Sands

Definitions and Statistics

In Victoria in 2005, 599 babies were stillborn and 247 died within the first month of life. One out of every 79 babies with a birth weight equal to or greater than 400 grams, or 20 weeks or more gestation, was either stillborn and died within the first 28 days of life. (Source: Annual Report of the Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity, 2005).

A full copy of the report is available on the website www.health.vic.gov.au/perinatal

In Australia in 2006, 1,394 babies were stillborn and 864 died within the first month of life. (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics report Causes of Death 2006).

As a comparison, in 2005, 884 Australians died as a result of ovarian cancer, 216 from cervical cancer and 1,273 from melanoma. (Source: Cancer Australia – Australian Government figures)

Terminology can be confusing and the definitions of the types of loss are as follows:

Miscarriage - Loss of a baby prior to 20 weeks gestation

Stillbirth - A baby that is not born alive of 20 weeks or more gestation, or if the gestation is unknown, a birth weight equal to or greater than 400 grams.

Neonatal Death - A baby that is born alive and subsequently dies within 28 days of birth, regardless of gestation.

The Impact of Bereavement

Many parents who experience pregnancy or newborn loss find that there is little understanding of their need to grieve. Although attitudes are changing, these deaths are often treated as unfortunate occurrences, best quickly forgotten, rather than the tragedy it often is for many families. The lack of recognition of the baby as a real person, whose death it is legitimate to mourn, may isolate parents who are bewildered by the intensity of their grief. Such isolation may prolong their grieving.

The impact of any bereavement - each type with its own particular difficulties - is frequently misunderstood. For parents bereaved by the death of a baby during pregnancy or shortly after, few will understand the depth and extent of their loss.

Many parents, from very early on in the pregnancy (for some this occurs even before the pregnancy) plan their lives around the new baby. Clothes and furniture may have been bought, a room freshly painted, plans made for including the baby in their lives, kindergarten and schools chosen. Others are often unaware of the parents' hopes and plans for their baby. When a baby dies, parents mourn the loss of their hopes and dreams, the loss of the future.

Contact with other parents enables those with recent experiences to learn that the intensity and longevity of their grief is normal. Parents may also be reassured to see that eventually they will adjust to their baby's death and that many experience personal change, often for the better, after the death of their baby. This facilitation of natural grief reduces the possibility of long-term problems developing, which can arise when the expression of grief is denied.