Support in Spain

We are so sorry that you are here. Whether your baby died early in pregnancy, later in pregnancy, at birth or soon after, your baby matters and your grief is real.

This page gathers what parents in Spain have told us they wished they had known. It follows the order you are likely to need it. Please take only what you need today. The rest will still be here.

MIMATIS shares information and trusted links. It is not legal or medical advice. Rules can change and can differ between regions, so please confirm anything important with your hospital team, the Civil Registry (Registro Civil) or the Social Security office (Seguridad Social).

• The most important thing to know: 26 weeks
• What happens in your situation
• At the hospital: time with your baby
• Saying goodbye: funerals
• Registering your baby and giving a name
• Time off work
• When you go home
• Support in your region
• Organisations and helplines across Spain

The most important thing to know: 26 weeks

In Spain, many practical things depend on how far along the pregnancy was. The line is 180 days of pregnancy — about 26 weeks.

This line is about paperwork. It says nothing about your love or the size of your loss. Your baby matters, whenever you lost them.

What happens in your situation

Early miscarriage

Losing a baby in the first months of pregnancy is very common, and it is still a real loss. Many parents feel alone with it, because others may not have known about the pregnancy. Your grief deserves care and time.

• A miscarriage may happen at home or in hospital. Your doctor or midwife will explain your options and what to expect. Please ask as many questions as you need.
• There is no registration and no funeral is required.
• If you need time to recover, your family doctor can give you sick leave (baja médica).
• If the loss happens in hospital and you would like to know what happens to your baby’s remains, you can ask the team. Some families arrange a small farewell of their own.
• Many families mark an early loss in their own way: lighting a candle, planting a tree, writing a letter, keeping the ultrasound image or the pregnancy test.
• Support groups across Spain welcome parents after early loss too. See support in your region.

Later loss, before 26 weeks

When a baby dies in the second trimester, the mother usually gives birth to her baby. This can be a shock. Please know that you can see and hold your baby, and create memories, just as after a later loss.

• You can spend time with your baby, give your baby a name and take photos. See at the hospital.
• There is no registration in the Civil Registry. Some hospitals give a symbolic certificate in a memory box.
• A funeral is not required. If you say nothing, the hospital usually takes care of your baby, often by cremation together with other remains, and you are not told the date or place.
• If you would like your own farewell, tell the hospital team as early as you can, before you leave. You can ask for this.
• For time off work, the birth mother can receive sick leave from her doctor. Birth leave does not apply before 26 weeks.

Stillbirth, from 26 weeks

When a baby dies before birth after 26 weeks, Spanish law recognises the birth in several ways.

• Your baby is entered in the Civil Registry, and you may give your baby a name. See registering your baby.
• A burial or cremation is required. You can arrange it through a funeral home, or in some regions through the hospital. See saying goodbye.
• The birth mother has the right to full birth leave. At the moment, partners do not. See time off work.

If your baby was born alive and then died

If your baby lived, even for a very short time, your baby is registered as a birth and a death and appears in your Libro de Familia. Both parents have the right to full birth leave. A burial or cremation is required.

At the hospital: time with your baby

Unless there is a medical emergency, you do not need to rush. You can take time, call the people you want near you, and ask questions as many times as you need.

Many parents in Spain are not told what they can ask for. These are things you can request from your team:

• To see and hold your baby, for as long as you need, alone or with family.
• To call your baby by name, to dress them in clothes you bring, or to wrap them in a blanket.
• A private room, away from rooms with newborn babies.
• A cold cot (cuna de frío or cuna de abrazos), which some hospitals have, so your baby can stay with you longer.
• A ceremony or blessing at the hospital, if this matters to you.
• To understand why. You can ask the medical team whether tests are possible and what they involve. The decision is yours.

You are not obliged to do any of this. Many parents later say that time with their baby helped them in their grief. Whatever you choose is right for you.

Creating memories

In Spain, only about 1 in 8 parents leave hospital with a photo of their baby after a loss in pregnancy. Please know that you can ask for:

• Photos — on your own phone, or taken by the staff
• Hand and foot prints
• A lock of hair
• The hospital ID bracelet and the cord clamp
• Ultrasound images
• A memory box to keep them in

Photography is also your choice. You can take photos yourselves, ask the staff, or ask the hospital whether a family member or a photographer you choose may come in. If you have no photos, or only a few, it is not too late: many families later photograph their baby’s belongings — the blanket, the bracelet, the ultrasound — as a way to remember.

If you feel your wishes are not respected

Hospital practice varies a lot across Spain. If you feel unheard, you can:

• Ask to speak with the hospital social worker (trabajador/a social).
• Contact the patient care office (Atención al Paciente, or Atenció a la Ciutadania in Catalonia).
• Call a support organisation in your region. They have helped many families in your situation.

In Catalonia, you can also show your team the official guide for parents: Guia d’acompanyament en el dol perinatal (Generalitat de Catalunya, in Catalan).

Saying goodbye: funerals

You can say goodbye to your baby in your own way, at any stage of pregnancy.

• From 26 weeks, a burial or cremation is required.
• Before 26 weeks, it is not required, but you can ask for your own farewell. Tell the hospital team as early as you can.

