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Copyright 2006 Patric Chan

There are 2 types of approaches you can choose when it comes to creating an info-product.

It’s either you be creative or innovative.

Creative means, you observe the market and come up with a good solution. Basically, using your brain to think of how your info- product can solve the existing problem of what the market is having.

Like, if you see there are a lot of people having a problem to write a salesletter, you come up with a salesletter generator software. Or, if you see that a lot of people are trying to organized their joint venture’s details, you can create a joint venture profile software. Basically, you’ll be the first person to hit the market. Make sense?

But if you want to minimize your risk of failure and make money fast, I’ll prefer to be an innovator.

Observe the existing products created to fulfill the demand of a market.

See how good the sales volume is.

Then, I’ll be an innovator to provide better Solution or tap on the existing opportunity.

Not sure what this means?

Let me explain …

If you happen to see in the market, there are a lot of salesletter generator software right now because there are a lot of innovative marketers.

Another example of an innovator marketer — A relatively new company call PayDotCom that provides similar service like Clickbank.com.

It was launched successfully following the creative company called Clickbank.com.

Clickbank.com was the first (That I know of) website that provides credit card processing service with built-in affiliate tracking program for internet marketers to use.

Now, there are more innovative marketers that have created affiliate tracking tool that can be integrated with other credit card processors like Paypal.com, 2checkout, authorize.net, etc.

Innovative marketing doesn’t limit to copying what is successful and trying to be better, bigger or cheaper.

That’s a very narrow observation on how to be profitable and it’ll normally fails.

Just by adding these 2 extra ingredients in it, you’ll change the whole profit model:

1. Finding an angle

Finding an angle means how you can position yourself unique from the originator. Example, Clickbank.com was a success. But other affiliate tracking tools that did not have a built-in credit card processor were very successful as well by integrating with third party credit card company. Paydotcom is also another good example of this. They solve the core problem.

2. Complimenting to the pioneer

Create an info-product that can ride on the existing successful market. Let’s take Clickbank.com as an example for discussion purpose. There are many new tools created to enhance the convenience of using Clickbank.

Examples are:

Software to manage your Clickbank.com affiliates;

Software to extract your Clickbank sales report into a Microsoft Excel file;

Software to create Clickbank.com search engine Tool that is integrated with Clickbank ID;

Video tutorials how to setup Clickbank.com account;

and many more.

Observe what’s happening on the internet. Then, decide whether becoming a creative or innovative marketer will give you more profit and yet can reduce your workload. Then, TAKE ACTION.

Homeowners Insurance is supposed to protect us in case of disasters. That is what we have come to expect from our homeowners insurance over the years. But what if the disaster is the costliest in U.S. History? What if your insurance agent’s home and office were destroyed in the disaster also?

That is what happened to many customers and homeowners insurance agents and companies after Katrina hit the Gulf coast. Many agents’ homes, offices and insurance Companies’ claims centers were in the same situation as their clients due to the storms. So what did they do? They set up “office” in tents and mobile trailers. Then Hurricane Rita blew away these temporary offices and the agents and companies set them up again. These temporary shelters acted as a communications center for all people in the surrounding areas. Local people would come by to ask questions, meet with their claims adjustors and just catch up on the news with their neighbors. Extreme circumstances dictated unconventional responses: some agents even filed claims for their clients without even talking to the clients just so they could get the claim “in the queue.” Allstate allowed customers to submit claims through any agent in the country and set up a priority line to assist. They sent email to agents in the areas surrounding the disaster areas to act as messengers by “word of mouth” to their fellow agents in the effected areas. The larger companies such as State Farm & Allstate that service claims for the national flood Insurance Program even used satellite imagery to determine damage in some neighborhoods that were entirely flooded.

