What does the hospital do with miscarried babies

What happens to my baby after a miscarriage?

If you have a miscarriage, some hospitals may offer you a simple funeral with a burial or cremation.

Your baby’s legal status

In legal terms, a loss before 24 weeks is called a miscarriage. A loss after 24 weeks is called stillbirth. This is because a baby is thought to have a good chance of surviving if they are born alive at 24 weeks.

This means that if you lose a baby before 24 weeks, there is no legal requirement to have a burial or cremation. It also means that no legal certificate is provided.

This terminology can be very upsetting for some parents because there is no legal recognition that their baby existed. However, we believe that no matter when you miscarry, you are entitled to grieve for your loss.

Finding a way to commemorate your loss can help. Find out more about remembering your baby after miscarriage.

Burial or cremations

Although there is no legal requirement to have a burial or cremation, some hospitals offer burials or cremations for miscarried babies. Sometimes a number of babies are buried or cremated together.

Unfortunately, some hospitals are still not able to offer this and treat the remains of early loss as clinical waste unless you request otherwise.

You can ask your nurse, midwife, the hospital chaplain, PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison) officer or hospital service about the arrangements at your hospital.

You may want to make your own arrangements for a burial or cremation. Some people chose to use a funeral director or specialist cremation service, or choose to bury the remains at home or somewhere else.

A certificate for your baby

Although there is no legal certificate for a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, some hospitals do provide them. If you haven’t been given a certificate but would like one, ask a nurse where you were cared for, the hospital chaplain, the PALS officer or hospital bereavement service. Some hospitals also have a book of remembrance.

If you miscarry at home

If you miscarry early outside of a hospital, for example at home, your pregnancy might come away naturally. Some women pass the remains in a toilet and simply flush it away, while others want to take a closer look. Both reactions are completely natural.

Some women want a healthcare professional to confirm that that they have miscarried, so you could contact your midwife, GP or hospital and ask what to do next. They may be able to do some tests on the remains, although they aren’t usually done unless you are having other investigations.

If you want, you can ask the hospital or GP to dispose of the remains or you may decide to bury them yourself at home, in a setting you are comfortable with.

If you have a late miscarriage, it would be unlikely that you would deliver at home, unless it was unexpected. If this happens, call an ambulance or ask someone to take you to hospital.

Post-mortems

After a late miscarriage, most hospitals offer some tests, which may involve tests of the baby. This is called a post-mortem. A post mortem (also known as an autopsy) is a medical examination of your baby’s body to try to work out the cause of death. This will not be done without your consent (permission).

A post-mortem involves examining the baby carefully, outside and inside the body and can take up to several hours to do. Afterwards, the incisions made to examine your baby internally will be repaired where possible. If you want, your baby can be wrapped or dressed to hide any marks. You can see your baby again afterwards if you want to.

You may have lots of questions about how and where it is performed, and what the results might tell you. Talk to the midwife and doctors caring for you about your concerns and questions.

It may be several weeks before the results are ready. Your doctor or GP will probably invite you to a follow-up appointment to talk about the results. Unfortunately, a post-mortem does not always provide a reason for a miscarriage, so you may not find out why your baby died. But it may help rule out some possibilities and perhaps reassure you if you want to try to get pregnant again in the future.

Review dates

Reviewed: 29 January 2020 | Next review: 29 January 2023

Counselling after a miscarriage or pregnancy loss

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Your feelings

The Miscarriage Association does not provide a counselling service, but we know how helpful professional counselling can be.

A good counsellor can help you understand more about yourself and find strategies to help you cope. Having some space and time to speak openly about how you feel without judgement or criticism can make a huge difference too.

Julia Bueno is an experienced UKCP registered counsellor and psychotherapist who has a particular interest in working with women who have struggled with fertility or suffered a loss during pregnancy.

We spoke to her about counselling after pregnancy loss.

