Photo credit: Ivan Samkov
The love you held in your heart isn’t gone.
The ache of a missing child is immense, a depth few can fully understand. Just know- you are not alone. October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, a time to acknowledge the profound grief felt by parents who have experienced the unimaginable loss of a child. This post offers a gentle hand to hold, sharing resources designed to bring peace and healing. From affirmation coloring sheets to comforting weighted bears, we’ve gathered tools to help you navigate your grief and find strength in shared experience. Let these tools be a warm embrace, a reminder that your love continues, even in the face of such a deep loss.
Resources for Infant Loss month
Support Groups & Organizations
Pregnancy After Loss Support (PALS)
Pregnancy After Loss Support (PALS) strives to support women pregnant after a loss and encourage them to choose hope over fear while nurturing grief during a subsequent pregnancy. Pregnancy After Loss Support accomplishes this goal through services for both the mom (and her partner) pregnant again after a loss and the providers who treat her. PALS services include an online magazine, online peer-moderated support groups, local meet-ups, outreach and education through speaking and tabling at professional conferences, resource listings for families and healthcare providers, and a newsletter.
Affirmation coloring sheet
On your journey after loss, you may find yourself looking for ways to reconnect with yourself through different activities. For the inner artist in you, PALs offers a free monthly downloadable coloring page, starting with founder Lindsey Henke’s powerful affirmation: “This is a different pregnancy, a different baby, a different story, with a different ending.” Find peace and solace—one color at a time.
Empty Cradle
Empty Cradle is a non-profit serving families who have lost a baby to miscarriage, stillbirth, infant death, TFMR, SIDS or SUID. It offers support services, remembrance events and opportunities and education to the community.
The Comfort Cub
The mission of The Comfort Cub is to bring comfort to anyone experiencing a broken heart as a result of a significant loss or trauma. According to their website, The Comfort Cub is the world’s very first weighted therapeutic teddy bear. It was invented with love by founder Marcella Johnson in 1999 after the loss of her infant son, George. She created this therapeutic tool to ensure that no other woman would ever have to leave the hospital empty handed after such a devastating heartache. The Comfort Cub is specially weighted and is intended to simulate the comfort of cradling a newborn. This weight can help alleviate physical aching in the body brought on by Broken Heart Syndrome or grief.
The Miscarriage Doula
Arden Cartrette, The Miscarriage Doula, is a certified Birth + Bereavement Doula and Trauma Support Specialist. She is dedicated to helping you make informed decisions, understand grief, and know what to expect from the physical and mental element of healing. Her services include one-on-one zoom calls to prepare for pregnancy loss, to cope and process your experience, along with creating plans moving forward through your fertility journey.
Saying Goodbye: A personal story of baby loss and 90 days of support to walk you through grief
Book description:
Losing a baby, whether through miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death, leaves so many parents lost in grief and full of unanswered questions. Zoë Clark-Coates, and her husband Andy, have personally faced the loss of five babies. Out of their experiences came the charity The Mariposa Trust (more often known by its leading division Saying Goodbye), offering support to thousands of grieving parents and relatives around the world each week. Now, Zoë writes a moving account of their experiences and how they found a way through to provide help and support for others. Alongside this are 90 days of daily support for those who are grieving, offering comfort and hope during the difficult days, weeks and months.