Lessons Learned: Those of us not effected by these disasters can learn a few lessons about coping with future disasters from the thousands of policyholders that are still waiting to get their claims paid. As soon as possible, take steps to prevent further damage to your home if possible: such as covering the roof with a tarp if possible. You can hire a contractor if you can find one, as that would be safer for most of us than climbing on our roofs. Hold off making any repairs until you see or talk to an adjuster first. Plus, keep your receipts, as you’ll need them to prove expenses that can be re-imbursed later.

What Does Homeowners Insurance Cover?

You can generally expect your homeowners insurance to help pay for additional living expenses for up to 12-24 months while your home is being repaired. But, homeowners insurance usually pays only after they verify you have a legitimate claim. After Katrina, many insurers made an exception, automatically distributing enough to cover two weeks’ worth of additional living expense to anyone in an area subject to mandatory evacuation. Some companies even gave small advances on contents under the personal property part of their homeowners insurance policies.

If you have to wait to get your check, it helps to have cash that is easily accessible in a bank account or money market fund. Stashing cash at home isn’t a great idea because if your home burns down and you weren’t able to get to your cash, most homeowners insurance policies only cover $100-$200 in cash whether it is stolen or burned up in a fire. Your goal should be to have an emergency fund available to take care of your family for 2-4 weeks (minimum)if possible. In a disaster it might be hard to even find a local bank to get cash. Debit/credit cards with a statewide or national bank would perhaps be better.

Your biggest problem in getting your claim handled may be in either not having the proper homeowners insurance coverage or not having enough coverage. Most good homeowners insurance policies today cover up to 120% of your dwelling coverage limit. It is important that you review the dwelling limit with your agent every couple of year’s at a minimum. Homeowners insurance policies do not cover Flooding, but you should again see your agent for this coverage.

If your homeowners insurance falls short, you may qualify for money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or a disaster-assistance loan from the Small Business Administration (SBA). Homeowners can borrow up to $200,000 for rebuilding and $40,000 to replace personal property at very low interest rates for up to 30 years.

Financial traders in the City are expecting interest rates to rise by half a percent by the end of this year. These days the Bank of England prefers to make a series of small changes to interest rates rather than one large change, so watch out for the first 0.25% rise around August time

Mortgage rates are already reacting with the rates for fixed rate mortgages rising. The best rates for two year fixes are now in the 4.15% to 4.48% range and for three year fixes, 4.49% to 4.64%. The rates on credit cards and loans are usually variable, so these aren’t likely to rise until the Bank of England moves – but you can bet your bottom dollar that when the time comes, they’ll move quickly.

Only a month ago economists were talking about further falls in interest rates, so why has everything changes?

It’s all because inflation is coming back under pressure. The governments’ target for inflation is 2% per annum but with energy prices high, and likely to soar even further, we are beginning to see the knock on effect of energy inflation across the economy. And despite fuel bills siphoning money from drivers, new car registrations are up 7% on the year to March, industrial orders rose more than 13% and business confidence improved again in April. Even America, the world’s largest consumer of oil, the economy is experiencing surprising levels of activity.

In many ways this is good news for Britain’s economy. The annual rate of exports is growing at the rate of almost 20%, a rate virtually matched by imports. And the major quarterly survey of the economy suggests that growth will remain strong.

For the man and woman in the street, economic figures are all well and good, but it’s the housing market that is perhaps their key barometer. Here the current news is good for existing homeowners, but perhaps less good for those trying to get a foot on the housing ladder.

Currently, the housing market is buoyant. In the first three months of this year the Halifax reported house prices up by 1.6% and the Nationwide reported prices up 2.3%. But these are averages. Increases vary widely depending on where you live. The average asking prices reported by Rightmove, the web site for estate agents, were up 2.7% January to February 2006, 0.9% from February to March and 1.1% March to April to set record high of £205,674. Overall the market rises are being led by `mini-boom’ at the upper end.

The problem is that traditionally, sentiment in the housing market is fickle. When we get the first confirmed sign of a rise in interest rates, watch buyers dive for cover. We believe that a quarter percent rise in August followed by another quarter in early autumn, will cause the housing market to stall.

