Lora Bishop has penned The Cot Death Notebook to raise awareness of Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy Syndrome – more commonly referred to as cotdeath.

Luke was six months old when he died as he slept on Lora's chest at the family home in Eastbourne.

Lora, who lives at the Portlands with Luke's surviving twin, Emma, now two and a half, said she wrote the book as a constructive way of dealing with her grief.

"I found it to be a good way of organising my thoughts and emotions and of recording all the information that I was collecting in the course of my researching cot death," said Lora.

"The book includes notes from the hospital the night that Luke was brought into A&E and resuscitation, details from his post-mortem report, correspondence with the pathologist and coroner who handled his case, dealings with the police, letters between myself and the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths, the Department of Health, the Prime Minister, newspapers, magazines, and various cot death experts around the country."

Lora said she intends the book to be not only for bereaved parents, but also for the professionals who work with bereaved parents on a day to day basis.

She added, "The Cot Death Notebook is also my gift to Luke. My way of ensuring he will not be forgotten."

Since Luke's untimely death, Lora has thrown herself into spreading the message from health experts on what parents can do to reduce the risk of cotdeath.

"Thanks to improved research and better understanding of cot death, we know more now than ever before," said Lora.

"Most parents are aware of the dos and don'ts as advised by the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID) and the Department of Health and developments are being made into cot death research all the time – the most recent breakthrough being the discovery that babies who are regularly put down to sleep with a dummy are less likely to die from cot death than those who don't sleep with a dummy.

"As a result of the government campaign Back to Sleep, launched in 1991 and still running to this day, it is now recommended babies be put to sleep on their backs and in their own cots, as opposed to the parental bed. This piece of information alone has seen incidents of cot death fall by 75 per cent in the last 15 years.

"It is also now recognised that nine out of 10 babies who have died from cot death have parents, or a parent who smoke. There are constantly new theories and research to try and explain why these sudden infant deaths are happening.

"With each new piece of information and development, I find myself with mixed emotions. I am glad, of course, for any breakthrough that may prove the key to stopping cot death happening, however, I am also only human, and along with that gladness, I also feel sad that anything that is discovered now is too late to keep my gorgeous boy with me.

"Luke died in my arms aged six months, wearing a sleeper suit covered with bears and with his last meal of chocolate pudding smeared around his face. When Lukey died, I wanted to die too. It wasn't enough that I had a remaining child, Luke's twin, Emma, who needed to be loved and looked after. I was bereft. I wanted my boy. That's not to say I was unable to love and look after Emma in those awful days directly after Luke's death, but for a long time my heart wasn't in it. My heart was still with Luke.

"I am fortunate in that I have a living memory of Luke in Emma. My little Emlet, who I adore, who is funny and stroppy and clever and fantastic and gorgeous – everything I know Luke would have been.

"Only recently have I moved beyond the brokeness that Luke's death left me in and have found the pain bearable, as opposed to crippling. I am also now able to look at photographs of Luke and feel wistful at what should have been, but also to smile at his memory, rather than to experience the hysterical, gut wrenching, face down on the floor sobbing heartache at not seeing my boy grow up alongside his sister.

"I am not religious, but I am spiritual and I do believe that Luke still exists somewhere and is waiting for me. He will always be a part of my family and always be loved. I don't want the anniversary of his death this month to be overcome by sadness, but rather a day to reflect on everything that Luke has given me and try not to dwell on the fact that he was denied the opportunity to give so much more."