Parents who have lost a baby struggling to cope with Covid isolation, charities warn

Parents who lose a baby either during pregnancy, at birth or during infancy are struggling to cope with continued Covid-19 restrictions, charities have warned.

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Lack of community support and a reduction in ‘normal’ conversations has increased the trauma of an already difficult situation.

Charity leaders also expressed concern that parents-to-be are not attending antenatal classes, and do not have as many resources to draw on for advice if they are worried about their baby.

It comes as an investigation was launched in England into a rise in stillbirths during the first wave of Covid-19, the Health Service Journal reported.

The Healthcare Investigation branch is investigating 40 intrapartum stillbirths between April and June in England, as compared to 24 in the same period the previous year.

There were 52 stillbirths in Scotland in the same period, but the data for Scotland includes all losses from 24 weeks onwards. It compares to 47 losses in the same period in 2019.

Nicola Welsh, CEO of Scottish baby loss charity Held in Our Hearts, said she is concerned new parents are not receiving necessary support and advice from colleagues, friends or antenatal classes.

She added that it’s too early to tell whether or not there has been an increase in service users since the outbreak of Covid-19, but that the charity has seen a marked detrimental effect of lockdown on those experiencing the loss of a baby.

She said: “Families are really experiencing loss in isolation. What would normally happen is the community would scoop you up, with people coming round with meals or offering to take other children in the family, or friends offering to help with support or with the funeral.

"Of course that’s not been possible in the throes of Covid, and we’ve seen people joining support groups with almost PTSD-like symptoms, almost triggers of trauma because of it being so isolating.”

Ms Welsh also said the charity had seen an increase in people seeking support to deal with the loss of a baby in the past, particularly men.

Ms Welsh urged people to look out for recently bereaved parents, and to offer support where they can, including getting in touch with Held in Our Hearts.

Many people find conversations online or over Zoom a more difficult environment to bring up the loss of a baby, she said, adding that an increased number of service users are saying that contact with the charity is the only opportunity they have to talk about their grief.

"The isolation is a huge factor,” added Andy Clark-Coates, co-founder of the Mariposa Trust, a UK-wide baby loss charity which has run support events across Scotland.

“People are having to go through it on their own, very much isolated. And this causes an increase in trauma, it's causing an increase in mental health issues, PTSD, and all those sorts of things, and that’s something that’s been a lot more noticeable this year.

In a small survey of 88 people who had lost a baby in the UK, the Mariposa Trust found that 82 per cent said hospital restrictions due to Covid-19 had impacted their experience, and 85 per cent said they thought the pandemic had added additional trauma to the baby loss.

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