Finding a counsellor

You may be able to access counselling through:

your GP,
your hospital,
a self-referral programme like IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Services),
a charity (for example CRUSE, your local Mind or a local pregnancy loss support service),
a specialist counselling charity, like Petals, the pregnancy and baby loss counselling charity
your place of work or study, or
a private counsellor.

If you miscarried in hospital, ask what support is available there – possibly at the early pregnancy unit (EPU) or via a perinatal bereavement team. This kind of specialist support may have a waiting list, but staff will be more experienced in pregnancy loss.

Your GP may also refer you to counselling, although this may not be to a specialist in pregnancy loss. Sadly, there are often waiting lists for counselling via the NHS and many people end up looking for help privately.

If you are seeking a counsellor privately, make sure anyone you choose is professionally accredited. The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) or the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) are the two main professional bodies which list qualified, accredited counsellors, but there are others. This means you can be sure they have been properly trained and if things go wrong you have a professional complaints procedure.

You may find counsellors offering low-cost counselling. It’s always worth asking, even if they don’t advertise this. There are some low-cost services that you may find online, and some are attached to training organisations. This means working with a counsellor who is still in training (although they may be almost fully trained).

Most counselling is face to face, but you will find some counsellors who offer their services online or over the phone.

Working with a counsellor

Research suggests that it doesn’t really matter what type of counselling you choose. It’s more important that you trust and respect your counsellor and that you feel there is a good ‘fit’ between you.

While it can help to find someone with experience of working with pregnancy loss, it shouldn’t be essential. Any good counsellor should be able to help you.

If you feel that they don’t ‘get it’, tell them and explain why. Every miscarriage is unique, and they might need help to understand your experience and needs.

It may be that your counsellor hasn’t got experience in working with pregnancy loss, but can work very well with other difficult feelings like anxiety, low mood or intrusive thoughts.

If you really don’t feel comfortable, even after explaining things, it’s best to end the sessions and find someone else. This can take courage but it’s worth it.

Relationship counselling

If you are seeking counselling on relationship and/or sexual problems, try Relate – a long-established organisation with local branches. Their services are fee-paying, possibly on a sliding scale.

Fertility problems

If you are looking for counselling related to fertility investigations or treatment, you could try these options.

The British Infertility Counselling Association. All counsellors have specialised training in issues relating to fertility problems, including pregnancy loss. NHS referrals may be free or fee-paying; private referrals will be fee-paying.
If you are seeking fertility counselling in a Jewish context, try Chana, which works with people across the community.

Other support services

You can find information about the support services offered by the Miscarriage Association on our ‘How we can help’ page.

If you are seeking support from an Islamic perspective, you might like to know about the Muslim Bereavement Support Service, which offers free and confidential face-to-face and telephone support.

Treatment and prevention of miscarriage

Miscarriage. Symptoms

Causes of a miscarriage

Questions to ask your doctor about a miscarriage

Diagnosis of a miscarriage

If there is a risk of a miscarriage, your doctor may recommend rest until the bleeding or pain stops. Your doctor may also recommend that you abstain from sports and sexual activity. It is better not to travel, and especially not to travel to places where it is difficult to get emergency medical care. nine0003

Thanks to the widespread use of ultrasound, it is much easier these days to know if an embryo has died or not formed at all, and to know for sure that a miscarriage will occur. In this case, there are several options:

Expectant tactics. Before ultrasound was used in early pregnancy, most women had no idea that they were going to have a miscarriage. Some women allow the process to develop naturally. Usually a miscarriage occurs a few weeks after the death of the embryo is established. Unfortunately, this process can take three to four weeks. From an emotional point of view, this can be quite a difficult period. nine0003

Conservative treatment for miscarriage. If, after diagnosing a miscarriage, a woman decides to speed up the process, then the removal of the embryonic tissue and placenta from the body can be provoked by taking certain drugs. Some medications are taken by mouth, but your doctor may prescribe intravaginal medications to increase their effectiveness and reduce the risk of side effects such as nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Most likely, a miscarriage will occur at home. The time of action of the drug may vary. You may also need more than one dose of the drug. In 70% of cases, the drug begins to act within a day, and a miscarriage occurs in the next few days or weeks. nine0003

Surgical treatment. Another treatment option is vacuum aspiration and curettage. During this procedure, the doctor opens the cervix and, using a special device, gently sucks tissue from the uterus. Sometimes a special metal surgical instrument with a loop at the end (curette) is used to scrape the walls of the uterus after vacuum aspiration. Complications are rare, but the connective tissue of the cervix or the wall of the uterus may be damaged. nine0003

In the event of an unavoidable miscarriage, surgery is necessary to stop the bleeding.

