Baby Loss Awareness Week 2018

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this year’s Baby Loss Awareness Week (BLAW). Sharing stories, raising funds and getting involved on social media all helped to spread the word and raise awareness, making it a really powerful week.

Here’s a summary of some of the week’s activities.

New animation

We were very proud to be part of a collaboration of more than 60 baby loss charities working together this BLAW. As part of this alliance, we launched the week with an animation. Our thanks to Postcard Productions who created the animation and to Anthony Weeden for the music. And thanks to everyone sharing it, the animation has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

In the media

• Hazel Milns talked about her experience of pregnancy loss and the support she received from the M.A. on Radio Newark.
• Ruth from the M.A. talked to Radio 5 Live about miscarriage and registration of pregnancy loss (discussed throughout the programme). Radio 5 Live then came back to the topic at the end of the week to talk to men about their experiences, including M.A. media volunteer and founder of The Dads Net, Al Ferguson (again, discussed throughout the programme).
• Katy Lindemann wrote a powerful piece in the Guardian (print and online), ‘Please, doctor, don’t call my lost baby a ‘product of conception’’.
• Ayrshire radio station West FM interviewed a woman who had experienced recurrent miscarriage and Ruth from the M.A., which was also broadcast on Radio Clyde in Glasgow.
• Supporter Erin Sharkey and Ruth from the M.A. spoke to Belfast Live for an article about care for people experiencing recurrent miscarriage in Northern Ireland.
• Support group volunteer Alison Szustakowski and Ruth from the M.A. spoke to BBC Radio Leeds (listen from 1:42).

Shared stories and new resources

• Alison Bender, broadcast journalist and football presenter, wrote about her experience of miscarriage.
• Ruth from the M.A. hosted an hour long discussion on Twitter, as part of #BabyLossHour, about the physical experience of miscarriage. It was a very honest and supportive conversation about something that is rarely talked about openly.
• Serafina Salvador shared an eight-part podcast talking about everything from the medical management of miscarriage to the partner’s experience, featuring M.A. media volunteer James Barnett and Alice from the M.A..
• A new film from the U.S., ‘Don’t talk about the baby’, was released for rental and sale online. It covers a wide range of pregnancy & baby loss issues, including the experiences of partners, grandparents and loss long ago.

 Parliamentary events

• A backbench debate on baby loss took place in the House of Commons, organised by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Baby Loss. Available to watch or listen here.
• A well-attended drop-in event was held in Westminster for MPs, civil servants and charities, launching Baby Loss Awareness Week and the National Bereavement Care Pathway (NBCP). This was followed by a moving remembrance event in Parliament’s Chapel of St Mary Undercroft.
• A Scottish parliamentary event at Holyrood helped to launch work to develop the NBCP in Scotland.
• A one hour National Assembly for Wales debate was held, secured by Lynne Neagle AM. Available to read here.
• A candle event was held in The Pierhead, Cardiff, sponsored by Mark Drakeford AM.

Patricia Gibson, MP with Ruth Bender Atik, National Director of the Miscarriage Association at the Westminster BLAW launch event

In this short film a number of politicians show their support for Baby Loss Awareness Week:

Remembrance events

A number of local events took place, including a remembrance walk in Belfast organised by M.A. supporter, Erin, pictured here.

Turning the UK pink and blue

Nearly 200 buildings and landmarks lit up in pink and blue in support of BLAW this year, an amazing response to everyone who got in touch to ask them to get involved – thank you!

Wave of Light

On the final evening of Baby Loss Awareness Week, people around the world lit a candle in memory of babies lost in pregnancy, at or soon after birth and in infancy. Photos of these candles spread a ‘Wave of Light’ across social media. We are currently putting together an online album of the hundreds of photos shared with us.

Update: photos are now available to view here.