• A funeral home (funeraria) can arrange everything for you, including the paperwork with the Civil Registry.
• You can choose burial or cremation, and a ceremony at the funeral home, at home, in a place of worship, or at the hospital if it allows.
• If your family has funeral insurance (seguro de decesos), ask whether it covers your baby.
• You can bring clothes, a blanket or a small toy to place with your baby.
• If you choose cremation, you can keep the ashes at home or scatter them where it is allowed.
• You are free to choose any funeral home. Ask for a written quote before you decide.

Funeral homes can provide small caskets and urns for babies. For example, Mémora, a funeral company present across Spain, offers a farewell service for babies at any stage of pregnancy, caskets in small sizes (60 cm and 30 cm), adapted urns, and free psychological support. Free phone: 900 231 132.

Rules and options differ between regions. In Catalonia, for example, the hospital can also arrange a farewell paid for by your town council.

Registering your baby and giving a name

Since August 2023, babies who die before birth after 26 weeks are entered in the Civil Registry, in an archive called the Archivo de nacidos sin vida.

• You may give your baby a name. It is your choice. You can also leave it blank.
• Only you, the parents, can see this entry.
• It has no legal effects, but it is an official record that your baby existed.
• The hospital gives you the medical certificate. In most cases the funeral home takes care of the paperwork with the Registry for you.

If your baby was born alive and then died, your baby is registered as a birth and as a death, and appears in your Libro de Familia (family book).

If your baby died before 26 weeks, there is no registration. Some families find this very painful. Many keep a symbolic certificate instead.

If your baby died before August 2023, you may have been able to move the old entry to the new archive and add a name. Please ask your local Civil Registry or an association such as Umamanita whether this is still possible.

To learn more: Umamanita — the Civil Registry after the death of a baby (in Spanish).

Time off work

You do not have to go back to work while you are in shock. Here is what Spanish law currently offers.

• Birth leave is not shortened because your baby died. The first 6 weeks are compulsory rest. After that, you can choose to go back earlier if you want to.
• The leave is paid by the Seguridad Social. You can apply on the Seguridad Social website or at an office, with your hospital discharge report.
• For partners: in February 2026 the Supreme Court confirmed that partners are not entitled to birth leave when a baby dies before birth. Many families find this deeply unfair, and associations are working to change it. Partners may have a few days of paid leave while the mother is in hospital, and can ask their own doctor for sick leave if they cannot work. Your work agreement (convenio) may give extra days.

The length of birth leave changed in 2025. Please confirm the details for your situation with the Seguridad Social, or ask an association to guide you.

To learn more: Umamanita — leave after the death of a baby (in Spanish).

When you go home

Coming home without your baby can be one of the hardest moments. There is no right way to grieve and no timetable.

• Your body may behave as after any birth, including milk coming in. Ask your midwife about your options before you leave hospital, and contact her or your doctor if anything worries you.
• Follow-up: you will usually have a follow-up visit. You can ask there for psychological support, or ask your family doctor or midwife (in Catalonia, your ASSIR) for a referral.
• Partners grieve too, often quietly. Talking together about how each of you feels can help.
• Brothers and sisters notice when something is wrong. Simple, honest words and including them in remembering usually help more than silence. Sempiternus has gentle advice by age (in Spanish).
• Difficult days often return: the due date, anniversaries, Christmas, other people’s pregnancies. This is normal.
• Other parents who have lived the same can be a great comfort. Support groups exist in many parts of Spain, listed below.

You may also find comfort in our guidance for the days after loss.

Support in your region

Each region in Spain organises its own hospitals and cemeteries, so care can feel very different from one place to another. We are starting with Catalonia and will add other regions over time. Wherever you live, the organisations across Spain listed below can help you find support near you.

Catalonia

• From 26 weeks, burial or cremation is required.
• Before 26 weeks, if you say nothing, the hospital arranges an anonymous cremation. If you want your own farewell, tell the team.
• You can choose a private funeral through any funeral home, or the municipal option offered through the hospital. With the municipal option, your town council covers the cost. Your baby rests in a niche at the local cemetery, shared with other babies, for about two years. After that, the remains are usually moved to an area with trees in the same cemetery. The hospital helps with the paperwork but never decides the place or date for you.

More and more cemeteries in Catalonia have a quiet space for babies who died before or soon after birth. You can visit them whenever you want, wherever your baby rests.

• Sant Cugat del Vallès cemetery — a memorial among the trees, near the chapel, created with the families of Anhel. Families can place a small star with their baby’s name. If you have your baby’s ashes, they can be made part of the star. There is a small cost. Camí Can Graells 159, Sant Cugat · 935 907 082
• “Empremtes” spaces in the Lleida area, created with the Servei de Suport al Dol de Ponent: Calaf (the first in Catalonia, 2017), Cervera, Tàrrega, Guissona, Les Borges Blanques and Almacelles.
• Àltima cemeteries with a perinatal space: Roques Blanques, Sant Vicenç dels Horts, Sant Just Desvern, Viladecans, El Prat de Llobregat, Sitges, Sant Pere de Ribes, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Castellar del Vallès and Ripoll.
• A tree in memory: Mémora’s In Arboriam lets families plant a tree for their baby.

There are around 26 such spaces in Catalonia. Ask your local cemetery, or see the list on Sempiternus.

Organisations in Catalonia

Helplines in Catalonia

Organisations and helplines across Spain

Organisations

Helplines