Shrouding blankets provide dignity and support after the loss of a child
A small wool blanket wrapped around a baby who is stillborn or lost during pregnancy can make a significant difference in an acute situation of loss. This is shown in an artistic research dissertation from the University of Gothenburg.
In her dissertation, Birgitta Nordström, textile artist and doctorate candidate at HDK-Valand, explores how specially designed shrouding blankets can be used by healthcare professionals when parents lose a child or an expected foetus.
– Unlike ordinary hospital textiles that are washed and reused, the shrouding blankets are intended solely for the individual child. It is just a small blanket – but it makes a difference.
The project has taken Birgitta Nordström from galleries and art spaces into maternity wards, where she has developed textiles for use in real situations of loss.
– At first, I wanted to weave the blankets as softly as possible, using materials such as silk, linen and merino wool. But in conversations with midwives, it became clear that the blankets needed to be stable enough to support a child that has lost bodily tension.
In dialogue with healthcare professionals, she therefore developed a textile made primarily from wool, combining stability with a restrained visual expression.
– I experimented with different colours and patterns but ultimately arrived at a subdued palette. The design of the blanket must not stand in the way of creating memories of the child. It has been a process in which reality has continuously informed the textile.
In addition to stability, absorption and temperature are important qualities. The child needs to be kept cool while the parents remain at the hospital to say goodbye.
– Holding a cold child in your arms is deeply frightening. By wrapping the blanket around the body, parents experience a sense of warmth while holding their child.
Her research shows that textile acts – wrapping, tucking in and holding – play a central role in how we encounter death. The shrouding blankets contribute to increased dignity and help parents create tactile memories, physical sensations and recollections, of the child.
– There is a tremendous difference between seeing a lost foetus in a medical tray or a diaper, compared to seeing it wrapped in a warm blanket. The word that midwives continually return to in the study is dignity.
There is also value in having something to offer parents in their moment of grief. Instead of a blanket marked with a hospital logo, they are offered a blanket that belongs to the individual child. The healthcare professionals participating in Birgitta Nordström’s studies are clear that the blankets should be permanently available on maternity wards.
– I would not claim that the blanket is about comfort, because I do not believe there is comfort to be found in the immediate situation of loss. But the blanket can offer a form of textile care. For healthcare staff, it becomes a concrete support in a difficult situation. It is there when words are no longer enough.
Birgitta Nordström will defend her dissertation HÅLLA, FAMNA, SVEPA – textil omsorg vid förlorad graviditet (HOLDING, EMBRACING, SHROUDING – Textile Care After Pregnancy Loss) on 22 May 2026.
The dissertation takes its point of departure in her earlier work with funeral palls – textiles used to adorn coffins during funeral rituals. During a conference, a crucial question was raised by a physician: how might small blankets be used in encounters with parents who have lost a child? This became the starting point for a research journey exploring the role of textiles in care, grief and ritual through both artistic practice and clinical studies.
The aim of the project is to investigate the significance of shrouding blankets for babies who are stillborn or foetuses lost during pregnancy. As part of the research, Birgitta Nordström has also woven funeral palls for the smallest coffins.
The shrouding blankets have been developed and tested in collaboration with midwives and assistant nurses within Swedish maternity and gynaecological care. Another project partner is the Swedish Infant Foundation (Spädbarnsfonden), which has supported the production of the blankets.
