ABSTRACT
Whenever parents contemplate withholding or withdrawing treatment, they must face the death of their child. A huge literature exists on perinatal death, grief and mourning. The death of a baby is experienced differently in different cultures. In some cultures, children are not recognised as real people until they reach a certain age. In areas of high infant mortality, women delay personalising their children and forming an attachment to them until they are more certain that they will survive. Research findings have consistently concluded that bereavement following the death of a child is Intense, complicated and long-lasting.' There are a number of features which make the loss of a child uniquely difficult to deal with. The first and perhaps most obvious one is its unnatural order. If the baby is a first child, the parents lose something of their identity as parents with dependants and a family structure.
