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Grief in Pregnancy LossAka: Pregnancy Loss Counseling

General counseling
1. Dispel guilt
  1. Nothing patient did caused the Miscarriage
  2. Not due to sex, Exercise, stress, food, minor injury
2. Acknowledge grief
  1. Feeling sad is appropriate in the death of their baby
3. Reassure about future pregnancies
  1. Less than 3 Miscarriages does not increase recurrence
  2. No changes are needed with next pregnancy management
    1. Exception: 3 or more Miscarriages or late loss
  3. Do not recommend any lifestyle changes at this time
4. Keep in contact for support
  1. Phone or office visit within a few days to week
  2. Listening and sharing your own sadness is helpful
5. Encourage notifying others who knew about the pregnancy
  1. Consider designating a friend to tell others
  2. Children should be told if they knew about pregnancy
Inappropriate Comments
1. You can try again
2. At least it happened early
Resources
1. Compassionate Friends
  1. http://www.compassionatefriends.org
  2. Phone: 877-969-0010
2. SHARE Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support
  1. http://www.nationalshareoffice.com
  2. Phone: 800-821-6819
References
1. Deutchman (2000) ALSO Course Syllabus, p. A17-21

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised before 5/10/08, prior to consistent tracking of revision date. This page was last published on 6/1/2008. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.