Stillbirth, Neonatal Death and the Grief Journey

The illustrated booklet Stillbirth, Neonatal Death and the Grief Journey was funded by the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research and the Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund as part of a wider project on grief and baby loss. The booklet is a co-produced resource, based on research evidence from an NIHR study of perinatal bereavement (iCHOOSE, PI Danya Bakhbakhi, collaborator), Dawson’s research on grief, and the experiences of parents; it was made in collaboration with Sands, the UK’s largest stillbirth and neonatal death charity. It is being offered as a free resource to hospitals and charities. We developed Stillbirth, Neonatal Death and the Grief Journey because we felt there was a need for an accessible resource which conveyed key information about the emotional and physical experiences that follow the death of a baby, with illustrations that capture the lived experience of grief. Current resources on this topic are sometimes dry or buried in information packs that also cover the practical, medical, and legal aspects of stillbirth and neonatal death. We wanted our booklet to promote tolerance and understanding by emphasizing that everyone’s experience is different and there is no one right way to grieve.