Hospital lights up pink and blue to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week

Communications TeamNews

Hull Women and Children’s Hospital will be lit up pink and blue from tonight to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is marking Baby Loss Awareness Week, now in its 20th year, so families, staff and all those affected by the loss of a baby can come together to remember and commemorate these much-loved and missed babies.

The week provides an opportunity to raise awareness of the impact of pregnancy and baby loss, the importance bereavement support plays in the ongoing bereavement journey and the vital work needed to improve pregnancy outcomes and save babies’ lives.

Specialist Bereavement Midwife Sue Cooper said: “We want Hull Women and Children’s Hospital to become a beacon of light in the darkness and to show bereaved parents and families we will never forget their precious babies.”

HUTH is about to launch a programme of training with a cohort of recently qualified midwives to ensure families experiencing the death of their babies are supported and counselled by expert staff.

While restrictions had to be put in place throughout the early months of the pandemic, extended family members can now join bereaved parts in our special bereavement suite, away from the rest of the hospital’s labour facilities, to spend precious time with their babies.

This year, Baby Loss Awareness Week will be exploring the theme of Stepping Stones and how someone whose baby has died finds themselves on a new path they never expected to be on.

Clea Harmer, Chief Executive of Sands and Chair of the Baby Loss Awareness Alliance, said: “Following their loss, families find themselves on a new path they never expected to be on. This year, Baby Loss Awareness Week focuses on the steps along that journey, and how they are different for everyone. Some steps along the journey can feel harder than others, but there is always a hand to support anyone when they feel unsteady.

“I hope that Hull Women and Children’s Hospital being lit up pink and blue during October will help will help reassure anyone who finds themselves on this journey, whether recently bereaved or longer ago, that there is a community that exists to help with whatever is needed, whether that is advice, support or simply someone to listen and walk by their side.”

Hull Women and Children’s Hospital will be featured alongside other buildings and landmarks turning pink and blue around the country during Baby Loss Awareness Week 2022 on the interactive map and on the official Baby Loss Awareness Facebook page.

Anyone in East Yorkshire can share their photos of Hull Women and Children’s Hospital on social media and include the hashtag #BLAW to reach as many people as possible.

Baby Loss Awareness Week culminates with the “Wave of Light” on 15 October when people around the world light a candle at 7pm to remember all babies that have died too soon.

Rev Tony Brookes, Head of Chaplaincy at HUTH, said: “Please join us and light a candle at 7pm on 16 October to remember all babies that died too soon and leave it burning for at least one hour to create a wave of light across the world.”