As we all know, forecasts circulating eighteen months ago that the housing market was in for a crash landing, proved wrong – and we’re still not expecting prices to fall heavily. But it’s the property hot spots that’ll bear the brunt of any slow down. They’ll be the first to really feel the slow down and plus a dose of realism in respect of asking prices.

At the moment nationally, the average house sale achieves around 95% of its asking price. When the forecast interest rate rises emerge, we’d expect to see this percentage fall to just under 90%. This will undoubtedly put pressure on sellers to trim their asking prices.

If you’re looking for a shortcut to get your consumer to buy, it might be through their ear. Auditory response is one of the strongest senses we possess. Have you ever wondered why you can remember the tune of a song (“It’s a small world”) but can’t remember an article you read in the paper just this morning? That’s the power of audio. Sound is invasive, intrusive and irresistible. That’s one reason why I’m always telling authors about the power of speaking engagements: sound sells. Many of us incorporate sound into our marketing plans through radio, but there’s something even more powerful for you to consider and it’s called podcasting.

If you’ve always dreamed of having your own radio show, your dream is about to become a reality. It seems only yesterday we were telling you about the power of blogging, but today we’re looking at something equally, if not more, powerful. In its simplest term, podcasting is an audio blog and it’s another exceptionally powerful way to spread the word about your book and message. Several years ago when Internet radio came on the scene authors were vying for airwaves on the Net. But while Internet radio is still going strong, it’s also very expensive. Most shows cost upwards of $800 a month, plus show hosts need to obtain their own program sponsors. Podcasting, on the other hand, is a fraction of the cost. Here’s how it works.

Podcasting, just like blogs, sits on the Internet but instead of sitting in a written file, it’s saved in an MP3 format that can be transferred to any mobile music device like an iPod. A podcast can also be subscribed to through RSS or syndication feeds. If this seems complicated, it’s not, the entire process will take you about an hour to set up, if that, and once you do, you’re off and running.

Most podcasts require an external mic on your computer, but I’ve started using a system through Audio Acrobat (audioacrobat.com) that will allow you to call into a pre- assigned number and record your podcast from anywhere: your office, your car or while on a trip! Then the audio file is saved into the system and sent out via their publication tools to a variety of “feeds,” which in essence sends the audio blog out onto the Internet. Now you might wonder how someone will find you and your podcast. Well, you might be surprised. While your first recording might go unnoticed, your second and third will not. Here are some tips for getting the right podcast for you and then getting the world to beat a path to your audio blog door! Topic: First, you want to find a niche and ideally one that ties into your book or message. While topics on religion and gambling are two of the hottest podcasts right now, if your topic doesn’t tie into these it’s best to stay away from them. Go online to iTunes, iPodder.org, or Podcast.net and see who’s talking about your topic and what they’re saying, then plan to be different!

Structure: So how will your podcast be structured and how much time should you plan to spend on a podcast? Truthfully, I’d recommend only 10 to 15 minutes. Unless your podcast is truly compelling or in an interview type format, listeners don’t usually have the attention span to listen longer. Don’t force people to listen to long-winded audios, cut right to the chase, share your information in tip-like, informative nuggets and you’ll find listeners subscribing to your podcast like crazy!

Make a plan: If you decide to do this, try mapping out a few podcasts in advance and plan to offer your information on a daily or, at the very least, a weekly basis.

Setting up your podcast page: When you utilize Audio Acrobat for your podcast, you’ll be able to include a link to your web site. Remember the idea behind the podcast is promotion, so the URL you send them to should reflect this. Ideally you won’t want to send them to your home page but rather a page just for your podcasts. You can include a listing of prior “shows” as well as a way for them to sign up for future updates, your newsletter or perhaps a link to your book or store.

Chicklets and other geek terms: So what’s a “chicklet?” Well, it’s that little orange square that has the letters XML on it. You will click on that to subscribe to a feed. If you obtained your podcast through Audio Acrobat, these chicklets are created for you and you can just cut and paste the HTML into your web site or have your web designer do it for you. I copied the HTML language into my blog and let visitors subscribe that way. If you use another podcasting service, they should supply you with the language to create this on your own.

