Knot My Baby and First Candle Organizations to Help the Bereaved

Every year in the U.S., there are 26,000 stillbirths and 4,000 infants under one year of age that die unexpectedly. Two resources for parents are Knot My Baby and First Candle. Both organizations want to help bereaved parents and bring down those numbers. 

Knot My Baby was started by Brooke and Colin Smith when their daughter was delivered stillborn and no local support was available. Knot My Baby is a resource of support and education for families who have had perinatal or neonatal losses.

The organization would like to untangle the following:

·             Little to no access to quality prenatal and/or infant care.

·             Lack of comprehensive information on quality prenatal and or infant care.

·             Lack of resources to aid in quality infant care.

·             Legislation.

·             Little to no information on bereavement resources for those impacted by pregnancy and infant loss.

·             Little to no guidance for families and friends on how to aid those impacted by pregnancy and infant       loss.

And how do they want to do this?

·             Bridge the gap between bereaved families and those who are unfamiliar with the impact of          reproductive loss through awareness campaigns.

·             Legislation to give each state in the U.S. an opportunity to distribute more than 26,000 pieces of educational materials and products on safe pregnancy practices and infant care to reduce the risk of loss before and after pregnancy.

·             Improving stillborn research and postpartum care.

·             Baby monitoring grants---Knot My Baby, Inc. donates at least one pregnancy and/or baby monitor a month to newborns and expecting families. The monitors empower families with technology that monitors their contractions or baby’s heart rate and oxygen levels while they sleep. It alerts parents if the baby stops breathing.

·             Offer of grants to organizations that specifically focus on reproductive loss. Their initial goal is to serve at least four families a month with counseling services each year.   

         Bereavement services would be paid directly to the funeral home of at least one family a month each year.

·              Provide memorial items to families that have experienced a pregnancy or infant loss.

·             A memorial grant once a month to companies that provide memorial items to families that have experienced a pregnancy or infant loss and one Cuddle Cots placed in every maternity ward each year starting with the state of New York.

First Candle is trying to reduce our nation’s high rate of infant mortality. The number of babies who die in adult beds and other unsafe sleep environments is on the rise. Statistics show that as many as 80-90 percent are the result of unsafe sleep practices. These are preventable deaths. By implementing more effective safe sleep education campaigns, First Candle believes they can significantly reduce the number of sudden, unexpected infant deaths in the United States. They want to make parents aware of and adopt lifesaving safe sleep practices before leaving the hospital and ensure that every baby has access to a safe crib, especially if the family can’t afford one. Protect your baby from SIDS, suffocation and accidents during sleep. Contact First Candle for additional information to keep your baby safe. 

Both organizations can be found on the internet with additional information.