Perinatal Loss Resources
Searching for support, information and answers following the loss of a pregnancy or infant is a natural part of the grief process. Often, there are no answers, but knowing that you are not alone can help. We have compiled some information as a place for you to start, beginning with general resources and then offering links for specific types of loss. For support group resources, click here.
A Message for Friends and Extended Family
If you are a friend or family member looking to support someone, thank you for your willingness to walk alongside your loved one. If you are struggling to know what to do, and what to say or not say, we are here to guide you. Please review our page for friends and extended family.
General Resources (organized alphabetically)
- Babies Remembered - Understanding, healing and information from author, Sherokee Ilse.
- Bereaved Parents of the USA - National non-profit self-help group offering support and understanding for the loss of a child.
- Goodgrief App - Launched in 2018, new members create profiles based on the loss they suffered and then can initiate or accept conversations with others via in-app texting. Their opening sentences often sound almost identical: “I’m here for support,” is typical. These are moms whose babies died during birth. Men whose wives didn’t survive cancer. Sisters who found a sibling post-suicide. Spouses in the aftermath of divorce. Children who lost parents.
- Grief Counseling - Techniques and how it helps.
- GriefWatch – Online resource for loss support.
- H.A.N.D. (Helping After Neonatal Death) - Helps parents, their families, and their healthcare providers cope with the loss of a baby before, during or after birth.
- HopeXchange - Offers information, educational and uplifting articles, booklets, pamphlets, books, miscarriage FAQs, extensive list of links and resources, and free monthly newsletter.
- Hugs For Harrison - Faith-based organization that offers care packages and counseling sessions.
- Lasagna Love - An organization that helps people by donating a lasagna to those in need of a home-cooked meal for whatever reason, whether it be due to food insecurity or other struggles related to life circumstances like grief, mental health struggles, etc. Local Volunteers cook and deliver meals all over Georgia.
- Laurel Box - Gifts to care for the soul after a loss.
- Lyla's Legacy - Offers care packages, up to six sessions of professional and licensed counseling & faith-based support.
- Love & Loss Project - The Love & Loss Project offers free virtual monthly retreats, healing programs & private sessions for women and couples across the globe.
- M.E.N.D. (Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death) – Works hand-in-hand with healthcare providers to improve patient encounters and care in the midst of the painful experience of a miscarriage, stillbirth or infant loss.
- M.I.S.S. Foundation - Mothers In Sympathy and Support (MISS) Foundation is dedicated to supporting parents one-to-one after the death of an infant or young child. Referrals to peer contacts and ancillary organizations are offered.
- Missing G.R.A.C.E. Foundation - A national nonprofit organization that provides education and bereavement materials for Professional Care Providers as well as resources and support for families that have experienced a pregnancy loss, infant loss, infertility or adoption. The heart of the mission of G.R.A.C.E. is helping families Grieve, Restore, Arise, Commemorate and Educate.
- Return to Zero Center for Healing - Transforming the culture of pregnancy and infant loss through: Healing Retreats, Outreach and Education, Peer Support and Community, and Empowerment.
- Rachel's Gift - A local Atlanta-area organization which partners with local hospitals to assist parents through the initial phase of infant loss through a base of caring and knowledgeable volunteers. They provide grief assistance for the families as well as a training program for nursing professionals and care givers on companioning patients through infant loss.
- Saying Goodbye - Information, advice and support for the loss of a pregnancy or infant (UK based website).
- SHARE Pregnancy and Infant Loss (National) - Serving those whose lives are touched by the tragic death of a baby through pregnancy loss, stillbirth or in the first few months of life; providing support toward positive resolution of grief experienced at the time of, or following, the death of a baby. This support encompasses emotional, physical, spiritual, and social healing, as well as sustaining the family unit.
- SHARE Pregnancy and Infant Loss (Atlanta Chapter) - Local grief support groups, memorial services, workshops, and outreach for healing and advocacy; memory bricks and angel memorial garden located in Sandy Springs; phone support, website that contains over 400 pages and includes forums, written materials, and opportunities for sharing.
