Explaining miscarriage to a child is difficult, especially when you’re grieving. These books about miscarriage make it a little bit easier.

If you already have a child when you suffer a pregnancy loss, it’s hard to know how to explain the miscarriage to siblings.

How much detail should you share?

If they didn’t know about the pregnancy yet, do you need to share the loss with them at all?

How can you help your older child understand the grief you’re feeling, without making them feel scared?

All of these questions can be overwhelming when you’re already processing the powerful emotions associated with loss. Children’s books about miscarriage can help facilitate these difficult discussions, explaining grief and loss in terms even a young child can relate to.

There is of course no one right way to explain miscarriage to a child. Your journey is your own and, in the end, you’ll have to decide what you feel comfortable sharing with your older child and what they’re capable of processing at this point in their development. My hope is that you’ll find a book here that will help you in this journey.

Children’s Books About Miscarriage & Pregnancy Loss

There are many children’s books about miscarriage available. Different books will likely resonate with you based on your beliefs and the age of your child. I have not personally read all of these but wanted to share a wide selection to help you find what you’re looking for.

I would love to build this list over time. If you have a book about miscarriage for kids that has been helpful for your family, please share! You can send me a message here or message me on Instagram @miscarriagehopedesk

1. Dear Star Baby

Malcolm Newsome’s Dear Star Baby is written as a letter from a little boy to his sibling who was lost to miscarriage. It depicts how the child experiences grief as he shares all of the ways the family was preparing for and looking forward to the baby’s arrival. 

This book will be released in April, 2023, but is available for preorder now.

2. Marshmallow’s Gift Garden

Marshmallow’s Gift Garden was written by a mama who had recently suffered a miscarriage and was not satisfied with the resources available to explain what happened to her young son. The author, Julia Brown, was a guest on episode 66 of the Miscarriage Hope Desk podcast.

Full of hope, this story started as a bedtime story Julia told her son to help him understand. It puts grief and disappointment in terms that a young child can understand.

3. There Was a Baby

The author, Laura J Camerona, offers a unique perspective on sharing pregnancy loss with children. She works as a Certified Child Life Specialist in a hospital setting, giving her ample experience in helping children cope with their own difficult health conditions, as well as those of loved ones. She also helps families find the language to talk about these challenges with their children.

Laura has taken this experience and used what she’s learned to write a story explaining pregnancy loss to young children. The book also includes a tips section to walk you through these challenging conversations.

4. The Duckling in Our Hearts

Featured in episode 88 of the Miscarriage Hope Desk podcast, Kara Mangum wrote this sweet and gentle story explaining pregnancy loss to young children.

Beautifully illustrated, this story features a family of ducks and perfectly shows how you can be grieving and yet full of hope at the same time.

Kara’s organization, Our Hearts Align, offers many other valuable resources to those going through pregnancy loss.

5. We Were Gonna Have a Baby but We Had an Angel Instead

This simple, straightforward book about miscarriage lets children know that it is okay to be sad and grieve and that they are not alone in these big feelings. While some reviewers thought the book did not end as hopefully as they would have liked, others found it quite validating for the grief and sense of loss their family was experiencing.

The end of the book includes tips on helping children process grief and on what to expect as your child grieves. The author, Pat Schwiebert, founded the organization Grief Watch and has decades of experience with helping people process grief.

6. Something Happened

This book perfectly balances the hard feelings a child can experience in the face of infant loss with reassurances that life as a family will go on, helping children to feel safe and secure both in their feelings and in their future.

The author, Cathy Blanford, has extensive experience with helping children through grief. She used this experience to include many helpful tips for parents and talking points throughout the book to help facilitate deeper conversations.

7. We Had to Say Goodbye Before We Even Met

A clinical psychologist, the author of this children’s book about miscarriage has undergone pregnancy loss herself and wanted to create a resource to help both children and parents going through this heartbreaking experience. The story is told from the perspective of a sibling whose family has just lost a baby

8. A Land Called Grief

This story is not specific to miscarriage, rather it helps children identify and understand the complicated emotions associated with grief. Whether your child is grieving the pregnancy loss or you are trying to help them understand the grief you’re going through, this beautiful book may help.

Explaining pregnancy loss or infant loss to a child is hard. You may not be in a place to talk about what happened yet. You may find yourself struggling to put into words the big emotions you’re experiencing. You may find it challenging to honestly acknowledge the grief you’re going through with your child, while still making sure they feel safe and secure.

A children’s book about miscarriage gives you a starting place, a foundation on which to build these difficult discussions. It also makes it to where you can ask a trusted loved one to read the book to your child and explain what happened if you’re not emotionally able to do so yet.

If you need more resources on coping with miscarriage, I have a Dealing with Miscarriage section of our library with topics you may find helpful.

Additional Miscarriage Resources

Here are some additional articles you may find helpful while navigating pregnancy loss.

Coping with Miscarriage – Self Care During Miscarriage

I put together a list of the things I found helpful in the aftermath of pregnancy loss. I hope you find something that resonates with you and can help, even in a small way, with your healing.

13 Ways to Memorialize Your Miscarriage: Honoring a Pregnancy Loss

Many families dealing with miscarriage and pregnancy loss find it comforting to find a way to memorialize the baby, sometimes referred to as a miscarriage memorial. From planting a remembrance tree to commissioning a family portrait including the child, there are many ways you can do this.

Grieving Miscarriage with a Jizo Statue

A Japanese tradition, the Jizo statue is a beautiful way of honoring and remembering a child lost to miscarriage.