attitudes and raise millions for research into the baby-killing
syndrome.
I thanked goodness for their calm, constructive words and I am glad to be
their “anniversary patron” for 2011.
I had so hoped the EastEnders storyline might have paved our way to campaign
more loudly than ever, but I am disappointed. Now, I’ll have to rely on The
Sun which helped me so much in my early campaigning days in 1991.
So let’s get a few facts straight. Lots of young mums seem to think the risk
no longer exists and we’ve heard of some who are risking sleeping their
babies on their tummies so they might sleep for longer.
Don’t do it! Follow the code, above right — it works.