‘I was angry at my baby for dying’: Anne Diamond opens up on heartbreaking day she lost son to cot death

The GB News presenter, who revealed in July she is battling breast cancer, admitted that her immediate overwhelming emotion was anger.

“I was angry at Sebastian for dying”, she told Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster.

“I was angry that he died and he didn’t call out for me.

“I was angry that while he was born, he lived with me and slept and then died, they were actively campaigning in New Zealand to stop this from happening because they had very high cot death over there.”

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Channelling the anger into something positive has become a cornerstone of Anne’s life since the tragic loss of her son and she was awarded with an OBE in October for her services to public health and charity.

The legendary broadcaster joined the Lullaby Trust after the death of her son to launch the Back to Sleep campaign.

The national media campaign, which kicked off in 1991, advised parents that babies should sleep on their backs as opposed to their fronts, and has been heralded as a reason for the number of cot deaths plummeting.

Anne told Eamonn and Isabel that a trip to New Zealand inspired her to help other parents.

“The Anne Diamond, if you like, of New Zealand, a television presenter called Judy Bailey went on television every night and said, ‘if you are just about to put your baby down to sleep, put them on his or her back, not their tummy’. Their cot death rate plummeted.

“I went out to New Zealand and met her [Judy Bailey], and it was anger that drove me to come back here and demand that we have the same advert here.”

Anne opened up on her personal story to mark Safer Sleep Week, a campaign established by the Lullaby Trust targeting anyone looking after a younger baby.

The group say around three babies die a week from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), known as cot death, and simply resting them on their backs as opposed to their fronts reduces the risk of it occurring.

The campaign is fronted by Anne, who gave “important” advice on GB News.

“Safer Sleep Week is about reminding you of the advice”, she said.

“Babies shouldn’t sleep on their backs. That’s the most important thing.

“Then you have to watch out for not overheating them.

“There’s lots of advice. If you google ‘Safer Sleep’, you will get it.”