Research 

What makes a healthy baby? What role do genes have to play in sudden infant deaths? Can the scene of death give clues to why a baby died?

FSID has funded around £10 million worth of research in hospitals and universities. The evidence suggests that there is no single cause for cot death and that a number of factors may interact to bring about death in some babies at a vulnerable stage of development. 

Because of this, FSID's research is multifaceted, looking at all aspects of sudden infant deaths, cot death, infant health and development including: 

• Epidemiology - studying the circumstances of babies who die suddenly and unexpectedly, their families and environmental factors and comparing these with babies who survive 
• Genetics - unlocking the secrets of DNA to answer questions such as why do some babies resist infection which overcome other babies
• Physiology - studying babies' body functions such as heart and breathing and their development
• Pathology - post-mortem examination, looking, after death, for evidence of abnormalities 
• Infection and immunity - looking at susceptibility to infection in the first three months of life while babies’ immune systems are developing
• Infant care - understanding how parents care for their infants and what influences their choices 
• Metabolism - studying complex biochemical processes to identify deficiencies which may make some babies vulnerable
• Multi-disciplinary research – getting experts from different fields working together to address the complex problem of sudden infant deaths