Honoring Your Baby

I sat down with my dear friend Catherine Lutz, who is the proud mother of twin angels Samuel Franklin and Jackson Oliver, and we put together a list of ideas of things you can do to honor your baby. There are countless things you can do, hopefully this list will help you come up with something perfect for you and your family. If you have found your own special way to honor your baby and you would like to share it here, please email Stephanie.

Madeline's Ash tree & Madeline's garden, photographs by Stephanie Cole

  • Make or buy birth announcements to send out to friends and family

  • Plant a tree at your home or a park

  • Plant a garden

  • Make a stepping stone

  • Keep a journal

  • Donate a favorite children's book to the library in your baby's name

  • Buy a special piece of jewelry, such as a birthstone ring or a locket

  • Light a candle

  • Make or buy a special ornament each Christmas

  • Hang a stocking for your baby at Christmas (some families fill the stocking with letters to their baby)

  • Donate Christmas presents to needy children

  • Donate toys to the pediatric floor of your local hospital

  • Buy a charm bracelet and add a charm at each birthday

  • Write your baby's name in the sand

  • Participate in a remembrance walk or memorial gathering

  • Release eco-friendly balloons

  • Sponsor a child in a third world country

  • Have a brick put in at a playground with your child's name engraved in it

  • Have your baby's clothes turned into a special quilt or teddy bear

  • Get creative, write a poem or song for your child or make a painting or drawing

  • Place flowers in the ocean's waves

  • Put together a scrapbook or baby book

  • Frame a picture of your baby or your baby's footprints

  • Save and dry flowers from the memorial service

  • Hold a remembrance gathering on your baby's birthday or due date

  • Get a bumper sticker such as "mom of twin angels" or "mom of an angel"

  • Get a stillbirth or infant death awareness ribbon, bumper sticker or rubber bracelet

  • Donate blankets through Sweet Pea Project to the hospital where your baby was born

  • Designate a shelf or place in your house to display your baby's keepsakes

  • Plant a butterfly bush in your yard

  • Volunteer to help raise money for your local infant death support group

  • Keep a memory box with your baby's keepsakes

  • Include something you connect with your child, like a teddy bear, in family portraits

  • Use a special stamp, such as a butterfly, on holiday cards to represent your baby

  • Have an artist make a drawing or painting of your baby

  • Donate copies of Still, or another book for bereaved parents, and place a special bookplate in the cover dedicating it to your child’s memory