Syndicating your podcast: So if you’re going to do a radio show, you’ll want listeners, right? Now I mentioned that if you use a service like Audio Acrobat the system will send the feeds for you to about 16 services, which is great, but there’s still more work you can do.

First, you should consider getting a syndication link on Feedburner.com. This way people can copy your link into their feed reader (we’ll cover this in a bit) and get updated every time you add a new podcast. You can access this feed service at: Feedblitz (www.feedblitz.com).

Feed readers: If you’ve spent *any* time on the Net you’ve no doubt seen those little XML chicklets we mentioned earlier. When you click on them it takes you to a page of confusing text, but it’s the link that you want to copy and paste into your feed reader. When we talk about syndicating a blog, this is what we mean. The reader you have really doesn’t matter and there are quite a few to choose from, if you Google “Feed Readers,” you’ll pull a bunch of them up for you to try. I use SharpReader (www.sharpreader.com) and love it.

Podcasting, besides being a great promotional tool, is a terrific way for you to verbalize the passion you have for your topic. Go an inch wide and a mile deep with your message, offer helpful advice or spout your opinion. Be creative or controversial or a little of both. The bottom line is this: podcasting is not only fun but it’s a great way to spread the message about you and your book. Use it correctly and you’ll see even more readers beating a path to your door.

Several people can be quoted saying that success is relative. What a person may have achieved in their lifetime may or may not be considered as successful by another person.

It may be true that success can be measured through different ways. Success can be associated with the possession of different things that can be standards on how far a person has gone through their career. Here are some definitions to which success is being related.

* Success is Financial Freedom

This is probably the most widely known meaning associated with success. People say that financial freedom is being able to provide for oneself or one’s family without having to worry about how much they are spending.

Financial freedom is also associated with being able to buy what you want because you have the money to spend. In this way, financial freedom also includes acquiring the things that you have been dreaming of. It may be having your dream house, your own luxury car, your shares of stocks, a sports club membership – whatever a person has dreamed that they can acquire when they are in the peak of their careers.

* Success is being a Company’s Executive.

Some people define success as getting to the top of the career ladder. They aim to be one of the company’s executives who can make critical decisions for the company and their employees.

There are people who work hard to achieve this goal. They associate being the top executive as having the authority and the respect of their subordinates. They feel that they have achieved enough if their skills were recognized and they were promoted to the highest positions in the company.

* Success is getting your Dream Job.

There are people whose goals are to get their dream job. Due to the difficulty in finding a job these days, people settle to work in a job that they don’t even like. Some even decide to get a job that is not even related to their field of study or their interests.

After spending time in that job, or being able to provide for the family or send the kids to school, these people try to find opportunities in their chosen field. Many times, these people do not even consider how much they will be paid, or if they will be rejected since they will be neophytes in their chosen field.

They feel that their ultimate goal is being able to do what they love to do. However, only few people discover what they love to do early in life. Lucky are those young people who started working in the path to their dream job. There are also people who spend so much time in one career only to discover later on that they wanted to do something else.

* Success is Owning Stocks and not having to Work.

There are people who define success as the time when you can just sit back and relax without having to worry about how you will earn the money that you will spend for the rest of your life.

These people have the financial stability obtained through some business investments and through purchasing stocks. They are usually people who would like to travel and enjoy the extremes of life without having to be so much concerned about the financial risks.

* Success is being able to Nurture your Family

Some people associate success with having raised one’s kids well. They feel that if they have sent the kids to a good school, provide for their needs and spend quality family time is the ultimate success that they can achieve.

After all, for them, being able to nurture their kids well is their greatest task in life.

* Success is being able to Share

Idealists can define achieving success when they have the knowledge and the wisdom that they can share to their colleagues and the rest of the world. Volunteers describe success as being able to share what they have without thinking what they can get in return.

