Perinatal bereavement or perinatal grief refers to the emotions of the family following a perinatal death, defined as the demise of a fetus (after 20 weeks gestation) or newborn infant (up to 30 days after birth).[1] Perinatal loss affects one in every ten women across the globe[2] with the worldwide perinatal death rate at approximately 2.7 million deaths per year.[3] Perinatal death is recognized as a traumatic life event as it is often sudden, unexpected, and devastating to parents who have had little to no direct life experiences with their child before their death.[4]
Perinatal death can have profound emotional consequences for parents, families, and communities. For mothers, the consequences of perinatal loss can be physical (such as hemorrhage or infection) and psychological (such as symptoms of post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and other serious mental health disorders).[2] For fathers, feelings of pain, sadness, inadequacy, and helplessness may be masked to assume the responsibility of supporting their partners during the grieving process.[5] Complicated grief, or prolonged grief disorder (PGD), can develop following a perinatal death due to a lack of social support, poor marital relations, fertility struggles, pre-existing mental health conditions, and/or the absence of other children.[6] A lack of acknowledgement and support from society and healthcare professionals of the emotional impact of perinatal loss can further lead to parents experiencing disenfranchised grief, which may result in secretive mourning and heightened feelings of guilt and self-blame.[7] Furthermore, as bereavement care guidelines tend to be female-focused, bereaved fathers may feel overlooked and marginalized by medical professionals, workplace policies, and community support programs, leading to unresolved grief.[8]