Baby Loss Awareness Week
Baby Loss Awareness Week takes place every year and raises awareness about pregnancy and baby loss in the UK. Throughout the week, bereaved parents and their families and friends come together to commemorate the lives of babies who died during pregnancy, at or soon after birth, and in infancy.
This is a message from our Family Support Team during Baby Loss Awareness Week.
The loss of a baby is a shocking and devastating event for not only the parents themselves, but the whole family, including grandparents and siblings, all of whom will have had dreams and hopes for the future with their new family member.
The Care Team, including the Family Support Team at Naomi House & Jacksplace, offers practical, psychological and spiritual support for bereaved families under their care, at a time when it is most needed and can be tailored to suit individual families' needs.
In the early stages of loss and grief, family members will most likely be in a state of shock and struggling to take in the loss and impact on themselves. At this time, we find that what is most useful can be to talk through some of the practical aspects, such as funeral planning and taking good physical care of themselves at this stressful time. Some family members also find their faith and spiritual beliefs are more prominent and value the opportunity to discuss this with our Chaplain.
As time progresses, it may be that a regular check-in phone call, attendance at the bereaved parents group or bereaved dads group will help by offering the opportunity to talk to other parents in the same situation. If there are siblings in the family, the Family Support Team can offer direct one-to-one support, regular bereaved siblings groups in school holidays, or the opportunity to discuss with parents the best way to provide help to their children whilst in grief themselves.
The Family Support team can also offer one to one counselling support for parents and grandparents to help with thinking through the impact of the loss, particularly around dates and anniversaries in the first year, which can be so difficult to get through. Examples could be birthdays, the date of death, diagnosis, hospital admission etc.
The timing of support is led by the family and our team offers this for as long as the family needs.
Support
We understand this can be an incredibly difficult time for some. If you're a recently bereaved parent or family member and are looking for help, please reach out by visiting: https://babyloss-awareness.org/for-bereaved-parents-families/