Their stories are very different. Mrs Young's premature daughter died after one week in special care while Miss Wood's chubby, lively 11-month-old son simply didn't wake up one morning.
But the two women have decided to build something out of their grief, and are sitting on the Bradford Commission on Infant Mortality.
Miss Wood, 21, who lives close to 20-year-old Mrs Young in Crossley Wood Road, Bingley, said: "There's been research into these deaths for years and they still can't explain them, but that's why I'm glad to be part of this commission. Perhaps we can stop some other people going through it."
Miss Wood's son Bradley seemed like any other healthy baby. The family, including her partner Lee Gladwin and their two-year-old daughter Lauren, were preparing for his first Christmas in 2002.
One evening the children wouldn't settle, so the parents decided to have both sleep in with them.
Miss Wood said: "We set the alarm for 7.30am because we were going Christmas shopping. When we woke he had crawled to the bottom of the bed, on top of the covers. His lips were blue.
"My daughter thought he was asleep. We gave him mouth-to-mouth but it was too late."
At first the horrified parents thought they had rolled over on him, although his position meant that was impossible.
But the reassurances of doctors that they were not to blame brought little comfort.
"There was no explanation. It was just put down to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It was hard for me to explain to my daughter. She still sleeps with a photo of him," she said.
The couple have since had another child, Ella Louise, new four months old. Her cot is fitted with a sleep monitor that sounds an alarm if her breathing stops.
For Mrs Young, Christmas also brings memories of heartache. She went into labour eight weeks early on December 27, 2002.
Baby Paige-Marie, weighing 3lb 12oz, soon developed hyperammonemia, a genetically-related blood condition, and was transferred from Bradford Royal Infirmary to Pendlebury Children's Hospital, Manchester.
She needed dialysis and then surgery, and Mrs Young and her husband Kevin were warned she might not come round. She survived, but her parents were told she would be blind and could be paralysed.
She said: "There were wires everywhere, 12 syringes going into her, some through her scalp.
"At New Year we were walking down the corridors crying and listening to all the fireworks going off."
When she showed no improvement, the needles were removed and Paige-Marie died quietly in her mother's arms.
She couldn't bear to go back to the house they had moved in to while she was pregnant and the nursery they had prepared together.
"I used to wander round the house while I was pregnant and talk to her about what I was doing and what her room was like. To me it was as if she was there."
She became pregnant again soon afterwards and was thrilled until she again went into labour five weeks early.
The birth was straightforward and Jamie Lee was allowed home in two weeks, but at four months she was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary.
"When I walked into the room it was awful, just like walking in to Paige-Marie again. There were wires into her scalp. I ran to the toilet and threw up."
Despite the trauma, Jamie Lee survived and is now 18 months old.
As part of the commission, the women will be able to give evidence about how medical systems work for the babies and parents that use them, and perhaps how they could be changed for the better.
Miss Wood said: "We know how it feels to lose a baby. If we can do anything to stop anyone else going through it, it's a good thing."
amy.binns@ypn.co.uk

City's shocking statistics for infant death come under scrutiny from health panel
Amy Binns
EVERY death of a baby in Bradford could be the subject of a confidential inquiry in an attempt to find out if anything could have been done better by health professionals.
And community midwives may be asked to do more to help expectant mums become healthier themselves, and so deliver healthier babies.
The moves are being considered by the Bradford District Infant Mortality Commission, set up to discover why infant mortality in Bradford is on the rise while nationally, child deaths are falling.
The commission, which includes academics, health workers and mothers who have lost children, examined the grim statistics at its first meeting earlier this month.
Not only does the Bradford area have almost twice the national average of infant deaths, about nine per 1,000, but the problem is worsening in the most deprived areas of central Bradford and Keighley.
There, babies are almost five times more likely to die than those in more affluent areas such as Ilkley.
The commission, which will meet five times in the coming months, will ask for evidence from midwives and doctors, as well as from parents whose babies have died or become seriously ill.
The commission is also considering recommending confidential inquiries into every infant death for one year, probably 2007.
Such inquiries, a detailed look at all the healthcare a person has received, are standard when mothers die during labour, but rare for infant deaths.
Dr Liz Kernohan, director of public health at Bradford North Primary Care Trust, said: "They are not about trying to point the finger, but it's looking to see if anything could have been done differently or better.
"It gives people a chance to focus their minds, to see if there are any preventable things."
She said it was also well known that simply looking closely at a problem could make it better, as everyone concerned paid more attention to details, knowing their work may be examined if there were difficulties later on.
Community midwives, who already offer mothers help with stopping smoking, could also monitor diet, drinking and drug-taking.
Dr Kernohan said: "Smoking in pregnancy is a major problem, and alcohol and drugs can also cause real problems.
"We need to pick up the high risk groups and try to get the health of mothers better and conducive to a good outcome."
She said that speaking to mothers was particularly important because they had been through the system.
"We know Bradford hospitals do very well for low birthweight babies, but there are probably issues around making the services more accessible and less centralised," she said.
"If you have another child and are coming by public transport, it may just be too difficult to attend for ante-natal appointments, and so problems like not putting on enough weight can be missed."
She added the commission's early research showed there were probably many reasons why the death rate was so high, and changing the picture would need more than one solution.
"We are not going to find one area that's the answer," she said.
The commission wants your views, and would especially like to hear from parents who have lost children or whose children have had serious problems with their experience of the NHS. Call Ron Miller at Bradford Vision on 01274 431279.
amy.binns@ypn.co.uk