Success can really be defined in many ways. Whatever personal meaning you have for success, what is important is that you do your best to achieve your goals, you abide by the rules of life and you use your skills to the fullest.

Last night, in the dark following midnight I killed my muse (suffocating her quietly with a pillow) and buried her in my back garden. Today I will plant a roses to hide the grave. No one will ever know and I will be free at last of her insidious hold and I will be able to write what I want.

Why did I resort to this deed? After all my muse was lovely and gave me many gifts over the years. She saw me through dark times and helped mark the joyous ones. Many times she inspired me to reach for more and push myself beyond what I thought I could achieve. Knowing all this why would I kill the very source of my inspiration?

Oh, I had my reasons…

It started out quietly. As I would sit at my keyboard or curl up with a notebook, she would perch on my shoulder as was her wont to do. “I don’t think you meant to write that sentence,” she would whisper in my ear. “That doesn’t sound like the best description,” she would snipe. “Is that the best you can do?” she would sneer.

I took to sneaking my writing in when I knew she was occupied elsewhere. She never could resist critiquing the writing in the morning paper if it was left spread on the kitchen table. That way I could sometimes write several pages before she began her commentary. “Surely you can find a better way to approach this topic,” her mocking voice would interrupt. “That has been so done.”

Soon I was spending more time arguing with her, defending my words, than I was writing. Then my production slowed to a crawl as I would overanalyze each word choice and sentence formation before committing it to screen or paper. All that did was give her more time to find fault with the few words I did write.

Despite urgent deadlines and simmering ideas, I started avoiding the computer and all writing materials. I cleaned my house. I read for hours on end. I made plans for a new garden. The need the write built within me but always my muse was watching me with those eyes — so judgmental, so critical. I would turn away from my office with a sigh and find some other project.

When I could no longer suppress the urge to write I locked her in a closet and had a wonderfully productive morning. I was so happy with my work that I let her out as I went out the door to run some errands. That just made her mean.

She was waiting for me at the door when I came home. Her glasses had slid nearly to the tip of her nose and somehow she’d found a red pencil (I certainly never brought any such thing into the house). I shuddered at the sight of my happy morning’s labor marred by vicious slashes of red. The red blurred before my eyes into a crimson haze and then…

Perhaps it is better that you don’t know the details. Suffice it to say that I have selected several old-fashioned roses with luscious aroma and delicate coloring. I am sure they will provide both inspiration and comfort.

Despite my late hours and the physical toil involved, this morning I awoke early and have already logged in several hours at the keyboard. My fingers flew across the keys and after completing several long-stagnant projects I outlined notes for some new. Writing is joyful and rewarding again.

I think I might dedicate this next book to the memory of my muse. Perhaps it will serve as a warning to those other muses out there who are on the verge of going over the edge. Perhaps it will inspire those other writers out there who have let their muse stifle their creativity and shove them right into writer’s block. Maybe my warning will mean those other muses and their writers will find a way to work things out.

Venice is an old and somewhat eccentric city in Italy. Built long ago on marshlands, I was surprised to find myself spending my first night in the city with the bird lady.

Rent a Room

As is common with many cities in Europe, one can rent a room in a private home at the train station. The advantage of renting a room is you get to live with a family and the costs tend to be a lot cheaper than a hotel room. If you’re lucky, the family will take a liking to you and haul you around to see the “real” city you are in.

I had just arrived in Venice on a train from Paris. It was late, I was tired and in no mood to be picky about lodging. As I walked up to the rent a room desk, I had two priorities: sleep and a shower.

The elderly lady at the desk smiled at me and we got down to business. Apparently, arriving in Venice around midnight in the middle of August wasn’t a wise move. I was told most everything was sold out, but there were two rooms still open. The first was 45 minutes outside of the city while the second was just off Piazza San Marco, the central square you see in all the movies. I booked the San Marco room, given a map and off I went.