Lifestyle and home care

Physical recovery

In most cases, physical recovery after a miscarriage takes a few hours to a few days. It will take 4-6 weeks to return to a normal lifestyle. During this period, if you experience heavy bleeding, fever, chills or severe pain, you should contact your doctor. These signs and symptoms may indicate an infection. For two weeks after a miscarriage, you should not have sex, use tampons, or flush your vagina. nine0003

Subsequent pregnancy

It is possible to become pregnant during your period immediately after a miscarriage. If you and your partner decide to try for a baby, make sure you are emotionally and physically ready for it. The doctor may recommend to postpone this process until the next menstruation, and maybe even more.

More than three miscarriages in a row should be investigated to determine the underlying causes, such as uterine abnormalities, coagulation problems, or abnormalities at the chromosomal level. In some cases, the doctor will suggest that you get tested after two miscarriages in a row, but two miscarriages still may not have hidden medical reasons. If the cause of miscarriages cannot be determined, do not lose hope. 60-70% of women who have had consecutive miscarriages can become pregnant in the future, even without treatment. nine0003

Coping with illness and finding support

Psychological recovery can take much longer than physical recovery. A miscarriage is a painful loss that others will not be able to fully understand. You can experience completely different feelings: from anger to despair. Give yourself time to process this grief and find support from loved ones. Don't blame yourself for what happened. You may not be able to forget all the hopes and dreams you had for this pregnancy, but over time, acceptance will ease the pain. Talk to your healthcare provider if you are experiencing deep sadness or depression. nine0003

Prevention

With so many possible causes of miscarriage, there is simply no way to prevent it. It is better to concentrate all your energy on taking care of yourself and your unborn child. Seek medical attention and avoid known risk factors such as smoking and drinking alcohol. In the presence of chronic diseases, you need to consult with your doctor in order to monitor your health. nine0003

You can get more detailed information about miscarriage from the gynecologists of the Health 365 clinic in Yekaterinburg.

Prices

Gynecologist, initial appointment

2300 i

Miscarriage. What to do after a miscarriage?

When a woman finds out about her pregnancy, she changes her rhythm of life, especially if the pregnancy is desired. However, depending on many circumstances, miscarriage may occur, that is, a natural termination of pregnancy. Statistics say that up to 20 percent of pregnancies end in pathological abortions. Often a woman may not know that she was pregnant, as a miscarriage sometimes occurs at a very early stage and seems to be just a normal delay in menstruation followed by heavy discharge. nine0003

If a woman finds out that she is pregnant and wants to become a mother, she should be very attentive to her condition. The threat of miscarriage often occurs in the early stages of pregnancy and therefore it is necessary to know what symptoms and signs precede a sudden miscarriage.

Signs

The main sign of a suspected miscarriage is bleeding from the uterus. They happen not abundant, pale scarlet or gray-brown. The discharge most often gradually increases and is characterized by sudden spasms or pulling pains in the lower abdomen. These symptoms may last for some time. nine0003

The pains are often so mild that the woman simply does not pay attention to them. They are able to be interrupted, and the woman simply forgets about them, especially if the discharge also stopped, and before that they were insignificant. Meanwhile, the very first symptoms should alert you and you should urgently go to the gynecologist for examination and consultation. Even if the process has stopped, after a few days you can feel a sharp deterioration in health, and then you can no longer save the life of the unborn child. Be sure to pay attention to what exactly comes out with the discharge, if there are tissue fragments, it means that miscarriage has already occurred. Therefore, one should not hesitate to go to the doctor, the fetus may come out, in whole or in parts, there may be white particles or a round gray bubble. When the body is completely cleansed, the pain will subside, but before that it may continue for some time.

