• Question: Why can babies be miscarried or stillborn?

    Asked by kshergold12 to Damien, Rachael, Simon, Suzi, Tim on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Hi @kshergold12
      I’m afraid there are lots of reasons why this can happen, but it’s not wholly understood, and it’s desperately sad when it does.
      Sometimes when a sperm and an egg join there are errors when the cells divide. A foetus can develop a little way, then it can’t develop any more so a miscarriage happens. Often this means that the baby would not have been very well when it was born anyway.
      Smoking when pregnant can make a still birth more likely to happen, as can being overweight when pregnant. However, half of all still births are unexplained.

      There is a lot of research going on in to this by a charity called Sands.
      http://www.uk-sands.org/Research.html

      I hope this answers your question.

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