The following are some ideas we have collected from other websites, books, and grieving families. It helps to create lasting memories of our child(ren) and to continue memories to keep them in our thoughts and hearts on a daily basis.
Have molds taken of your child’s hand/foot so that you can have a three-dimensional memento of him/her.
Make and keep a grief journal.
Send out birth/death announcements
Find a keepsake box, and fill it with items that remind you of your child and/or are filled with his/her things.
(items such as gown, diaper, lock of hair, blood pressure band, etc.)
Make a shadow box filled with the things that touched your child-outfit, stuffed animal, ID bracelet, etc..
Have some flowers from the funeral freeze dried and placed in a glass frame or use it as potporri.
When you receive a plant at your child’s funeral, plant it and keep it alive in his/her spirit.
Donate money to an organization related to the circumstances surrounding your child’s life/death.
Buy a brick in your city’s square and have it engraved with your child’s name.
Have a holiday ornament personalized with your baby’s name and birth/death date.
Plant a rosebush or tree in honor of your child.
Create a scrapbook for your child full of pictures – sonogram photos, letters you have written, etc.
Find an organization that makes clothing and burial items for small premature babies who have died. Offer to help make these items for distribution to the hospital.
Go online and find a place to memorialize your baby, there are a lot of web sites that have "memorial gardens" online.
Have a painting or sketch made of your child’s face. There are many items of these artists online or you can find someone local to do it.
Write a poem about your child and have it published online or in your local newspaper, grief support newsletter, or arts publication.
Do a cross stitch featuring your child’s name, birth and death date.
Buy a necklace or bracelet with your child’s birthstone on it or a grieving bracelet.
Have a money clip engraved with your child’s name birth/death date on it for dad to wear.
Buy books and dedicate them in memory of your child-donate them to local library or hospitals.
Send out anniversary of birthday announcements.
Have a bear or quilt made out of your baby’s blanket and/or clothes.
Buy and name a star from the International Star Registry, so that you can see it shining.
Light a candle on special days and let it burn. Blow it out to symbolize letting go and remember its warmth and glow.
If you were not able to obtain a birth certificate, make one with counted cross-stitch or obtain a Recognition of Life Certificate.
Have your child’s name inscribed in the Book of Life in the Church of the Holy Innocents, located in New York City. A Shrine in the church is dedicated to children who have died unborn. When you send your child’s name and birth date, you will receive a certificate and pictures of the Shrine.