Today is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Established in 2002, the purpose of this annual observance day, is to “show support, educate, and create awareness for those who are suffering or may know someone who suffered a miscarriage, a stillbirth, or the loss of an infant.” According to President Reagan: “When a child loses a parent, they are called an orphan. When a spouse loses their partner, they are widowed. When parents lose their child there is no word to describe them…simply that they are still parents.”
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), explains that “In the United States, a miscarriage is usually defined as loss of a baby before the 20th week of pregnancy, and a stillbirth is loss of a baby at 20 weeks of pregnancy and later.” The CDC defines infant mortality as the “death of an infant before his or her first birthday.” Each year approximately 24,000 babies are stillborn in the United States and in 2017, over 22,000 U.S. infants died.
Miscarriages and stillbirths can be caused by a variety of reasons from placental problems, birth defects, infections, to maternal health. The same is true for infant death, which can be caused by a variety of reasons, from low birth weight, SIDS, pregnancy complications, to infant accidents. The most important thing is for a mother to have constant prenatal care during pregnancy and to become educated on the risk factors on preventing infant mortality. Having a strong support system for mother and baby are very important.
To schedule an appointment at any of our convenient Primary Medical Care Center community clinics, you may visit our website at www.primarymed.com, or call (305)751-1500 for our Miami-Dade clinic, or (954)289-0000 for our Broward clinic.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/stillbirth/facts/facts.html
https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/materna;infanthealth/infantmortality.htm
https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-pregancy-and-infant-loss-remembrance-day-october-15