This week is Britain's first Babyloss Awareness Week. Women's Editor Christen Pears reports on the pain of pregnancy loss and neonatal death.

EACH day in Britain, 16 babies are stillborn or die during their first 28 days of life. One in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage and 2,000 women a year face the pain and sadness of ending a much-wanted pregnancy following the diagnosis of a serious abnormality in the womb. The figures are high and yet the subject remains largely taboo.

Whether the baby lives outside the womb for a short time or never draws breath, the impact felt by the parents is no less devastating. But pregnancy loss and neonatal death are surrounded by a culture of silence and misunderstanding that can prevent women discussing what is happening to them both physically and emotionally. Friends and family often fail to provide the support the grieving parents need, making them feel even more isolated.

Sam Smith was 24 when she became pregnant with her first child in 1998. Everything was going well when she went for her first scan at 12 weeks.

"I had absolutely no worries. As far as I was concerned, it was just a routine scan -and they found a facial abnormality. They said it wasn't compatible with life. It was a complete and utter shock. I had never dreamt that anything like that would happen," she says.

Sam was told the baby would probably survive in the womb but would die as soon it was born. Two days later, she went to North Tyneside General Hospital for a termination.

"For us, there wasn't really a choice; termination was the only option but I was horrified. I thought I would be knocked out and wouldn't know anything about it but I had a four-hour labour because they wanted the baby to be intact so they could do a post mortem. I went home the following day, but without the baby, which was just awful.

"I did see the baby but it was so tiny I only found it was a boy later. We had a funeral service but his was just one of five coffins on a conveyor belt going into a crematorium with a reference number on the side."

It was several months before the post mortem examination results were available. They showed the baby had been suffering from Meckels Syndrome, an extremely rare genetic condition.

"We felt very isolated. The staff at the hospital were very kind to us but because it was so rare, they didn't know a lot about the condition, which made us feel like we were on our own even more," explains Sam.

She eventually contacted the charity ARC (Antenatal Results and Choices), who were able to tell her more about Meckels Syndrome. They also put her in touch with another woman who had a termination after the diagnosis of a serious foetal abnormality.

"I was able to phone her and talk about things, which was extremely helpful. Before that, I had been feeling that I was the only one ever to go through this. I'm now a phone counsellor myself because I really do believe it helps."

Following the termination, Sam and her husband had to make the decision whether to try for another baby. They knew there was a one in four chance that it could also suffer from Meckels Syndrome but they decided to go ahead and now have two sons.

"It was a hard decision for us because we wanted a baby but we knew what the odds were. If I had become pregnant and the scan had shown the baby also had Meckels, I would have had to have another termination. Fortunately, it didn't come to that."

October 11 to 17 is the UK's first Babyloss Awareness Week, raising awareness of the many issues surrounding all types of pregnancy loss and neonatal death.

It has been organised by parents who have experienced the loss of a baby and brings together five organisations: Antenatal Results and Choices, Babyloss.com, the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust, The Miscarriage Association and Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society.

"The death of a child at any age is devastating but, as many families discover, pregnancy loss, at whatever stage, is a distressing, frightening and lonely experience," says Carolyn Bray, Babyloss Awareness Week organiser. "The way the medical profession, and by extension society, compartmentalise the losses according to gestational age leads to many false, and at times dangerous assumptions."

Before 24 weeks, pregnancy loss is termed as miscarriage, which suggests a relatively painless event with few physical or emotional consequences for the mother due to the very small size of the baby. Miscarriage can, however, be an uncertain, drawn-out and painful experience with long-term effects.

As many as one in six pregnancies ends in miscarriage, usually before 12 weeks. Miscarriage is not fully understood and some happen without any explanation. The body may reject the embryo because it is imperfect or it may be caused by the opening of the cervix and contraction of the uterus, pushing the baby out too soon.

Beyond 24 weeks, the loss is regarded as a stillbirth and the birth and death have to be registered. Often the mother has to endure a long and painful labour in the knowledge that the baby is already dead.

In Britain each year, there are more than 20,000 emergency admissions into hospital for ectopic pregnancy, where the embryo grows in one of the fallopian tubes.

More than 35,000 women are told, as a result of antenatal screening, that there is a risk the unborn baby may have a serious abnormality. Around 2,000 women have to make the painful decision to terminate their pregnancy.

"So many parents suffer in isolated silence, struggling to come to terms with their anguish and grief and have nowhere to turn. These families need to know they are not alone, and that pregnancy loss is no longer a taboo subject," says Carolyn.

"Support groups founded and run by parents are being formed all over the country to help families through the tragedy of losing their baby. We need to make communities aware that help is available."

* For more information, visit www.babyloss.com