A grieving mum has set up a project to help other parents who have lost a baby. Millie Wylie lost her third child, Lenny, when she was four months pregnant September 16, 2021, and said she will "never get over" being told her baby had no heartbeat.
The 23-year-old, from Skelmersdale, near Wigan, suffered a late missed miscarriage - when a baby dies in the womb without the mother having any symptoms. After going through the harrowing experience, she made the decision to help other bereaved mothers by setting up Lenny's Love, which provides comfort bags, as well as baby loss yoga, baby loss retreats and counselling.
Millie told the Liverpool Echo : “It’s the worst news you could ever get. I’ve been through some deeply traumatic times in my life but nothing compares to being told there’s no longer a heartbeat and your unborn child is dead.
READ MORE : Thirty one years ago today a phone call led a mum of two to her killer
"Then there was the trauma of having to give birth to his lifeless body — it’s something I’ll never get over and I am still suffering from the horrific ordeal.”
Since setting up the project, it has already raised more than £3,000 — helping many parents in the process. Looking back on the tragic events, one thing which stuck with Millie was the fact she had to pack a bag to go to the hospital, only to return home with no baby.
Thinking about this, she set about creating comfort bags for other mums, including clothing, sanitary products, hair products, a poem, a memorial gift, knitted butterflies to be exchanged between mother and child and a support contact sheet. Millie began distributing the self-funded comfort bags to Liverpool Women’s Hospital and received great feedback.
Realising the power of what she was doing, she decided to raise money in order to distribute them to as many bereaved women as possible, while also working on developing the project.
She added: “The comfort bags are only a small gesture and nothing will take away the pain of losing a baby but they have been really well received. We’ve raised over £3,000 so far through the GoFundMe page and various events and we are currently distributing the comfort bags to 40 plus women per week but we’ve also started to provide other services.”
Lenny’s Love has been co-ordinating baby loss yoga sessions for bereaved parents at Planet Yoga and the project is in talks to offer baby loss retreats along with funded private counselling sessions. The long term plan is to register as an official charity in order to apply for funding and help bereaved parents nationally.
Millie said: “Losing a baby is one of the most harrowing things you can go through and there’s no timescale on grief. It’s a really long, hard road and sometimes it’s difficult to know where to turn.
"Some people have no access to counselling or support and can be very lonely in their suffering so the idea of Lenny’s Love is to work with the hospitals to bridge that gap and help parents on their journey through grief.”
Lenny’s Love has a GoFundMe Page — with all donations going towards comfort bags for women, baby loss yoga and baby loss retreats and counselling in the future. Anyone wanting to contact directly to offer any support to the initiative can do so via the Facebook page .
To donate to the project visit the Lenny’s Love, click here. To follow the project follow Lenny’s Love on Facebook .
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT:
- Energy price cap will rise to £3,549 in October, Ofgem announces
- Government urged to do more as cost of living crisis deepens following latest energy price cap rise announcement
- The 'drunk', swaggering 'idiot' who robbed two men armed with a baseball bat... because he 'couldn't be a***d not having money'
- Drugs baron ran business behind bars while partner in crime lived luxury lifestyle - seven people have been jailed
- Tributes paid to 'popular' firefighter Daniel Lee after body found in River Irwell
