Recommended Books, Podcasts and Programs for bereaved parents

Parents, extended family and friends often ask me for recommendations of resources available to parents who have lost a baby through pregnancy or newborn death.

It is natural and helpful to seek information and normalization of the torrent of emotions experienced after pregnancy loss, miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal loss.

I did so so so much reading soon after losing Isla and felt that it helped me normalize the emotional rollercoaster and predict and manage the difficult milestones to come. The common themes and messages of solidarity and hope in these books/podcasts are vital to discover on the grief journey. These resources help you to collect information and ideas on ways to commemorate your child and carry on with life after loss.

Here is a list of the most popular and helpful resources (as curated by some of the Glimmer Program members):

Books:

• Miles Apart – by Annabel Bower
  
• Ask me his name – by Elle Wright
• Childloss, the heartbreak and the hope – by Clara Hinton
• Changed, Living with stillbirth – by Liza Jankowski
• An exact replica of a figment of my imagination – by Elizabeth McCracken
• The baby loss guide – by Zoe Clark-Coates
• When life is not peachy – by Pip Lincolne
• Hope and Healing after stillbirth and newbaby loss – by Kevin Gournay
  
• Never forgotten, stories of love, loss and healing after miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death – by Mia Freedman and Rebecca Sparrow

Podcasts

• The Glimmer Podcast – by Dr Ashleigh Smith
• Terrible, thanks for asking - with Nora McInerny
  
• Stillaware

Programs: 

• The 3 week online Glimmer Program - this gentle and compassionate program is self paced and incorporates key strategies and tools that help and support women during their grief after losing a baby through stillbirth or neonatal death. It integrates peer support, mindfulness, self compassion, grief education and many other strategies. The program was created by Dr Ashleigh Smith - a doctor working in Obstetrics who has also lost a child through neonatal death.

Please share this list around with others who may benefit - so we can all move through grief with as much support and shared information as possible. Also, feel free to send through any additions you would like added to the list so that it may be as up to date and helpful as I can make it.

There are many options and you need to consider the right fit because there is no best way to grieve, every person is different.