Baby Loss Awareness

Whether you’re the parent who carried a baby who has died or not, the experience of losing a little one is no less devastating.

Supporting Your Partner After the Loss of a Baby

Warning, this post contains details of baby loss that some might find upsetting.​

Whether you’re the parent who carried a baby who has died or not, the experience of losing a little one is no less devastating.

We know that the needs of dads and partners are often overlooked. There is no right or wrong way through grief, but it’s important to find something that works for you.

As a partner, you might be expected to take the lead role in telling family and friends, liaising with health professionals, making funeral arrangements and supporting the baby’s birth mother. This can feel overwhelming, particularly when you’re also grieving for your baby.

Here are some tips from various charities and organisations about how partners can take care of themselves after the loss of a baby…

  • It’s important to accept your need to mourn and express your grief. Remember that as you grieve, you are healing. Take one day at a time and trust the process.
  • If you are comfortable speaking to others, it can be good to talk or message close friends and people who understand what you are going through.
  • When you’re ready, you could take on a challenge that could be linked to fundraising for a cause that’s important to you, in your baby’s memory. 

Baby Loss Resources

There are so many amazing charitable organisations and resources that you can reach out to. Here are just a few…

  • Sometimes parents, family members and friends who have gone through pregnancy loss, or whose baby has died find it beneficial to write about their experience as a cathartic way of honestly expressing how they feel. If you would like to, you can share your story on the Baby Loss Awareness website.
  • SANDS is a volunteer-based organisation providing individualised care from one bereaved parent to another, giving them support and hope for the future, following the death of a baby.
  • Bears of Hope provide support and care for families who experience the loss of their baby.
  • Compassionate Friends Victoria provide peer support for grieving family members following the death of a child. Parents, siblings, and grandparents can access their services when needed.
  • Red Nose Grief and Loss assist families who have experienced the sudden and unexpected death of a baby or child, during birth, pregnancy or infancy, regardless of the cause. 

Follow Baby Loss Awareness Week on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to learn more, and to donate, follow this link.