Sunderland MP Sharon Hodgson talks about 'traumatic' loss of her stillborn daughter

Speaking in a Westminster Hall debate, Washington and Gateshead South MP Sharon Hodgson said: “No-one knows what to say to you when you’ve lost a baby”, adding that she believes she made those around her ‘feel very uncomfortable’ after the ‘traumatic’ stillbirth of her daughter Lucy.

She told MPs: “The experience of giving birth to a stillborn child is incredibly traumatic, as we’ve heard and I’ve previously spoken about.

“It feels weird that the world around you is not responding as they would if you had given birth to a live baby.

“And I felt, actually, that I made everyone around me feel very uncomfortable, or anyone I met uncomfortable, and it is one of the last taboos.

“No-one knows what to say to you when you’ve lost a baby or given birth to a stillborn baby, it’s everyone’s worst nightmare.”

She added: “Compounding this grief was the fact that Lucy did not receive a birth certificate or a death certificate.

“And, even more upsettingly, that in my records it wasn’t recorded as a stillbirth, it was recorded as a miscarriage, because she was just days away from being 24 weeks, three or four days short of the required legal age to be eligible for a death certificate.

“And so, because of that, she doesn’t officially exist in any official records, other than our own family records.

During the debate, Reform Party leader Nigel Farage revealed he found it difficult to speak to his niece after her baby was stillborn, because he was worried he would say ‘something that was wrong’.

The Reform UK leader said the subject is often a “taboo” for many families and communities, adding it is “something that is very, very difficult to talk about”.

Mr Farage said he had ‘never discussed’ baby loss with his niece, despite being close to her, because he felt ‘too awkward’.

Health minister Karin Smyth said losing a baby was ‘something that stays with families for decades, and sharing those experiences today is very brave of honourable members, and I think that gives voice to how important this is, because every baby’s death is tragic.

“It’s all the more devastating when parents are told that it could have been prevented.

“As we’ve heard, report after report has told us that this remains a serious issue in our health service, and that’s backed up by the data.

“This Government’s position is that any preventable death is unacceptable, and we are committed to making sure that all baby deaths that can be prevented will be prevented.”