As it was late and I was tired, it never occurred to me to ask why a room so close to Piazza San Marco was open when everything else was taken. As I walked through the very narrow streets of Venice, I was too tired to really care.

Following the map, I walked into the square and started heading toward the glass shops at the far end. The walk through the otherwise delightful square was a killer on my headache as the mini-orchestras dueled the night away. Reaching the end, I found the little alley indicated on the map and through I went into more winding little streets.

Eventually, I found the door and gave it a knock. Like a bad Monty Python movie, a little viewing slot opened, eyes looked at me and my backpack, the door opened and I was literally pulled inside. Before me stood a little older lady with wild hair. At this point, I started to understand why the room was available. Turns out I was wrong, as “Michelle” turned out to be very sane and nice.

Michelle gave me the run down on the house and her basic rules. She went into a long diatribe about keeping the doors closed because of something she didn’t know the English word for. I kept nodding and we proceed to the door that would let us into the house proper.

Inside the door, the house took on an entirely new atmosphere. Michelle was a big fan of birds. She had little yellow birds, red birds, black birds and I swear a few humming birds. None of them were in cages. I had booked a room in an informal Aviary!

Fortunately, my room had been bird-proofed by keeping the door closed. As I lay in bed, however, I could hear chirping and wings flapping as the other guests flew around the rooms. Over the next two days, I never got use to opening the door and seeing birds whipping by or perched and staring at me. I imagine this is where Alfred Hitchcock picked up some of his ideas.

As far as I know, Michelle is still in Venice and still renting out rooms. If you’re a bird enthusiast, just ask for the bird hotel at the train station in Venice.

This sounds a different kind of title – Do You Understand your Lover? Does not everybody do? Sadly not many of us understand our partners fully. If we had understood our lovers, the rates of separations and divorces would have gone down substantially instead of increasing. You may ask- if I do not understand my love than how are we so good partners? Why he/she enjoys me? Why are we together? Let me talk about these.

What does it mean by understanding? It is again a difficult question. Knowing about likes and dislikes does not mean understanding. To understand means to know the values, the life goals and the priorities of a person. To understand means to know what incidences made what impacts on that person. To understand means – you will be able to predict the reaction of your partner at a crucial moment. Can you do that with surety?

In the beginning of our relationship, we all talk about good things of life. Our focus is more to please our partner. Our focus is to get more pleasure in their company. we never think about the underlying psychological motivators at that time. After the relationship develop little further, we find that many times we get baffled by what our partner says and vice-versa. That side of his/her character we never knew. If this is something, we can accept easily, we will forget about it, or fissures will develop at this juncture.

Not many partners are totally honest with each other about their deepest thoughts, desires and fears. If I fear that you may one day leave me, because I doubt your long term loyalty, will I ever tell you about that fear? Such hidden thoughts create a wall between the partners that can be never crossed. Only few manage to break it. Once you do that and tell everything about yourself and your thoughts and get to know everything about your partner, the relationship will grow stronger. These kinds of relationships were common in the earlier days but are rare now.

You know why you’re reading this— you’ve made a bold and scary decision to lose 10 pounds. You’re doing it for better health and more self-confidence…both you can get from shedding extra weight.

But losing weight is not instant, as if you wished on a magic lamp. While we live in a culture where we expect quick results, like fast food that’s ready in five minutes, losing 10 pounds doesn’t fit in this category.

Before you start a weight loss plan, you have to prepare yourself mentally for the challenge. Remember that losing 10 pounds won’t happen overnight. And give yourself time to adjust to the new you, especially if you’ve tried to lose weight in the past and failed.

First off, carefully inspect your eating habits. For instance, do you seem to eat more when dining with company than when you’re alone? Perhaps you and your spouse have a routine where you relieve stress by drinking hot cocoa every morning. Or, do you end up eating those delectable cupcakes you baked for the school sale.

