Losing a baby at 20-24 weeks of pregnancy

Sands 
www.sands.org.uk
Sands is the stillbirth and neonatal death charity in the UK, supporting anyone affected by the death of a baby, working to improve the care bereaved parents receive, and promoting research to reduce the loss of babies’ lives.

Miscarriage Association (MA)
www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk
The Miscarriage Association is a UK association providing support and information to anyone affected by miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or molar pregnancy. 

Antenatal Results and Choices (ARC)
www.arc-uk.org 
ARC is the national charity helping parents and healthcare professionals through antenatal screening and its consequences in the UK.

Guidance for healthcare professionals

Following this research with parents, UK guidance was developed to help healthcare professionals caring for babies born before 24+0 weeks of gestation where, following discussion with the parents, active survival-focused care is not appropriate. At this very early stage, some babies may die during labour or birth while others may show some signs of life. There has been wide variation in the reporting of signs of life. This affects whether the baby’s birth is reported as a miscarriage or registered as a live birth and then a neonatal death.

The MBRRACE-UK Signs of Life Guidance has been developed with healthcare professionals, health policy and health research experts and parent advocates to support staff in providing consistent care at this difficult time. Videos to support this guidance can be found in our Service Improvement section.