The Church calls children “the supreme gift of marriage” (Gaudium et spes, n. 50). Losing a baby, whether through miscarriage or as an infant, is one of the deepest forms of grief and pain that a couple may endure.

Unfortunately, many couples often suffer without any support, as in the case when a couple loses a child before sharing that they were pregnant with others, or insufficient support because family and friends are unsure of what to say or do because of the difficulty and often suddenness of losing one so young.

If you or a loved one has suffered the loss of a child during pregnancy or infancy, know that help and resources are available.

For Your Marriage Resources

• Miscarriages and Stillbirths Puts Some Couples at Risk
• Book Review for After Miscarriage: A Catholic Woman’s Companion to Healing and Hope
• Loving Parents After Miscarriage
• Spiritual Help for Grieving Parents
• Solace and Strength in the Sorrow of Miscarriage
• One of our bloggers shares her experience of a miscarriage

Catholic Ministries Supporting Grieving Parents and Families

• Behold Your Child Developed by the Archdiocese of Dubuque to help provide hope and healing for parents and families who have experienced a life-limiting prenatal diagnosis, miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death
• Catholic Miscarriage Support Practical and spiritual support for Catholics who have lost a child to miscarriage
• Elizabeth Ministry International Offers hope, help, and healing on issues related to relationships, sexuality, and childbearing
• Emmaus Ministry for Grieving Parents Offers spiritual support to parents who have lost a child at any age, by any cause, no matter how long ago
• Heaven’s Gain Ministries For the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of families experiencing pregnancy loss: before, during, and after the delivery of their precious baby
• Morning Light Ministry Guides bereaved parents from the darkness of grief toward His Morning Light
• Red Bird Ministries Guides individuals and couples through the complexity and trauma that happens with the loss of a child from pregnancy through adulthood