What Happens After Stillbirth: The First 72 Hours Step by Step

The First Hours: What the Hospital Will Ask You

After a stillbirth, several decisions come at you quickly. Understanding what is ahead helps, even when nothing else does.

Spending time with your baby. The hospital will offer you time with your baby. If they have a CuddleCot — a cooling system that keeps the baby's body preserved — you can hold and be near your baby for hours or even days. Say yes to the time. Many parents who decline regret it later; very few who accept it do.

Autopsy. A doctor or midwife will ask whether you consent to an autopsy. For a stillbirth, the decision is entirely yours — it is not mandatory unless there are suspicious circumstances. An autopsy can identify a cause of death in many cases, which can matter for future pregnancies. It does not affect your baby's appearance in visible areas — standard incisions avoid the face and hands. Results take 6 to 8 weeks, sometimes longer for complex genetic studies.

If you do not want a full autopsy, ask about non-invasive alternatives: MRI imaging, external examination, or targeted tissue sampling. These provide less diagnostic information but are options.

Memory-making. Ask the midwife or bereavement coordinator about photographs, hand and footprints, and a lock of hair. Organizations like Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (US) and Heartfelt (AU) send professional photographers to the hospital at no charge. If none is available, hospital staff can take photographs with your phone.

The Physical Side: What Your Body Does Next

If you delivered the baby vaginally, your body begins standard postpartum recovery immediately: uterine contractions, lochia (bleeding), and hormonal shifts. If you had a cesarean section, you are also recovering from major abdominal surgery.

Breast milk production starts automatically around 30 to 40 hours after delivery, regardless of whether the baby lived. Your breasts will become engorged — swollen, firm, and painful. Two options:

1. Cabergoline (a dopamine agonist) given as a single dose within 12 hours of delivery suppresses milk production before it starts. Ask your midwife or OB.
2. Gradual weaning over about a week, using cold compresses, a supportive (not binding) bra, and tapering expression. This avoids the risk of mastitis from abrupt cessation.

Your hospital should discuss both options with you before discharge. If no one mentions it, ask. Lactation after loss is one of the most physically painful reminders, and managing it properly matters.

Days 1 to 3: Decisions That Have Deadlines

Funeral or hospital disposition. You do not need to decide immediately, but within a few days the hospital will ask how you want your baby's remains handled. The main options: a private funeral (burial or cremation), direct cremation, or hospital disposition (the hospital arranges communal cremation and burial at no cost). In England, the Children's Funeral Fund can cover eligible burial or cremation costs for babies stillborn after 24 weeks when the burial or cremation takes place in England.

Registration. In the UK, a stillbirth after 24 weeks must be registered within 42 days in England and Wales, 21 days in Scotland, and one year in Northern Ireland. The hospital gives you the medical certificate or notification needed to register the stillbirth. In the US, the hospital files a Fetal Death Certificate with the state. Some states also offer a commemorative Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth (CBRS).

Notify your employer. You may be entitled to leave. In the UK: eligible parents may qualify for maternity, paternity, and Statutory Parental Bereavement Leave. In the US: FMLA may provide up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the birthing parent's recovery from childbirth; an eligible partner may also qualify to care for a spouse recovering from childbirth. FMLA does not provide leave solely to grieve a death.

Days 3 to 7: The Quiet That Is Not Quiet

By now you are likely home. The house is full of baby things you prepared. Formula samples and nappy coupons may still be arriving in the mail. Friends are texting, and you do not know what to say.

This is the stage where having a single reference point — one document that lists what needs doing this week, what can wait, and what to say to people who ask — makes the biggest difference. You should not have to cobble together information from five different charity websites and three government portals while recovering from childbirth.

The When Your Baby Dies Response Toolkit covers every step from the hospital room through the first 30 days — decisions, deadlines, physical recovery, workplace leave, and how to communicate with family and friends — in a single, sequenced guide designed for grief brain.