When a baby dies bereaved parents can feel very isolated. They don’t usually know anyone else who has had a similar experience. Support from family and friends can sometimes fall away soon after a baby has died.
The Sands Online Community provides a safe space for bereaved parents to connect with each other and share their feelings 24 hours a day.
Many bereaved parents have told us that it really does help to speak to others who are bereaved following the death of baby, and reassures them that they are not alone.
As well as supporting parents, the Online Community is available to other members of the family, including siblings (over the age of 14) and grandparents.
Some people feel unable to write anything at first, but can find great comfort from reading about other people’s experiences.
It takes just 24 hours to activate a new account once you have registered.
Visit the Sands Online Community.
Alternatively, you can register to use our closed Facebook group by answering a few simple questions and connect with others through a popular social media platform
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SandsSupportGroup/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/sandssupportfordads/
In addition, we offer support meetings online. If you would like to attend, please book onto one of our online support meetings: Sands Support Meeting Online Tickets, Multiple Dates | Eventbrite.
Lucy Biggs' experience
"There are no words, they say, for stillbirth – but it turned out there are many."
Lucy Biggs has written a powerful and moving insight for The Guardian into the conversations that helped and the support she received from Sands after her son Reuben was stillborn.
Reuben was not the only baby who died that week. My new friend Caroline’s daughter, Bethany, was stillborn, too. We met through the online forum of the charity Sands, which supports those affected by stillbirth and neonatal death. Close to 100,000 words rest between us now, via email. We write often, but also stay in touch via WhatsApp and meet in person. “We are not alone,” we say to each other, “wrestling with motherhood, as it turned out to be.”
Read full story here.