Baby Loss

Samantha Niblett Excerpts

Monday 13th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire) (Lab)]

I want to thank the three Members who secured this debate. It is of profound importance. Not long after becoming an MP, I was contacted by Hayley Johnson, who wanted to speak with me about her heartbreak. In April 2025, Hayley found out she was pregnant with her daughter Evelyn. Up until she was 26 weeks and six days, she did not once see a GP, and was given only phone call appointments. On Tuesday 5 August 2025, she was suffering with lower abdominal pains and called her GP surgery, who said that her daughter was lying funny and prescribed her codeine. On Friday, she started losing blood while she was at home. It transpired that when she had called the GP, her placenta was rupturing. She lost over 4 pints of blood and nearly died. Luckily, the amazing staff at Burton hospital got her daughter out safely and stabilised Hayley, but after 13 hours, Evelyn sadly passed away with her mummy and daddy by her side.

Hayley was informed by the hospital that if her GP had seen her in person and examined her, they would have noticed what was happening, and her daughter would have stood a greater chance of survival. Because of the negligence she suffered, all she has left of Evelyn is a small box in the living room containing her ashes. I promised Hayley that at the right time I would mention Evelyn’s name in the Chamber, so that she would be remembered always in the records of Hansard.

No parent ever imagines that they will outlive their child. The loss of a baby is heartbreaking beyond words and a grief that shatters hopes and dreams for the future—the hope of seeing that child grow, thrive, learn and love, and the joy of watching them take their place in the world. All of those are stolen in an instant, leaving a space in the family that can never be filled. Brothers and sisters lose the chance of a lifelong companion. Grandparents lose the grandchild they had longed to cherish and spoil. Baby loss touches everyone and takes so much from so many.

My constituents and friends Suman and Jim Antcliffe have suffered the painful loss of two grandchildren: Lenny, who sadly passed away not long after a full-term birth, due to cord entanglement; and Bhai, whom they lost at 18 weeks’ pregnancy for a reason no one knows. Amid deep sorrow, Lenny and Bhai’s incredible parents, Miriam—Suman and Jim’s daughter—and her husband Roy, founded Lenny’s Legacy. They have published an e-book about the physical recovery after a baby’s death, which includes information on postpartum recovery, breastfeeding and lactation. Perhaps our NHS could look to fund that in hard copy, so that hospitals could to give it to parents who have suffered that loss.

Soon after I became the Member of Parliament for South Derbyshire, the team and I were contacted by Alex and Kirsty Garner, a couple who had suffered a loss. They felt that there was not the support they needed, so they created that support with a group called Our Little Angels in Swadlincote, run by parents, for parents. My team and I were honoured to help them secure the funding for that. I promised Alex and Kirsty and other parents who have walked this painful path that I would mention their babies’ names in the Chamber. I may go slightly over the one minute I have left—I apologise for that, Madam Deputy Speaker—but it would be wrong of me not to call them by name now. We have Hayley Johnson and John Haddon and baby Evelyn; Miriam and Roy Prestwich and babies Lenny and Bhai; Kirsty and Alex Garner and baby Harry; Ames and Graham Silcock and their babies Olivia, Teddy and Ava; Gina and Adam Deacon and baby Poppy; Jaimee Long and Owen Archer and babies Arlo and Ava; Rebekah Wykes and Matthew Buckley and baby Jacob; Chelsea and Steve Cooper and babies Flower and Blossom; Nicolle Taylor and Peter Summerbell and baby Ariya; Rachel and Leigh Brassington and baby Archie; Hayley and Anthony Dawe and twins Finley and Darcie; Millie Garbutt and Luke Lenton and baby Lenton; Katie Garner and Callum Charman and baby Charman; Kirstie and James Palmer and baby Palmer; Amie and Connor Chinnery and baby Noah; Bev and Oliver and baby Alister; Beth Milnthorpe and Craig Timbrell and baby Timbrell; Charlotte Atherton and Callum Keyte and baby Wyatt; Bec Barker and baby Alister; Bec and baby Maisie; Paula Ann Haddon and her baby; and Lorinda Brownhill and Adam Townsend and baby Alfie.

To every family who has lost a baby, your grief matters and your children matter. This week, we light candles and wear ribbons to remember them, and to remind one another that love, even in loss, endures.