Empty Cradle, Broken Heart

Grieving the death of a baby is a heart-wrenching journey. Whether your baby died during pregnancy, around birth, or in infancy, Empty Cradle, Broken Heart is a gentle guide that will accompany you. Full of information and practical suggestions, this book can help you accept the variety and depth of your emotions; find answers to questions such as &quote;What's normal?&quote; and &quote;Why me?&quote;; make sense of your grief and mourning; cultivate mutual understanding with your partner; tap into sources of support; and adopt mindfulness-based coping strategies that can help you heal your heart. Most importantly, you'll be comforted by the words of dozens of bereaved parents. By hearing from mothers and fathers who have walked this path, you can establish realistic expectations for grieving, find reassurance, and truly understand that you are not alone. This fourth edition has been completely revised and updated, with new information on the neuroscience of this experience plus other insights including how your brain encodes your bond with your baby as everlasting; grieving explained in terms of your brain redrawing its neural map; how your brain tries to settle the dispute between your baby being gone, but also everlasting; the various experiences of being in survival mode and thriving mode around your baby's life and death; how your brain processes and heals from traumatic bereavement; the pitfalls and benefits of rumination; the relationship skill of repair; and reducing your distress with mindfulness practices and informal rituals.