Reflections on Babyloss Awareness Week

Last week was special.  The days between 9 and 15 October marked Babyloss Awareness Week, an annual opportunity to join with others to mark the brief lives of babies lost in pregnancy, at or shortly after birth or in infancy.

And people did.  There were remembrance services and memorial walks, events at Westminster and a three hour debate in the House of Commons.  Pregnancy and baby loss featured on radio and television, in the printed press and online.

The culmination of the week was on Saturday 15 October, International Babyloss Day.  At 7 p.m. their local time, people across the globe lit candles in memory of their babies’ brief lives as part of a Wave of Light.

By Sunday evening, 16 October, the image above was shared over 17,000 times, reaching 2.1 million people.  And hundreds of people have shared photographs of their candles with us.  We are saving them all on our Days That Matter website and later this month we plan to turn them into a video which we’ll share with you here and on YouTube.

Sadly, pregnancy losses happen every single day of the year, not just in October.  The statistics tell us that it is a sadly common experience – and yet people can feel very isolated and alone when it happens to them.

Babyloss Awareness Week reminds us all that while each loss of each baby is unique and individual, the thoughts and feelings for a tiny life lost are shared by many people.  There are people who understand, people who can offer understanding and a listening ear.

You don’t have to go through this alone.