'We had to wait seven months to find out how our child died'

'We had to wait seven months to find out how our child died'6 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleArzu DuttaBBC Yorkshire & Lincolnshire InvestigationsBBCTwo-year old Alfie Robinson was a "really big character", his father Nathan said"It's the most serious situation we have seen for 20 years."Dr Marta Cohen is a paediatric pathologist who has come out of retirement to help reduce the long waiting times bereaved parents face before they can find out how their child died.A shortage in the number of qualified pathologists able to carry out post-mortem examinations on children means that a fifth of families who have suffered the loss of a child now wait six months or more for the results.For Doncaster couple Nathan and Fiona Robinson, the wait between their two-year-old son Alfie's sudden death and his post-mortem examination taking place was seven months.Warning: This article contains distressing details about losing a child.There were no warning signs before Alfie died in his sleep.Fiona had gone to wake her son and his older sister when she found him in bed one morning in May 2022.She recalls: "I went over and tapped his back lightly and said, 'Come on dreamer, it's time to get up now'."I knew straight away, as soon as I rolled him over, he was gone."After what Fiona describes as "one of the most harrowing moments of my life", she and Nathan were left "living in limbo" until pathology staff at Sheffield Children's Hospital could attempt to give them the answer as to how he had died.Parents Fiona and Nathan Robinson say they could not grieve properlyAlfie was "a really big character" and "very affectionate", Nathan says. "You could really feel the love that he radiated towards his mum, dad and sister."After their son's death, Nathan says the couple "no longer operate like normal parents". "You go over loads of s...