Hospital charity provides baby ‘memory boxes’ to support bereaved parents 

My WiSH Charity have teamed up with the maternity team at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust to provide memory boxes for parents who have sadly lost a baby. 

Sally Daniels, fundraising manager said: “Having a baby should be a time of great joy, but sadly this is not always the case. We thought it might offer a small amount of comfort to parents who do lose their baby to provide ‘memory boxes’ to help capture those precious moments”. 

The boxes contain clay or ink print kits, a memory card for photos, a special keepsake keyring, a birth certificate, a baby blanket, forget-me-not seeds and two little rabbits (one for the parents and one for the baby), amongst other things. 

Sally continued “Every situation is different, and one box doesn’t suit all, so the trained midwives will select the suitable items for each box”. 

The charity provided the hospital with a bereavement suite back in 2016 to ensure parents had a safe space to both deliver their baby and to spend time with them. The boxes are a continuation of this care and the team have worked closely with both Justine Ladds, the Trust’s bereavement midwife, and the local Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity (SANDS) group, to ensure they got the contents right. 

Sally said: “It was important for us to have the guidance of those who care for the parents before, during and after their loss. Their experience and knowledge has been invaluable”.

The boxes (one pictured above) are thanks to a donation from Molly and Jack Deal, who raised £7,280 for My WiSH after losing their baby daughter, Kendall, back in 2020. The couple, who have since gone on to have a baby boy, Ovie, said the care they were given was just amazing and having the bereavement suite as a safe space made an awful situation bearable. 

Justine Ladds, who has been a bereavement midwife for three years, thanked Molly and Luke for their donation and added: “This donation means we can continue to support parents as they go through a similar situation to Molly and Luke. This care for parents during and after the loss of a baby is vital and it’s a journey we continue to support them with long after they leave the hospital.”

Justine went on to say: “I’d like to also express my thanks to the My WiSH team for their help with this project. Sadly, not every pregnancy ends happily, but it’s great to have things like the memory boxes to ensure we can support parents when they are at their most vulnerable”. 

To find out more about supporting My WiSH Charity go to www.mywishcharity.co.uk