Baby Loss Awareness Week is a special moment to reflect, remember and reach out; the focus is on spreading the vital message that those who have suffered a baby loss are not alone and to help people understand the scale and impact of baby loss.  

Today is the final day of 2024’s Baby Loss Awareness Week and to mark this important week coming to a close, the Wave of Light will be taking place.  

Parents, families and friends are invited to join others across the world to light a candle, at 7:00pm today, and leave it burning for one hour to remember all babies who were taken too soon, but who lit up our lives for such a short time and left an everlasting love. 

1 in 4 people in the UK have suffered baby loss, including members of our clinical negligence team. Sarah Webster, who is a solicitor in the department, has suffered the loss of three babies and so Baby Loss Awareness Week and the Wave of Light has particular significance to her and her family.  

Sarah’s experience of baby loss and remembering her babies is as follows: 

Each year I participate in the event, along with my family. We have a special candle that we only light for this moment and we spend the hour remembering, reflecting on and speaking to one another, including our two young Rainbow Babies about their siblings.  

Alongside our candle, our family also places three white pumpkins which has become a symbol to many bereaved parents, of babies taken away too soon. I read the poem “The White Pumpkin” by Jennifer Giles which went viral in October 2018, not long after my second loss and its words resonated with my experiences.  

There is not a day that goes by in which I do not think about the babies we lost; however, like many parents, my thoughts and memories remain with me in my head. The Wave of Light is a moment in our busy lives to purposely sit down together, remember, share and talk with my family about the babies we lost.  

So tonight at 7pm, my husband and I, alongside our two Rainbow Babies will be lighting our special candle alongside our three little white “pumpkins.” 

To join the virtual Wave of Light, take a photo of your candle and post it to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using #WaveOfLight at 7:00pm local time.