In Today’s Issue:

🔗 The best resources I found this week
📖 Deep dive: Best Practices for Transporting Stillbirth in The Hospital
🩷 Self-care moment: Your feelings are valid

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Want to learn how to get Forget Me Not Boxes in your hospital? Reply “Bereavement boxes”

🔗 The Best Resources I Found This Week

📄 Journal & Guideline Links Worth Bookmarking (Tap any link in the PDF version for full text.)

📄 PSANZ Clinical Practice Guideline: Care Around Stillbirth & Neonatal Death — Investigation flowcharts and transfer protocols. (NHS)

📄 Lessons from a Patient-Centered Perinatal Loss Protocol (National Library of Medicine)

📄 Perinatal Loss Guideline — Step-by-step AU practice (KEMH)

📖 Deep Dive

How do you transport babies after stillbirth?

When a family says goodbye to their baby, every detail matters—especially the journey from the patient room to the next step. Many of you have shared how stressful it can be to navigate crowded hallways or answer questions from well-meaning but unaware staff and visitors. When we choreograph these final journeys with intention, we send a message louder than any lullaby: Your baby mattered.

Why Discreet Transport Matters

Parents consistently identify transport moments as among the most vivid memories from their loss experience, according to the Resolved Through Sharing Perinatal Bereavement model used in over 1,800 hospitals. How babies are moved through hallways, the containers used, and who accompanies them becomes part of the family's permanent narrative about their child's brief life.

• Protecting privacy and dignity: Moving a baby after stillbirth or infant loss is not just a logistical task—it’s a moment families will remember forever. Quiet, respectful transport helps shield them from unnecessary pain and gives space for their grief.

• Reducing secondary trauma for staff: Many nurses have shared how difficult it is to carry out this responsibility, especially when the process feels rushed or exposed. Having a clear, compassionate protocol can ease some of that burden.

•  Protecting families of live births: Discreet transport protocols shield other parents and newborns from witnessing bereavement processes—preventing distress when seeing or hearing the movement of a deceased infant

What Hospitals Recommend

• Dignity and Compassion: The American Nurses Association emphasizes that transport should be done “with dignity and compassion, and the presence of a loved one, support person, or nurse if desired”.

• Privacy First: Whenever possible, use less-trafficked hallways or back corridors to minimize encounters with others. Many hospitals have mapped out “compassion routes” just for this purpose.

• Choice for Parents: If parents wish to accompany their baby, offer them the option to walk with you—or even to push the pram or bassinet themselves.

Best Practices: What Works on Real Units

Here’s a collection of what’s working across U.S. hospitals, inspired by your peers and national recommendations:

Prepare the Route

• Identify the quietest, most private path to the morgue or designated area. Post a simple map at the nurses’ station for quick reference.

• If possible, coordinate with security or support staff to clear the hallway for a few minutes during transport.

Communicate Clearly and Kindly

• Offer parents the choice to accompany their baby or not. If they wish, let them push the pram or walk alongside. For some, this is the only moment they will have to parent their child in this way.

• If parents do not wish to accompany, reassure them that their baby will be treated with the utmost respect at every step.

• Use gentle, honest language:

Support Each Other

• Whenever possible, have two staff members accompany the baby—one to focus on the family, another to watch the environment and help with logistics.

• After transport, take a moment for yourselves. A short pause or deep breath can help you reset before returning to your other patients.

What Other Hospitals Are Doing

Preshand™ by Resolve Through Sharing - Link

Pros:

• Discreet nylon with “Fragile, Handle with Care” printing

• Two sizes to fit fetal–newborn inserts

• Folds flat for storage; washable

• Department ID window for easy return

Cautions:

• Requires separate single-use Preshand Inserts

• Inserts can sag if not supported

• The cost for inserts and carriers adds up

Dignity Boxes (Gemma’s Hope) - Link

Pros:

• Handmade mulberry-paper construction with fleece liner

• Six gestational sizes (8″–32″)

• Neutral décor–style presentation

Cautions:

• The cardboard base may sag if fluids leak

• Must line with chux or leak-proof pad

• Single-use

Bridget’s Cradles - Link

Pros:

• Soft knitted cradle for 2nd-trimester losses

• Free hospital donation; no cost to unit

• Beautiful product and a gentle way to honor the baby

Cautions:

• Size limited to 2nd-trimester fetuses

• No built-in cooling or fluid containment

• The religious cross might not be a good fit for every family

Precious Cargo - Link

Pros:

• Padded fabric cover over hard plastic shell

• FluidBlocker liner prevents leaks

Cautions:

• A bit on the pricier side

• Better fit if the staff are the ones transporting the baby instead of the parents

Vera Bradley duffle bag - Link

Pros:

• Familiar, approachable aesthetic hides contents

• Quilted nylon; machine-washable

• Multiple patterns to match unit décor

• Easily repurposed for bereavement kits - No fluid containment or cooling

Cautions:

• Must add leak-proof liner (chux) inside

• Limited structure; may collapse if heavy

Additional Options to Explore

DIY Bassinet/Presentation Basket

• Uses an existing hospital bassinet or woven basket

• Drape with soft blankets for privacy

• Zero cost if supplies on-hand

• Honors traditional newborn presentation

• Good solution for parents to assist with the transport

Bereavement Carts

• Prestocked with carriers, signage, and supplies—reduces setup time and ensures consistency.

• Can use existing supplies like Caring Cradle or Cuddle Cot

• Good solution for parents to assist with the transport

🩷 Self-care moment

These moments are heavy. Take a few seconds after each transport to breathe, check in with yourself, and, if needed, debrief with a peer. You’re doing work that matters, and it’s okay to need support, too.

Thank you for showing up with both skill and heart—every single time.