Terms of miscarriage

A miscarriage is classified as early if it occurred before twelve weeks from the onset of pregnancy. Starting from the 22nd week, if a spontaneous miscarriage has occurred, it is considered late. If the termination of pregnancy occurred before thirty-seven weeks, then this is already called premature birth. All subsequent fetal rejections are called term births and are generally considered normal, since during this period, mostly able-to-survive children are born. In modern medicine, children born after 22 weeks are nursed and subsequently do not differ from those born at term with normal weight. nine0003

Types of miscarriages

Specialists have identified several types of miscarriages.

Complete or unavoidable – characterized by lower back pain and dilatation of the cervix, hemorrhages from it. The fetal membrane necessarily bursts, and the pregnancy is terminated. The fetus comes out of the uterus, and all discomfort in the form of pain and bleeding stops.
Miscarriage is different in that the fetus died, but remained in the mother's body. This can be detected by a doctor when examining a woman and when listening to the fetal heartbeat. nine0116
Repeated miscarriage is rare, it occurs only some time after the first and can occur up to three times in a row in the early stages.

Causes of spontaneous abortion

The vast majority of women, having learned about their pregnancy, want to give birth to a healthy baby. And if there is a spontaneous miscarriage , then for a failed mother this is a real tragedy. Many, having experienced an abortion, try to conceive a child faster again, but first you need to know the reasons for what happened in order to save the fetus in the future. According to statistics, the largest number of miscarriages occurs precisely in the early stages. nine0003

There are several reasons for this:

Violations in genetics.

This is the most common cause of miscarriage. This is not due to heredity, it is a consequence of the mutation of parent germ cells, which accidentally ended up in unfavorable conditions. This is also the influence of radiation, poisoning, viruses, that is, temporary situations that affected the quality of germ cells. The body thus gets rid of a weak non-viable fetus. It is impossible and unnecessary to prevent such spontaneous abortion. It is only necessary, having decided to become pregnant, to try to cleanse your body of possible harmful influences. nine0003

Hormonal disorders

The cause of a miscarriage at a very early stage also lies in the lack of the hormone progesterone, or in the fact that a woman has an excess of male sex hormones that suppress the production of estrogen and progesterone in her body. In this case, the fetus can be saved medically by administering the necessary medicines to the woman. The work of the adrenal glands, as well as the thyroid gland, affects the production of hormones, so a lot depends on the work of these glands throughout the pregnancy process. nine0003

Immunological causes .

In this case, the vitality of the fetus is directly affected by the Rh conflict. The embryo will inherit the positive Rh of the man, and if the partner has a negative Rh, then her body simply rejects cells that are foreign to him. A similar situation can be prevented by injecting the expectant mother with a variety of progesterone, a process called immunomodulation.

Sexually transmitted infections such as toxoplasmosis, syphilis, trichomoniasis, chlamydia and others are of great danger. External infection: bacteria and viruses infect the fetal membranes, and the body will inevitably reject the embryo. Therefore, before becoming pregnant, you should be examined to know for sure that there are no infections, and if the result is positive, undergo treatment. nine0003

In addition, all inflammatory processes, various diseases of the internal organs, which are accompanied by a persistent high temperature, can also lead to unexpected rejection of the fetus. Rubella is especially dangerous, and viral hepatitis is common. But even a sore throat, mild pneumonia, appendicitis sometimes play a key role and lead to a miscarriage, so the expectant mother must undergo a thorough examination even before the child is conceived, and then beware of all kinds of infections and weakening of the body. nine0003

Medical abortion.

If a woman had an abortion in a hospital and then became pregnant and decided to give birth, there is a risk that she will have a miscarriage. Abortion is a stress factor for the body, ovarian dysfunction is often observed, inflammatory processes in the female genital organs can begin, and all this will lead, at best, to miscarriage and subsequent repeated miscarriages, and at worst, to infertility. Therefore, you need to think very seriously before going for an abortion. nine0003

Medicines and certain herbs.

