The term rainbow baby is one that's well used and well known these days.

Advertisement

It's the name given to the baby you have after losing a child, and has, for many women, helped to open up conversation around miscarriage and stillbirth.

There are angel babies, too - a baby that died in miscarriage, stillbirth or early infant death.

But now here at MFM HQ we're hearing about a new term (which we must admit was new to us, but a bit of Googling revealed it's been around for a while and is only now hitting the mainstream): sunshine baby.

Apparently, it's being used to describe the child born before a woman loses a baby. Explaining the term to Huffington Post, clinical psychologist Jessica Zucker said:

“Depending on the circumstances of the subsequent loss, mothers might look back at the naiveté they were able to relish with the ‘sunshine baby'.

"This child might come to represent a period of relative calm or, at the very least, a grief-free period of parenting.”

What do you think?

We totally see how rainbow baby has become a useful term for mums to open up (if they want to) about losing a child (though not everyone wants to use it, like this mum).

And perhaps a sunshine baby could be a helpful term too. What do you think? Would you use it? Tell us in the comments below or over on Facebook.

Read more:

Advertisement

Authors

Tara BreathnachContent Editor and Social Media Producer

Tara is mum to 1 daughter, Bodhi Rae, and has worked as Content Editor and Social Media Producer at MadeForMums since 2015

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement