8 Ways to Remember and Memorialize Your Baby

Here are 8 ways you can remember your baby.

These are rituals that people in the IWSTHAB and loss communities do to help them memorialize and honor their babies.

1) Meaningful Jewelry: Wear jewelry with your baby’s name, birth month, or something that reminds you of them

2) Keep Their Pictures Up: Display your baby’s picture/ultrasound around your house. Next time you do a photoshoot, bring a picture of your baby so they can be part of the photos

3) Save Keepsakes: Frame the ultrasound pictures, keep their footprints from the hospital, preserve their first outfit or favorite blanket/toy.

4) Speak About Them: Pray for them, say their name, talk about their life and your experiences with them, help their memory live on

5) Extra Mikvah Dips: When you go to the mikvah (ritual bath), add an extra dip to remember, honor, and pray for your baby

6) Light A Candle: It is traditional for a parent to light one Shabbat candle for each of their children—light a shabbos candle to honor your baby. A yahrzeit (memorial) candle is reminiscent of the soul and can be used to memorialize, honor, and commemorate lost loved ones.

7) Plant a Tree, Flower, or Garden: This can be a special way to remember your baby. When a plant is nourished, new life blossoms, enabling you and others to see and feel the presence of your baby.

8) Infuse the Day with Meaning: On special days for your baby, like their due date, birthday, or the day they dies, do something to honor and remember them. Release balloons, make a donation in their name, educate someone, light a candle, talk about them.