Your Baby: A leaflet for you if you have miscarried during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy

Download and print as a PDF (180kB pdf)

How can we remember our baby?

Book of Remembrance

You may like to have your baby’s name written in the Book of Remembrance. There is one in the chapel at the Princess Royal Hospital and one in the chapel at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. Please ask a member of staff about how to make an entry, or contact the chaplaincy office at the hospital. There is no charge for making an entry. You do not have to be a churchgoer to have your baby’s name written in the Book of Remembrance, it is there for everyone.

Annual Memorial Service

There is also a memorial service held every year, usually in the winter, for families to remember their babies who have died. You will be sent information about this nearer the time, unless you ask us not to do this. Many families find it helpful to come and some families come every year. However you do not have to attend.

What arrangements will the hospital make on our behalf?

The hospital will arrange for your baby to be cremated at the local crematorium. This would take place as soon as is practicable and will most probably be together with other pregnancy losses. The hospital will arrange the cremation with the hospital’s contracted Funeral Directors. There is no formal ceremony at the crematorium for you or others to attend and no ashes to collect.

Can we make our own private arrangements?

There are some undertakers who will conduct individual funerals in regard to a pregnancy loss under 12 weeks. You will need to make your own arrangements privately with a funeral director. The Bereavement Office have contact details for these.

You will need to contact the Morturary Department within 30 days of signing the P1 form. If we have not heard from either you or your funeral director by then, the hospital will arrange a cremation.

Contact Numbers

Local and national support

• BSUH NHS TRUST(2011) GP001 Early Pregnancy Unit Clinical Guidelines.
• Patient UK Information leaflets, Women’s Health Category.
• Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 
• National institute for Heath and Clinical Excellence. Clinical Guidelines. Nice Pathways