Knitted pouches to help parents cope with baby loss

Parents who have lost their baby are to be offered handmade "cuddle pockets" so London Ambulance Service (LAS) paramedics can take them to hospital in a dignified way.

The pouches, created by knitting charity Blue Lights Babies, allow bereaved families to hold their baby after birth and in the ambulance.

They will now be included in the maternity packs carried in every ambulance across the service.

In the last year, LAS clinicians attended 1,100 patients experiencing miscarriage or suspected miscarriage.

Paramedic Nicola Frayne helped bring the pockets to the ambulance service drawing upon her own experience.

"At the time of my loss, I really struggled going from paramedic to patient," she said.

"The change left me feeling incredibly vulnerable and I often felt very alone during the experience and as I tried to come to terms with the loss.

“The moment I saw the pockets I really understood the impact they could have. I knew from a patient’s perspective the difference they would make.”

Midwife Camella Main said she had seen how allowing parents to hold their baby could be "crucial" in their recovery.

She said the pockets, which are included in ambulance maternity packs, helped "show empathy in these truly horrific moments they experience in the wake of baby loss".

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