The BBC's Fergus Walsh on the cot death report

The researchers from Confidential Enquiry into Stillbirths and Deaths in Infancy (Cesdi) in conjunction with the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths examined 456 infant deaths between 1993 and 1996.

Eighty per cent of the deaths remain unexplained and are called 'cot deaths'. But the remaining 120 deaths were found to stem, usually, from some sort of infection and the report concludes that about half of them could have been avoided.

Review of training

In several incidents, it was found that health professionals had failed to recognise the severity of the baby's illness.

Dr Mary Macintosh, the author of the report, said: "It (infant mortality) was most likely to happen in perhaps the socially disadvantaged parents - often in young mothers who'd had children early and were relatively unsupported.

The report calls for better communication between parents and doctors and recommends that there is a review of the training and continuing medical education of all doctors assuming responsibility for the emergency care of infants.