Mayor of Sefton Cllr Clare Carragher is encouraging grieving parents to talk about their experiences and seek the support they need during Baby Loss Awareness Week.
Cllr Carragher is the proud mum of three children but has also undergone the trauma of losing six babies, which left her heartbroken.
She described it as “the most traumatic experience of my life” and is calling for more awareness and more discussion after being shocked that no funerals were available for her baby loss and finding that “the people around did not totally understand”.
Baby Loss Awareness Week, which takes place this week (9th-15th October 2022), helps people to acknowledge the scale and impact of pregnancy and baby loss.
1 in 4 people in the UK experience pregnancy or baby loss. However, stigma and silence can often mean families feel isolated in their grief. It has to change.
Cllr Clare Carrager said: “This week marks Baby Loss Awareness Week. This is a very delicate subject and this week gives a chance to share experiences and to talk and to try to understand the desperate loss that is felt.
“I have lost six babies, five to miscarriage and one ectopic pregnancy.
“I am however blessed with three beautiful sons which I owe to the amazing staff at Liverpool Women’s Hospital and the care and support I have received.
“Losing a child to miscarriage is one of the most difficult experiences to come to terms with and is still very misunderstood.
“I was four and a half months pregnant when I lost my daughter. I had felt her kick – she was real.
“Yet after feeling unwell I was told that there was no heartbeat and my baby had died.
“What followed was the most traumatic experience of my life. However, the people around did not totally understand.
“There was no funeral available to grieve, yet our hearts were broken.
“I received comments including: ‘It wasn’t meant to be’, ‘You’re still young enough to try again’, and ‘Forget about it now and move on, these things happen’.
“What I am trying to say is, when parents lose a child this way, they have still lost a child, that child is real.
“Please talk about it, say the child’s name, keep that memory going. Please don’t avoid the subject.
“Talking helps. Making the sense of loss a reality helps.
“Don’t brush over the loss. The baby did exist, if only for a little while. We have to talk about it.
“This 21st October would have been my daughter’s 29th birthday and I will celebrate the life she could have had. We have to talk.”
For more details and support through Baby Loss Awareness Week, please visit: babyloss-awareness.org
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