{"id":326,"date":"2020-10-09T20:50:39","date_gmt":"2020-10-09T19:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/?p=326"},"modified":"2021-08-16T16:52:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T15:52:59","slug":"baby-loss-awareness-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/baby-loss-awareness-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Loss Awareness Week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Baby Loss Awareness Week<\/strong><\/a> is held annually from 9 \u2013 15 October. It\u2019s now in its 18th year, and is promoted by over 90 charities. The week helps mark the lives of babies lost in pregnancy or shortly after birth, as well as raising awareness of the issues surrounding infant loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the event also does \u2013 and this is so important for those dealing with baby loss \u2013 is help to break the silence surrounding it. The vast, overwhelming silence. And that is crucial in helping sufferers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s event focuses on the theme of isolation, which is obviously more relevant than ever in 2020. More than ever, people are suffering alone because of restrictions and not being able to easily access the usual forms of support or spend time with family and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online events take place throughout the week, offering information and advice on issues such as mental health, effect on partners, children and the wider family, and how culture and ethnicity can impact on baby loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the last day, 15 October, the annual International Wave of Light takes place. All around the world, people light a candle or candles in memory of the baby or babies they\u2019ve lost. Often these candles are placed in a window and are shared on social media to create a wave of light across the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years I was blissfully unaware of what all the candles represented on 15 October, but a few years ago I became one of the 1 in 4 women who lose a baby during pregnancy or birth. Now I know all too well and I light my own candle, having experienced a miscarriage in between the births of my two children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our baby was lost relatively early, 9 weeks into the pregnancy. It\u2019s nothing compared to what many, many people go through, but a loss is still a loss. That baby was very much loved and wanted. We don\u2019t know whether it was a girl or boy, but we remember them, a missing little piece of our family who we never had the chance to get to know, and we\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always talked openly about my miscarriage, but it certainly wasn\u2019t easy to tell people at the time, particularly as not many people knew I was pregnant. I thought I would wait until the 12-week scan to let people know \u2013 \u201cjust in case\u201d. In my next pregnancy, I went for two extremes of letting people know: I told my family and close friends straight away, but I didn\u2019t tell my colleagues at work until after 20 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My point is, there\u2019s no right or wrong way to do any of this. And there\u2019s no right or wrong way to take part in Baby Loss Awareness Week either. If you\u2019ve suffered loss and want to take part in any of the events or the Wave of Light, then you might find it all really helpful. But if you don\u2019t want to take part then that is also ok. Your grief and feelings are your own and you shouldn\u2019t feel any pressure to handle them in a certain way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s one thing that sufferers should know, it\u2019s that you\u2019re not alone. Not even now in the middle of COVID-19. So many people are dealing with infant loss completely alone, at a time when they are really in need of support \u2013 but help is available, and that\u2019s key in the message this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s vital we continue to talk about this topic, break the silence and get support to those who need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out more, and if you would like to donate, visit babyloss-awareness.org<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

#BLAW2020
#WaveofLight
#YouAreNotAlone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baby Loss Awareness Week (9-15 October) is now in its 18th year. Help break the silence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,32,12],"tags":[33,34,35],"class_list":["post-326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parenting","category-health-and-self","category-life","tag-baby-loss-awareness-week","tag-miscarriage","tag-wave-of-light"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":13,"label":"Parenting and Family"},{"value":32,"label":"Health and Self"},{"value":12,"label":"Life"}],"post_tag":[{"value":33,"label":"baby loss awareness week"},{"value":34,"label":"miscarriage"},{"value":35,"label":"wave of light"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/candle-for-baby-loss-awareness-week-1024x500.jpg",1024,500,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Almost The Weekend","author_link":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/author\/admin\/"},"comment_info":66,"category_info":[{"term_id":13,"name":"Parenting and Family","slug":"parenting","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":13,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Relaxing this weekend? Just kidding, you're a parent! But it is possible to fit in some more downtime. Time to slow things down...it's almost the weekend.","parent":12,"count":4,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":13,"category_count":4,"category_description":"Relaxing this weekend? Just kidding, you're a parent! But it is possible to fit in some more downtime. Time to slow things down...it's almost the weekend.","cat_name":"Parenting and Family","category_nicename":"parenting","category_parent":12},{"term_id":32,"name":"Health and Self","slug":"health-and-self","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":32,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Make some time for yourself this weekend. It is allowed, remember. Slow down, relax...it's almost the weekend.","parent":12,"count":15,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":32,"category_count":15,"category_description":"Make some time for yourself this weekend. It is allowed, remember. Slow down, relax...it's almost the weekend.","cat_name":"Health and Self","category_nicename":"health-and-self","category_parent":12},{"term_id":12,"name":"Life","slug":"life","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":12,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Live your best weekend life with Almost The Weekend. Bring some more weekend feeling into your everyday.","parent":0,"count":15,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":12,"category_count":15,"category_description":"Live your best weekend life with Almost The Weekend. Bring some more weekend feeling into your everyday.","cat_name":"Life","category_nicename":"life","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":33,"name":"baby loss awareness week","slug":"baby-loss-awareness-week","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":33,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":34,"name":"miscarriage","slug":"miscarriage","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":34,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":35,"name":"wave of light","slug":"wave-of-light","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":35,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}