Cradle, a charity which provides early pregnancy loss support, so that they can continue to care for bereaved parents for baby loss, has launched its service at Ormskirk hospital.

Thanks to Cradle, women and their partners or companions receiving emergency care for early pregnancy loss will now receive a comfort bag. Each bag contains practical and beautiful things; however the most important item in the bag is the letter ‘Dear Friend’. The letter will signpost women to support provided by Cradle ambassadors, who themselves have experienced early pregnancy loss.

Cradle was founded by Louise Zeniou, who had an ectopic pregnancy in 2015. Cradle is now supported by a national team of early pregnancy loss ambassadors, all of whom have experienced ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, missed miscarriage, molar pregnancy or compassionate induction.

Lynne Eastham, head of midwifery and nursing explains: “This is a fantastic idea and we are delighted that Louise has chosen to launch this national project at Ormskirk hospital, where she was in our care in 2015.

“Early pregnancy loss is often not discussed and families may not share this news with their wider family or friends, due to the social convention of not announcing pregnancy until after 12 weeks. As a result, people are sometimes less comfortable with asking for help or discussing their feelings. Thank you to everyone at Cradle for giving their time to help these families in need.”

Louise Zeniou explains: “I have worked with the healthcare team at Ormskirk since January 2019 and together we developed a bespoke service to support bereaved parents during and following early pregnancy loss. The project has grown and we now have a national team of early pregnancy loss ambassadors who are bringing Cradle to their own local NHS trusts. I will continue to work with Ormskirk and will be developing an early pregnancy loss football team and other community grief projects for anyone affected by the loss of a baby.”

If you or your employer would like to work with Cradle to collect unwanted Christmas toiletries donations for the Comfort bags project, then please get in touch by email louise@earlypregnancyloss.co.uk. 

You can find out more about CRADLE via social media – Twitter @Cradle_EPL or Instagram cradle_epl.