On the 12th of July, adoreu baby had a launch presenting a collaboration between the owners, Amanda Reilly & Jasmine Shepherd, and Emily Judd. A heart-tugging and beautiful display was presented, filled with various products for those who lost a baby. Being one of the first baby stores in Launceston, adoreu baby wanted to not only cater to all mothers and parents, but also offer a safe space.
It started when Emily Judd, having gone through the heartbreaking experience of her son’s death, went searching for books and baby products for those who had lost a baby. Needing to explain to her 3.5-year-old daughter what had happened to her brother she was expecting, she had to make do with an online-bought sibling loss book that took months to arrive. Needing to process her grief and find solace, she went searching for a baby loss journal – only to find nothing.
It took some time, but she did find that beautiful keepsakes and gifts existed, but none were stocked in retail stores. Emily took it upon herself to go and ask local baby stores if they would consider stocking baby loss resources and gifts in their shop. When she had asked adoreu baby, they were eager to embark on this positive change to their store.
“It was important for us to be including those families that have suffered bereavements that have still had babies that they can feel like they can walk into essentially, what is a baby store but feel like they’re not excluded from purchasing or looking around for their baby who was here but is no longer with us.” Amanda Reilly, co-owner of adoreu baby, said.
Stocking the baby loss items is not just about offering a service to bereaved families, it’s also about making them feel comfortable and feel apart of a community.
Emily spoke about inclusion and representation, “It means a lot actually, because it means that parents who have lost a baby are included in baby stores. You know you’re represented. They’re still included. When your baby dies, a lot of things immediately change and you’re still a parent”
“It’s really nice to be able to have a special gift range installed so that people can still come in and buy a beautiful gift for a little baby who didn’t get to come home.”
Research in the area has shown that acknowledgement of their baby, their parenthood, and their traumatic grief is extremely important and may affect their lives for years and years.
“If people don’t know how to acknowledge that baby, it just leaves that bereaved family feeling even more isolated. So, by having these things in store now, if people know of someone who’s lost a baby or a child, they can come into the store and lovingly pick something and get some help to do so, because most people don’t know what to do. But adoreu baby is now offering that service, they can help somebody pick a meaningful gift.” Emily Judd voiced.
This is not only a great opportunity for bereaved families to find a meaningful keepsake, but for those who have loved ones who want to support them.
“Like Emily said, as a community, we’re not good at talking about death and dying generally, but when you’re talking about the death of a child, people very much distance themselves from discussing it, and ultimately there is still a person there. There is a little human that’s being born” Amanda stated, “ they just didn’t make it to live a life, so they’re still a baby that people want to celebrate.”
A topic that’s rarely brought up and seen more-so as an irrational anxiety for expectant parents is devastatingly common. Nobody expects the loss of their baby that they’ve planned a whole childhood for, and it seems as though the lack of representation becomes apparent as soon as you’re in that situation. However, with the start of this collaboration, we all hope that more baby stores follow suite.
This reality exists in the world and it’s so important that expectant parents feel as though they have a safe space in case a loss occurs, as well as the bereaved families feeling supported.
If you have been affected by pregnancy loss, stillbirth or anything else in this story, support is available:
- Red Nose Grief and Loss (Formerly SIDS and Kids): 1300 308 307
- Lifeline: 13 11 14
- BeyondBlue: 1300 224 636
- Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
