Trigger warning:

As we mark Baby Loss Awareness Week, this article includes references to pregnancy loss, baby loss, stillbirth, neonatal death and bereavement. We recognise that this may be upsetting or bring up difficult feelings for some readers. Please take care when reading and step away if you need to. If you are affected by any of the issues raised, consider speaking to someone you trust or contacting a specialist baby loss support organisation.

Losing a baby can be one of the hardest things that can happen to anyone. The death of a baby is something many of us prefer not to think about, but sadly it does happen and is more common than many people realise.

Every day in the UK, thirteen babies die before, during or after birth and at least 1 in 6 pregnancies end in miscarriage.

This year, Baby Loss Awareness Week is 9–15 October, with 2026 marking the 24th year of raising awareness of pregnancy and baby loss. It is a time to come together, whether your loss is recent or many years ago, to remember and honour babies who are deeply wanted, deeply loved and deeply missed.

Throughout the week, many national and local organisations will be offering safe and supportive spaces where you can remember your baby or babies, in whatever way that feels right for you.

Here at St Michael’s Hospice, we understand that infertility, pregnancy and baby loss can bring a wide and often overwhelming range of emotions. It is a journey like no other. Everyone’s experience is different and there is no right or wrong way to feel. Many people don’t know how to support someone who has experienced this type of loss. It can feel awkward, sad and uncomfortable. Some people who have experienced loss may want to talk openly about their baby, their hopes and dreams, and the future they had imagined. Others may prefer to find quiet comfort and reflection in reading about the experiences of others.

Support can be helpful not only for parents, but also for partners, extended family members, friends, colleagues and professionals who have been affected. Everyone’s grief and connection to loss is personal, and everyone deserves compassion and understanding.

If you are supporting someone, you might find the following helpful:

• Use the baby’s name and ask about the choice of name

• Suggest planting a tree and decorating it on meaningful occasions, such as the due date, birthdays, Christmas, Easter or the anniversary of the loss
• Encourage the parent’s story to be told
• Create a family tree that includes the baby
• Talk about possible loss of identity, or fitting in with peers who are pregnant
• Help parents to identify how they can let others know what help and support they need.
• Suggest writing letters to the baby and invite other family members to do the same. These letters might describe who the baby looked like, the dreams the family had for them, who they might have become, and the impact they may have had on the world.
• Be comfortable with your own feelings and even if you’re not, sit with them.

Try to avoid:

• The impulse or the desire to reduce emotional pain
• Attempting to answer questions or thoughts for which there are no answers
• Saying anything that starts with ‘at least’ – “At least you know you can get pregnant, you have other children.”
• Saying the first year is the hardest and that time heals
• Saying “You need to look after Mum’’, remember partners are also grieving and need support
• Saying “It was meant to be this way – maybe it’s for the best.’’

If you have been touched by infertility, pregnancy or baby loss, be gentle on yourself and know this: you and your story matters, your baby matters, your grief matters. Whether your loss happened recently or long ago, here at St Michael’s Hospice we can offer you understanding and support. However you choose to mark the week, please know that you do not have to do it alone.