Ways to remember your baby
- Many families find it helpful to write about their experiences. You might want to try writing a diary or a letter to your baby.
- You may want to keep scan pictures, your pregnancy journal and any health notes in a special box.
- Press and frame any flowers you receive.
- Light a candle for your baby on anniversaries or other memorable dates, or during Baby Loss Awareness Week.
- Leave an entry for your baby in your hospital’s Book of Remembrance, if they have one.
- Buy something special in memory of your baby, such as a piece of jewellery.
- Plant a tree or flowers at home, or in a local garden of remembrance.
- You may wish to give your baby a name.
- Before 24 weeks, there is no legal recognition of your baby’s short life. However, some hospitals provide a certificate in memory of your baby. You can ask the hospital staff about this.
- Get involved with Tommy’s work.
“My husband gave me a locket on our wedding day to put photos of our future children in. Around the time of our miscarriage, my locket got dented. It sounds strange, but I take great comfort in thinking that this little mark was a memory of our first baby.
“For a long time I didn’t feel justified in giving my baby a name. There’s such a stigma attached to early miscarriage, a lack of understanding. In the end I called him Ezra, it seemed wrong not to give him a name and doing so really helped me.”
Melissa. Read more miscarriage stories.
Creating an In Memory Fundraising page
Some women and couples choose to honour their baby’s memory with an online tribute page. This allows friends and family to show their support through messages and give donations to the person’s chosen charity. Some people see this as a way of channelling their grief into something positive.
If you would like to, you can create an In Memory Fundraising page for Tommy’s. All donations received through tribute pages come directly to us and are put towards our research. This help us to find out why babies are lost during pregnancy and birth, and stop others experiencing the loss you have felt. Find out more about the difference our research has made.
If you have any questions about setting up a tribute page, or have any problems doing some please contact us at [email protected] or call on 020 7398 3400.
Find out how to create an In Memory page
Holding a ceremony or memorial service
You may choose to have a funeral, ceremony or memorial service for your baby. You could have it just for you and your partner or ask close friends and family to come too.
There is no law about burial of babies born under 24 weeks. Some hospitals may offer a simple burial or funeral that may cost some money. You might want to attend a remembrance service. Ask your hospital chaplain if the hospital holds a service for babies who have died there.
Saying Goodbye Services
Saying Goodbye provides support for anyone who has suffered baby loss, at any stage of pregnancy, at birth or in infancy, whether the loss was recent or historic.
Every year, the charity holds remembrance services across the UK and internationally for anyone who has lost a baby, regardless of how and when. If you need to say goodbye to a baby or to grieve, you are welcome at any service. Find out more about these services, including dates and locations.
