Thank you for supporting Baby Loss Awareness Week 2021

21 Jan Thank you for supporting Baby Loss Awareness Week 2021

Baby Loss Awareness Week 2021 was the biggest yet and you all helped in so many ways to break the silence around pregnancy and baby loss.

Whether you lit a candle for the Wave of Light, helped turn the world’s landmarks and buildings pink and blue, organised a remembrance event, asked your MP to join the Baby Loss Debate in Parliament, or wore a pin badge and helped to start conversations about loss, we simply want to say thank you for all that you did.

We also know the week can feel overwhelming at times and it is important to be mindful of the impact that such an intense time spent talking, reading, watching or listening to stories of loss can have on your wellbeing. You are not alone and that there are many organisations here to support you, whenever you need this.

Baby Loss Awareness Week 2021 highlights

Here are a just a few of the amazing things we saw and a few big numbers to give you some idea of how many people you helped us reach out to:

• More than 100 charities and organisations took part – the biggest ever Alliance support.
• We had our best ever media coverage across TV, radio, newspapers and online including the BBC, ITV and Sky news channels.
• The Baby Loss website received more visitors than ever, especially on 15 October, and the vast majority were finding us for the first time.
• Our social media following keeps growing and our posts alone reached over 1.6 million people.
• The hashtags #BLAW and #WaveOfLight both trending in the UK for over an hour on 15 October.
• MPs held a debate in September to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week and over 3,000 people took our e-action to invite their MPs to attend.
• Sales of pin badges and other merchandise sold through our online shop raised £22,000 through sales plus £3,500 in donations to help cover the costs of running the Week.
• Our Always Loved, Never Forgotten online dedication page received more than 1,600 messages of love in memory of precious babies.
• Natwest Group were the sponsors of Baby Loss Awareness Week for the second year running, in partnership with Sands, and produced a series of panel discussions that are all available to watch on Facebook.
• Over 200 buildings and landmarks lit up pink and blue across the UK from Shetland to the Channel Islands, including The Falkirk Wheel, Caernarfon castle, the NOMA tunnels in Manchester, Network Rail stations including King’s Cross, Waterloo, and the Blackpool Tower.

Even more buildings and landmarks were spotted lighting up around the world including the National Carillion in Canberra, Edmonton High Level Bridge in Canada, Ayuntamiento De Oviedo in Spain, and Niagra Falls!

We’ve made this short video to capture a few more of the sights we saw lighting up the world Pink and Blue…

Remembering your babies

This year, as every year, many of you held Ribbon Remembrance Displays, found creative ways to turn Pink and Blue and used poetry and art to commemorate babies’ lives and raise awareness in their communities.

Looking ahead to our 20th anniversary

Baby Loss Awareness Week is now in it’s 20th year and has grown so much since 15 October 2002 – the inaugural Baby Loss Awareness Day in the UK, initiated by a group of parents inspired by Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day in the United States. 

Because of you and everyone who supports Baby Loss Awareness Week, pregnancy and baby loss are becoming less of a taboo subject and more people are able to get the support they need in a way that is right for them.

This Baby Loss Awareness Week (9-15 October) we will be looking back at what has improved the care and support available for bereaved parents and families, and the future changes we want to see.

Thank you again for all your support.