Bereaved mothers face unique physical complications after stillbirth and infant loss.
While all pregnancy loss is devastating for families, we are particularly focused on the unique challenges faced by mothers who experience stillbirth (loss of pregnancy after 20 weeks), newborn, and infant loss. In addition to overwhelming emotional pain, mothers who experience stillbirth and infant loss must also combat physical side effects related to general hormone fluctuations, breastfeeding and milk production, and recovering after giving birth.
Comfort Cubs are infant-sized teddy bears weighted to the approximate size of a newborn baby.
“[After Liam was stillborn] my body didn’t know that he passed away…which led to all kinds of unpleasant side effects. Most jarring was the physical need to hold my baby – I needed to hold him, make sure he was OK, know that I was near him. But of course, I wasn’t. Everything in me was calling out for him, but he wasn’t there. It was the single hardest and most traumatizing part of the first few weeks without him,” Erin says.
The weight of a Comfort Cub in a bereaved mother’s arms is both physically and emotionally healing.
Holding a Comfort Cub stimulates the same physical reaction in a new mother as holding her baby, allowing bereaved mothers some much-needed rest on the road to recovery after giving birth.
Erin says, “The first time I held my Comfort Cub after it arrived, I could physically feel my body start to relax for the first time since Liam was born.” Through the Liam Caracci Foundation, we hope to provide this proven therapeutic tool to bereaved parents as a source of comfort and healing.
Do you know parents who might benefit from a Comfort Cub? Click HERE to nominate a friend or family member who has suffered a stillbirth or infant loss.
You can read more about our experience with infant loss on Erin’s blog, www.ErinCaracci.com
