About Baby and Infant Death in Australia
Neonatal death
Each year, there are around 800 Neonatal deaths in Australia. Some of those babies die immediately or soon after birth, while others may spend some days or weeks in a hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. The cause of their death is not always known, but they may be at greater risk if they are born prematurely, have a low birth weight, or have a serious medical condition. Neonatal death may also be related to pregnancy or labour complications.
Sudden Unexpected Death in infancy (SUDI)
SUDI is a term used to identify the deaths of apparently healthy infants who would be expected to thrive, yet, for reasons often unknown, die suddenly and unexpectedly in the first year of life. After an autopsy is performed, these deaths are generally found to have an explained cause such as infant illness, a sleep accident or inflicted injury.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
SIDS is a term used to identify the death of an infant in the first year of life where there is no identifiable cause following autopsy. The incidence of SIDS has more than halved in recent years due to public health campaigns addressing known major risk factors such as prone sleeping, passive smoking and overheating.
Baby Death
Parents may also lose their baby beyond the first year of life, due to illness, accident or other circumstances.
Possible Symptoms
Parents who have experienced losing a baby may describe a range of symptoms including:
- Permanent quilt or questioning whether or not they could have done something to prevent their baby’s death
- Guilt that they did not sense something was wrong
- Initial state of shock
- Distress caused by police attendance, coronial involvement and autopsy processes
- Post-traumatic symptoms caused by discovering their baby’s body
- Making funeral arrangements
- Explaining to other children or siblings
- Wondering what to tell their friends, family or work colleagues
- Coping with others’ grief responses as well as their own
- Feeling disconnected from the world around them
- Flashbacks
- Lactating, with no baby to feed
- De-briefing opportunities with the hospital or medical staff involved
- Finding ways to create memories
- Physical responses such as still feeling pregnant, loss of appetite, headaches, stomach aches and sleep issues
- Managing work demands and negotiating parental leave
A more comprehensive list of symptoms related to grief and loss and support can be found on our bereavement page.
Ongoing symptoms of an infant or baby death include:
- Having tears behind every smile
- Not wanting to see people
- Finding small talk difficult
- Avoiding people on the street
- Noticing every baby around them
- Avoiding playgrounds
- Feeling they will never “get over” the loss
- Finding silence deafening
- Needing to find ways to honour their baby's death every year
- Lacking energy or motivation for self-care
- Experiencing persistent nightmares and disturbed sleep
- Struggling with how awkward other people are about their loss.
Everyone responds differently to loss, and grief can change over time.
Ideas that can help
Ideas that can help parents through the loss of a baby or infant:
- Create memories and take time to be with the baby at the hospital or at home, to treasure them long after the goodbye
- Take photos, or ask someone else to
- Make handprints or footprints
- Write a journal
- Hold and cuddle the baby
- Ask hospital staff for a quiet room with a sign on the door limiting disturbances
- Ask family members, siblings or friends to attend the hospital for support
- Try to have as many parenting experiences as possible: stay with them, bath them, dress them and take photos
- Ask to take the placenta home and bury it
- Attend a support group
- Take care of the non-birthing partner and support each other
- Engage in cultural, spiritual or religious practices
- Plant a tree
- Create a keepsake box containing meaningful reminders such as photos, clothing, ID bracelets or other special items
Some ideas that can help parents after losing a baby or infant:
- Find ways to create an ongoing bond or connection with the pregnancy or the baby who died. This may include regular rituals and acknowledging birthdays, anniversaries and other milestones. This allows for healing and honours a parent’s continuing connection with their baby
- Share photos and say their name
- Talk to a doctor or other healthcare professional to gain further understanding of the possible medical causes for the loss or baby’s death
- Nurture the relationship between the mother and non-birthing partner
- Seek support from family, friends or others who have been through a similar loss
- Seek counselling, peer support, support groups or online groups
- Speak to a Manager or workplace HR Manager about bereavement leave
- Don’t feel rushed. There is no time frame for grief or getting pregnant again. Take time to think and talk all of this through.
Grief is difficult, and it takes a long time to adjust to this type of loss. Be patient and reach out to professional support services as soon as it's needed.
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