Dying newborns and survivor siblings

Researchers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical centre in the U.S. looked into the effects of the deaths of children in neonatal intensive care units on their surviving siblings. The qualitative (feelings not numbers) study of 13 adults and 1 adolescent found that they felt a sense of confusion surrounding the event. They reported a lack of communication about the death itself and believed that their parents had never mourned the loss of the child. The study also found that rituals, photographs and shared memories played an important part in the healing process.