Correspondence: do not overlook parental grief following an infant death in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Parents’ bereavement results in high rates of psychological, emotional, physiological, and existential distress after the death of a child during pregnancy, at delivery or in the neonatal period. Parental grief following an infant’s death is usually neglected or overlooked in many Neonatal Intensive Care Units in both developed and developing countries.

We report our observations about grieving parents in order to increase the awareness of health professionals regarding the importance of grief for the death of their infant.

In conclusion, in this report, we would like to emphasize that grieving parents following a perinatal death should be supported not only physically, but also psychosocially and spiritually by health professionals.