How can I help someone whos just had a miscarriage?
Women vary a lot in their emotional responses to miscarriage. Its not unusual to feel very sad, to search for explanations, to blame yourself and to feel resentful of people who appear to have had babies easily. Many women grieve in the same way that they would after a bereavement. Sometimes those around them can find it hard to understand why they are so upset and to show empathy, but these feelings are very real. Sometimes women start to feel a bit better after a few weeks, but then feel particularly anxious and unhappy again 6 to 8 weeks later often when their first period returns or they have started to try to get pregnant again. All these responses are perfectly normal. The best way of supporting women through this difficult time is to listen sympathetically and not to minimize the way they feel. For many women and their partners this is much more than a loss of a foetus. Its the loss of the future they had imagined for themselves. Although the miscarriage wont be forgotten, most
