Burial of children, and particularly where a pregnancy has not resulted in a living baby, is incredibly sensitive, and you need to know exactly how to deal with these cases.

Generally, a coffin burial process (and exclusive rights and memorials) will administratively be the same as an adult, but you will probably have lower fees (or none). You will need to have set up burial types and fee tariffs which correspond. You should also have a ‘deceased type’ of child, and stillborn (or similar).

Many cemeteries will have a separate ‘baby and infant’ area set aside in the cemetery, where grave spaces can be smaller and where more informal memorabilia can be allowed. Sometimes an infant burial could be arranged as the first burial in a grave intended to be used for a parent later, but you will need to be certain of depth constraints. In some cases there may be multiple burials of cremated remains in shared graves, but parents need to know that this would prevent adult burials later and will limit memorials. Shared graves will be multi-faith, so would preclude a burial in a specific tradition.  You need to be aware of all such implications when making the arrangements, so that informed choices can be made.

Still births are covered by the Cemeteries Order for babies of 24 weeks pregnancy or more, so need to be registered in the same way as other burials. You must state ‘stillborn’ as part of the Name of the deceased. Prior to 24 weeks they are classed as foetal remains, and must be recorded as a non-statutory burial. You may find that the hospital gives the notification and pays any relevant fees. Best practice requires such a burial to be treated with exactly the same respect to parents, and great care needs to be taken as parents may not appreciate the permanence of the decisions they take.