Pregnant women should not take any medication at all, especially during the first three calendar months. Medicines and herbs can cause various defects in the fetus, which in turn will lead to its rejection. Analgesics and uncontrolled hormonal contraceptives are especially dangerous. Parsley and nettle should be eaten with caution - they cause a high tone of the uterus, which in turn can reject the fetus. nine0003

Stress.

It is no coincidence that in ancient times, pregnant women were protected from unrest, they were created comfortable conditions, they tried to give as many positive emotions as possible. Now the direct dependence of the health of the unborn baby on the mental state during pregnancy has already been proven. Any stress, fear and overstrain can cause an unexpected termination of pregnancy. If you have a problem (death of a loved one, divorce, etc.), you need to find sedatives with the help of a doctor, they will help you cope with this period. nine0003

Unhealthy lifestyle.

Of course, the intake of alcoholic beverages, an unhealthy lifestyle, smoking, even coffee consumption in large quantities, improper diet - all this can lead to a transient miscarriage. Therefore, the expectant mother should prioritize and change her rhythm of life in advance in order to give birth to a healthy child.

Sexual intercourse, falling, heavy lifting.

All of these factors can affect the fetus, so you should protect yourself and your baby by avoiding these activities.

What to do after a miscarriage?

Having experienced the tragedy of losing a child, parents often intend to immediately conceive a new baby, but they are afraid that everything will happen again. In this case, you do not need to make independent decisions, but consult a doctor. And first of all, it is necessary to identify the cause that led to the miscarriage. For this, the expectant mother needs to undergo as thorough an examination as possible. nine0003

If no obvious cause is found, the fetus most likely has a chromosomal abnormality. In this case, you should not worry, since the next conception will occur with a different set of chromosomes, which means that there will be no repeated miscarriage. If the miscarriage was repeated, it is necessary to contact a geneticist and conduct a study of the set of chromosomes of both parents. If it turns out that the cause was an infection, then it is necessary to fully recover. If we are talking about sexual infections, then both parents need to undergo therapy. It is necessary to take tests for hormonal studies, hemostasis systems and determine the immune status. nine0003

After a miscarriage, should be treated, if necessary, and pause between conceptions. During pregnancy, you should not take medications to prevent re-spontaneous pathological termination of pregnancy. Therefore, you can become pregnant only after the end of the course of treatment. If the cause was hormonal abnormalities, then the expectant mother should take special drugs to stabilize the background, and at this time she should never become pregnant. During the pause, you need to choose contraceptives with the help of a doctor. You can go to a specialized clinic where you will be prescribed a full course of rehabilitation. nine0003

During the first week after a miscarriage women often experience pain in the lower abdomen, heavy bleeding, so you should refrain from sexual intercourse with a man. If there is severe bleeding, acute pain in the lower abdomen, convulsions, high fever, palpitations, nausea, vomiting, then you should immediately consult a doctor to identify the cause of this condition. It is necessary to plan a subsequent pregnancy not earlier than three months after this situation, but preferably six months later. Until that time, it is worth reconsidering your outlook on life, giving up hard work, eating right and wisely, taking vitamins, exercising, losing weight if you are overweight, stop smoking, drinking alcohol, think over your daily routine. nine0003

It is very important during this recovery period to have a positive attitude and confidence that the next attempt will be successful. It is more difficult to do than to say, because after a miscarriage the woman is in a depressed state and is afraid of a repetition of the situation. You can’t get hung up on your problem, during this period it’s better to do some favorite thing, relax, change the situation, travel, visit the city more often. The modern ecological situation in cities has a bad effect on women's health, so private trips to nature, a trip to the sea, to friends in another city can distract from painful thoughts. An important role in this case is played by the woman's relatives and, above all, the husband, who can surround her with care and attention, creating peace of mind.