The grief experienced by parents over the critical illness or death of their child is without a doubt the most difficult experience they will face. Nurses face challenges in providing end-of-life care and should be adequately prepared to provide help to parents facing such grief (Mullen, Reynolds, & Larson, 2015). This paper discusses information nurses can communicate to grieving parents on the options they have after their child’s death to help them through the grieving process.

For bereaved parents in perinatal, neonatal and pediatric hospital settings, nurses may offer information on recommended best practice hospital-based bereavement services. In their mixed study review, Donovan, Wakefield, Russell, and Cohn (2015) examined studies on the psychosocial impact of hospital-based bereavement services on grieving parents. A total of 30 quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods studies were included in the review. The quantitative studies revealed that bereavement services have the biggest impact on those parents who are experiencing complex mourning. The authors recommend the bereavement services be driven by theory and based on the evidence. Further, they should offer continuity of care before and after the death of the child, include the whole family in interventions and provide flexible service delivery. The qualitative studies indicate that family members experience a reduced sense of isolation, improved coping, and personal growth and felt cared for and supported by staff from their bereavement services.

Some research indicates that that practice of parents holding, washing, dressing, and seeing their dead baby during the immediate postnatal period is reported to be a helpful and positive experience under the right circumstances (Radestad, Saflund, Wredling, Onelov, & Steineck, 2009). The attitude of staff significantly influences whether or not the bereaved parents will hold their stillborn baby. Nurses and healthcare professionals should be sensitive to the parents’ personal feelings within a cultural content in suggesting this practice.

This paper discussed two options for parents grieving the death of their child. Evidence-based bereavement programs have shown to have a positive impact on the grieving process through a reduced sense of isolation, improved coping, and personal growth and felt cared for and supported by staff from their bereavement services. Under the right circumstances, the practice of holding, dressing, and making memories with the dead child has shown to help in the grieving process when the beliefs and feelings of the parents are considered in the cultural context.