- Stillbirth Advocacy Study- Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Georgia is conducting a research study for families who have experienced a stillbirth. Georgia does not currently have bereavement leave policies for families impacted by stillbirth. We aim to change this by sharing the stories of those who have experienced this loss. Please click the on the link at the beginning of this bullet point if you would like to participate. We want to create a safe space for birthing individuals to share their challenges and empower their voices to drive meaningful policy change.
- Stillbirthday - The mission of the Stillbirthday Global Network is to validate a pregnancy loss as the birth, and death, that it is. We do this in part through printable birth plans and doulas who can support families in person prior to, during, or after birth. We aim to come alongside families from the very beginning of their parenting journey, whether through rearing or grieving, and provide support for birth in any trimester.
- Still Standing Magazine - A collection of articles by bereaved parents with support for mothers, fathers, grandparents, and with topics including mental health and infertility.
- Through the Heart - Online support and resources including comfort kits, education and remembrance wall.
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Blogs
- A Baby Carly Story - Mom who delivered her stillborn daughter at Northside.
- A Blog for Fathers When a Baby Dies - for fathers who lose a baby.
- Chasing Rainbows, H.E.A.R.T.strings Perinatal Bereavement & Palliative Care Blog
- Holding Harrison - A mom's encouraging insight about the loss of her son.
- Pregnancy Journeys After Loss - "The birth of a child isn't always a nine-month process."
- Pregnant with Hope - Faith-based infertility and loss support.
- Recapture My Heart – A palliative care journey for a family with a diagnosis of anencephaly.
Resources for Specific Types of Perinatal Loss
LACTATION AFTER LOSS
LIVING CHILDLESS AFTER A LOSS
LOSS OF A MULTIPLE
MEDICAL TERMINATION
MISCARRIAGE
STILLBIRTH
LACTATION AFTER LOSS
- Helping Hands Milk Bank - Serves as a resource for donation across the United States.
- Human Milk Banking Association of North America - Organization that believes in a world where all infants have access to human milk through support of breastfeeding and use of donor human milk.
LIVING CHILDLESS AFTER A LOSS
- Still Mothers: Living Childless After a Loss - Still Mothers is a community and support resource for women who are living a childless life after the death of their only child(ren). We support all mothers who have faced loss due to miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death, infant death, as well as any other form of child loss.
LOSS OF A MULTIPLE
- C.L.I.M.B. (Center for Loss in Multiple Birth) - Parents throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and beyond who have experienced the death of one or more, both or all of our twins or higher multiples at any time from conception through birth, infancy and childhood.
- Forever Angels: Loss in the Womb - Discussion board for parents losing one, more or all multiple birth children.
MEDICAL TERMINATION
- Baby Center: Termination for Medical Reasons Group - Online support group for those terminating a pregnancy based on medical reasons.
- Ending a Wanted Pregnancy - Provides abortion grief support after pregnancy termination for medical reasons, whether a decision was based on a poor prenatal diagnosis or maternal health problems.
MISCARRIAGE
- Baby Center: Understanding Miscarriage - This website has information on all kinds of loss. Trigger alert – it is also a general pregnancy site.
- Facts About Miscarriage: Information, Healing and Hope - A mom's personal perspective on baby loss and miscarriage.
- March of Dimes: Complications & Miscarriage - Information from the March of Dimes on miscarriage.
- Miscarriage Association - Information and support following miscarriage, molar pregnancy or ectopic. Also has remembrance page to add your baby’s name to a star.
- Miscarriage Support Auckland - Organization based in New Zealand offering information and support.
- Infant Loss Resources - SIDS/sleep related loss
STILLBIRTH
- First Candle - Organization dedicated to reducing the rates of stillbirth and SIDS.
- The International Stillbirth Alliance (ISA) - The International Stillbirth Alliance (ISA) is an alliance of member organizations and individual supporters working towards stillbirth prevention and improvement of bereavement care worldwide.
- Sands – Online support from this UK-based website.
- Star Legacy Foundation - Community of health professionals, researchers, families, policy makers and advocates dedicated to healthy pregnancy outcomes and stillbirth prevention.