Honouring the memory of a lost child

Losing anyone you love is always hard, but it’s so much more difficult when the one you’ve lost is a baby or a very young child. A new life is greeted with hope, optimism and excitement for what the future will bring, and to have those dreams taken away must be unbearably difficult.

Baby Loss Awareness Week

Here at Tithe Green Natural Burial, we meet many more families than we’d like to that have lost a baby. In this article, and to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week, we’ll share a few ideas on how parents and loved ones can keep a baby's memory alive and close to their hearts.

Ways to remember a lost baby

• Create a place of remembrance

Having somewhere to gather on a special anniversary is a wonderful way of remembering someone, and that can be as true for a very young life as for a long life well-lived. From a plaque on a bench in a favourite park or some other meaningful location to a more traditional memorial stone in a graveyard or cemetery, there are many ways you can choose to memorialise your baby in a special place.

• Create a memory book

Even the shortest life leaves behind moments to cherish, whether that’s in the form of ultrasound, hospital keepsakes, photographs or handwritten messages. You’re likely to have many items associated with your child’s life you can bring together, and this is something you can also involve your wider family in.

• Plant a tree

Planting a tree is a wonderful way of commemorating a lost young life, because you’re not only creating a special place to visit over the years and watch the tree grow, but you’re also doing something amazing for the planet at the same time. Here at Tithe Green Natural Burial, even if you’re not having a burial or ashes interment, you can still plant a tree, complete with memorial plaque, at one of our beautiful East Midlands sites.

• Fundraise, donate or even set up a charity in their name

Supporting a charity – or even starting one in their name – can both keep your child’s memory alive and hopefully alleviate the suffering of others. You might choose to do that by helping to fund research into the specific condition that affected your child, or you might want to raise vital money for a charity that supports parents experiencing what you’ve been through.

Remembering a baby’s life at Tithe Green Natural Burial

Here at Tithe Green Natural Burial, we work with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust to provide burial facilities for babies lost during the early stages of a pregnancy.

Unfortunately, this is an event that happens far too frequently, so we hold monthly committal services with the Trust’s Chaplain for all the babies who are buried at our Oxton site. We are proud to partner with local funeral directors A W Lymn to provide these funerals and burials at our natural burial ground.

We also have a dedicated day each year when we plant trees for babies lost over the previous 12 months.

If you’d like to know more about any of our services or find out how you can help turn a loss into a positive with our eco-friendly burial solutions, get in touch with our friendly team today.