DBHF X TEDDY'S WISH PARTNERSHIP - CREATING CARE PACKAGES FOR BEREAVED PARENTS.

Baby Loss Awareness Week: 9th-15th October 2026 

Knowing what to say when someone you care about has lost a baby can feel incredibly difficult. You might worry about saying the wrong thing, causing more upset or reminding someone of something they are already struggling to process. 

But we’ve found that saying something is better than saying nothing. 

Ahead of Baby Loss Awareness Week, we’re sharing the story of our partnership with baby loss charity Teddy’s Wish, and the care packages we’ve created together for bereaved parents. 

We’ve worked with Teddy’s Wish since 2020 to provide thoughtful care packages for parents experiencing the loss of a baby to stillbirth (from 24 weeks), neonatal death or SIDS. Alongside the packages available to purchase through Don’t Buy Her Flowers, Teddy’s Wish also provides free care packages to eligible recently bereaved parents across the UK. 

Teddy’s Wish was founded by Jennifer and Chris Reid following the death of their son, Edward Louis Reid, who died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in April 2014, aged just three months. 

The charity was established in Edward’s memory and works to fund research into the causes of baby loss, while also providing bereavement support to families through counselling, retreats and care packages. 

For Jennifer, the idea for the care packages came from something very personal. 

After Edward died, she received flowers from well meaning friends, but one gift stayed with her: a care package from an old school friend containing a book about baby loss, a candle and some tea. 

It was simple, but Jennifer remembered how much it meant that someone had thought about what she might actually need. 

Years later, that experience inspired her to approach Steph Douglas, founder of Don’t Buy Her Flowers. 

Jennifer had been following Steph and Don’t Buy Her Flowers online when she got in touch in 2020 with the idea of creating a dedicated Teddy’s Wish Baby Loss Package. 

The partnership made sense. 

Steph had started Don’t Buy Her Flowers in 2014 after receiving eight bouquets following the birth of her first child and questioning whether flowers were the most helpful way of showing someone you cared. 

As DBHF grew, customers began using our care packages for difficult life events too, including bereavement and miscarriage. So, when Jennifer approached us about creating care packages specifically for bereaved parents, it felt like a natural fit. 

But this was never about assuming we knew what a bereaved parent needed. 

It was about listening to people with lived experience. 

The Teddy’s Wish and DBHF care packages have developed over the years, with input from the baby loss community helping to shape what goes inside them. 

That matters to us. 

When someone is going through something as personal as baby loss, there isn't a universal list of things that will make them feel better. A care package can't take away grief, and it isn't supposed to. 

Instead, it can be a physical way of saying: I’m thinking about you. I haven’t forgotten. I’m here. 

As Steph says: 

“What I love about our partnership with Teddy’s Wish is that these packages have been shaped by bereaved parents themselves. It isn’t about assuming what somebody needs at the worst point in their life; it is about listening to people who have been there.” 

One of the most important messages from Teddy’s Wish is that people shouldn't be afraid to acknowledge a baby who has died. 

Baby loss can be incredibly isolating. Friends, family and colleagues may worry about saying the wrong thing and, in that uncertainty, sometimes avoid mentioning what has happened altogether. 

But acknowledging the baby, using their name and acknowledging a parent’s grief can be incredibly important. 

The Teddy’s Wish care packages do this in a small but meaningful way. Wherever possible, the baby’s name is included on the package, acknowledging the child who has died rather than avoiding their existence. 

Jennifer puts it simply: 

“Supporting bereaved parents is at the heart of everything we do at Teddy’s Wish. We wanted to create something that told another bereaved parent: “We remember your baby, we are here for you, and you are not alone in your grief.” 

There are several Teddy’s Wish care packages available through Don’t Buy Her Flowers, each created to offer a thoughtful gesture of support. The packages are designed to give the person sending the gift the opportunity to put together something personal, while choosing from products that have been carefully considered with baby loss and bereavement in mind. 

Teddy’s Wish Baby Loss Book Gift Box 

The Teddy’s Wish Baby Loss Book Gift Box brings together comforting items including a book about baby loss, English breakfast tea, a selection of biscuit and shortbread options and candles. 

Teddy’s Wish Baby Loss Tea Care Package 

The Teddy’s Wish Baby Loss Tea Care Package is a smaller care package centred around a selection of teas and biscuits, offering a quiet moment to relax. 

Teddy’s Wish Community Care Package 

The Teddy’s Wish Community Care Package offers a wider selection of carefully chosen options to offer the recipient a moment of calm, relaxation and comfort. 

Don’t Buy Her Flowers makes an annual donation from the sale of Teddy’s Wish packages to support the charity’s research and bereavement support work. 

The packages aren't only available to buy as a gift for someone else. 

Teddy’s Wish sends free Baby Loss Packages to eligible recently bereaved parents living in the UK. 

The packages are available to parents who have experienced stillbirth or termination for medical reasons from 24 weeks’ gestation, neonatal death or SIDS. They contain carefully selected items intended to provide comfort, including books about grief and baby loss, tea, biscuits, candles and other thoughtful items. 

If you or someone you know may be eligible, full information about requesting a package is available directly from Teddy’s Wish. 

Find out more about the Teddy’s Wish Baby Loss Package 

Baby Loss Awareness Week takes place from 9th-15th October, bringing together people affected by baby loss and organisations supporting them. 

The week culminates in the global Wave of Light at 7pm on 15th October, when people around the world light candles in memory of babies who have died. 

But for bereaved parents, grief doesn't begin and end with one awareness week. 

The initial messages, cards and flowers may stop arriving, but the loss doesn't disappear. Continuing to acknowledge important dates, use a child's name and check in with bereaved parents in the weeks, months and years afterwards can matter enormously. 

As Jennifer says, people don't need to find the perfect words. 

Sometimes simply showing that you remember and care can mean an enormous amount.

We know that baby loss can be an incredibly difficult subject to talk about. 

You might not know what to say. You might worry that mentioning the baby will cause more pain. You might wonder whether enough time has passed. 

But you don't have to have the perfect words. 

You can simply acknowledge what has happened. 

You can say their baby's name. 

You can let them know you're thinking about them. 

And if you can't be there in person, you can send something that says it for you. 

That's what these care packages are for. Not to fix grief, or make it disappear, but to offer a small, tangible reminder that someone is thinking about you, remembers your baby and is there. 

That is what Jennifer wanted when she first approached Steph in 2020. 

And it's why we're so grateful to continue working with Teddy’s Wish today. 

Teddy's Wish sends out Don’t Buy Her Flowers care packages free of charge to recently bereaved parents who live in the UK, to let them know that they are not alone. They send care packages to parents who have lost a baby to stillbirth or TFMR (from 24 weeks gestation), neonatal death or SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Contact the charity by emailing [email protected].