Rainbow baby
Also called rainbow babies, rainbow, rainbow pregnancy
A rainbow baby is a baby born after the loss of an earlier baby, through miscarriage, stillbirth or the death of a newborn. The name comes from the rainbow that follows a storm.
How it's said
Both of my dc are rainbow babies but I have never called them that.
I'm just wondering how you ladies are finding/have found your rainbow pregnancies?
I hate the term rainbow baby though, as if my DS is defined by what came before him.
Who says it
Where it came from
The name draws on a rainbow after bad weather: the new baby stands for hope after the grief of a loss. BBC News reported on the word in 2017, talking to mothers who use the rainbow symbol to celebrate their children and remember the babies they lost. Supporters mark August 22 as Rainbow Baby Day.
The word also names care. In the UK, Rainbow Clinics such as Tommy's at Saint Mary's Hospital in Manchester look after families in a pregnancy after stillbirth or neonatal death.
Not every parent likes the label. In 2021 TODAY spoke with parents who didn't want a child defined in relation to an earlier loss.