October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month – a time to honor and remember the young lives cut short by losses including miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death, SIDS, and other infant deaths. Our friend Sherokee Ilse has been speaking and writing about infant loss for many years; she has also walked this road personally.
She talks about the path of grieving for a lost child. Sherokee offers hope to hang on to, as well as counsel & insights from her book Empty Arms.
How can we encourage and bless loved ones who have gone through this experience? Do they want to talk? Should we bring it up?
Sherokee suggests that the answers lies in examining our own intentions. While keeping quiet on the subject is often going to be the easiest thing for us, we may do more damage by not talking about it. Showing that we care about the child by bringing up the topic can be incredibly powerful.
There are millions of babies lost each year to these conditions, thus there a great many families who are hurting. Sherokee encourages especial sensitivity around important dates in the life of the baby that’s been lost, yet an earnest effort to be honest and show that you care as well.