Next, based on your current eating habits, decide on specific changes you can make. Maybe you can forget about baking for the school sale and find non-food ways to participate in fundraising. And you can switch to drinking green tea every morning instead of hot cocoa. Plus, if being a dinner guest puts pressure on you to overeat, you can politely leave before dessert or try small amounts of each course to avoid offending the host.

Once you have ideas for new eating habits, make up a day-to-day meal plan. For dining at restaurants and at friends’ homes, continue to stick to your routine as much as possible. Do your best to stay within limits and soon, you will thrive on controlled eating habits.

You should also look at your exercise routine to help you lose 10 pounds. Maybe you used to be extremely active, but now spend most of your time sitting, whether at home or at work.

Decide on exercise goals, beginning with the length of time you can devote. “I will exercise 1 hour a day,” sounds great, if you don’t have too many other commitments. However, if you’re busy, you may need to adjust to a realistic goal: “I will exercise 30 minutes a day,” may be better.

You can also vary the length of time you exercise to lose 10 pounds. For instance, you have bigger chunks of time during the weekend. Your goals could be to exercise 30 minutes during the weekdays and 1 hour on weekends.

When you exercise also matters. Maybe you’re an early riser and you have free time before you take the kids to school and head to your job. Then you could try to add exercise to your morning routine. On the other hand, you might barely get out of bed and arrive almost late for work. Yet you have time to spare after work, so you would try an evening exercise routine.

Next, we come to how you will exercise. Since most of us dread this word, you have to set your mind to view exercise as playing or having fun, not as a burden. And finding activities you enjoy turns exercise into fun. Whether you give rollerblading a try, or you join a bicycling club, search out and find “exercises” that you like.

After you know what exercises you will use, get a daily planner and write down specific exercises, the time you will start, and how long you will exercise. For instance, on May 30, 9 a.m., you write, “Ride bicycle, for 30 minutes.” As you can see, a detailed exercise routine keeps you from saying, “I don’t have time to exercise.”

You’ve probably made an observation— sticking to a routine with your exercise and eating habits makes losing 10 pounds easier. But, the routine can only help you if you commit yourself…so use determination to succeed and then you really will be successful in losing 10 pounds.

This is more commonly known as ‘cot death’.

This usually occurs in young babies from the ages of one week to two years.

There is no explanation for this despite lots of research being carried out and is a most traumatic time for all concerned.

Research into the subject have found that there are certain preventative measures which can reduce the risk however this does not mean that it can be reduced altogether.

The following is a list of preventative measures
Both parents should stop smoking prior to pregnancy

Do not let anyone smoke in the same room as your baby

Always place your baby on his or her back when placing him or her down to sleep in the cot. Place your baby as near to the foot of his or her cot as you can. This measure prevents the baby being free to wriggle about and being able to move the bedclothes

Never place a pillow in the cot and use as firm mattress as possible
Never wrap your baby up in bedclothes. Keep your baby’s head uncovered and pull the bedclothes up to shoulder height only
Never have too many heavy bedclothes on the bed. Use light sheets and blankets which can be added and removed as necessary.

Never have the room too hot. Do not place the cot too near to any heat source such as a radiator or fire. Keep the temperature of the room constant.

Try and keep your baby in the same room as you for the first six months. If this not possible then purchase a baby monitor and carry out regular checks during the night on your baby.

Sudden and unexplained infant death syndrome must be investigated by the police.

This adds further distress to the grieving parents as many questions will be asked and also the baby’s bedclothes may be taken away for forensic examination.

There may also be a ‘post mortem’ carried out on the baby to establish the cause of death. When a post mortem is carried out, there may be biological samples taken aswell as parts of the baby’s brain. These samples need to be analysed and the results may take up to six weeks.

Once a post mortem is carried out and a cause of death established, a death certificate will be issued by the pathologist. This certificate will be needed for funeral arrangements to be made. If a cause of death is not established at the post mortem, then the baby will be kept in storage until the results of the samples have been established. After this then the baby will be released and a death certificate published.

Most undertakers have special pricing arrangements for ‘baby deaths’.