Hospital burial

If you choose a hospital burial, your baby may share a grave with other babies. In some local authority cemeteries, shared graves are in a special area set aside for babies. Some cemeteries use lockable grave covers to protect a shared grave until it is full and the ground can be filled in. You may want to ask the midwife or nurse about this.

If your baby is in a shared grave, you will probably not be able to place any kind of memorial on the grave. Some cemeteries have a separate section in another area of the cemetery for memorials or memorial plaques. Some have rules about the type of memorials that are allowed. You may want to ask about this.

Most cemeteries have a book of remembrance and you can arrange for your baby’s name to be entered. Although this is not relevant at present, you should bear in mind that it is usually not possible to move a body from a shared grave. This may be important if later on, you might want to re-bury your baby with another family member, for example a grandparent.