Registering a stillbirth

A stillbirth is the death or loss of a baby before or during delivery.

Experiencing the loss of your baby is extremely difficult and a very emotional time for you, your family and friends. The HSE provides information on stillbirth, including possible causes and what happens after the diagnosis of a stillbirth. The Pregnancy and Infant Loss Ireland website has information, advice and details of supports available for parents that experience a stillbirth.

From 16 September 2024, the definition for a stillborn child is a child who, at birth:

• Weighs at least 400 grammes, or
• Has a gestational age of at least 23 weeks and shows no sign of life

Stillbirth is different to miscarriage. A miscarriage can occur at any stage of a pregnancy, up until 23 weeks. When a baby lives for only a few hours or days after birth their death is referred to as a neonatal death.

The new definition of stillborn also applies retrospectively.

In Ireland, all stillbirths can be registered but it is not mandatory.

A stillbirth is registered by signing the Register of Stillbirths. A stillbirth may be registered in any HSE Civil Registration Service.

The Register of Stillbirths is not open to the public. Entries in this register can only be viewed by family members.

The Civil Registration (Electronic Registration) Act 2024 creates a new public database called the Record of Stillbirths. This database contains certain records from the Register of Stillbirths and is open to the public.

From Monday 16 September 2024, you can apply to the General Register Office (GRO) to have details of your child’s entry in the Register of Stillbirths recorded in the Record of Stillbirths.

To have an entry recorded in the Record of Stillbirths:

• There must be an existing entry for the child in the Register of Stillbirths
• The person making the request must be a parent, a relative or satisfy the GRO that they are a person who can make such a request

To apply to have an entry recorded in the Record of Stillbirths, email the General Register Office (GRO) at StillBirthRecords@welfare.ie.

If you are the parent/s of a stillborn baby, you must register their stillbirth by signing the Register of Stillbirths at any Civil Registration Service. You will need to show photographic ID and written evidence that the stillbirth occurred.

To register a stillbirth, you will need a signed medical certificate including:

• The baby's weight and gestational age
• The name and address of where the stillbirth took place

You can get the signed medical certificate from the doctor, midwife or medical practitioner who attended the birth or examined the baby.

If your baby was stillborn in hospital, the hospital staff will help you to complete a Birth Notification Form (Form BNF/01). If the stillbirth happened at home, the midwife or doctor will do this.

The Birth Notification Form is completed with the baby’s:

• Time, date and place of stillbirth
• Gender
• Weight and gestational age
• Personal Public Service number (PPSN) – this will be allocated at registration
• Forename(s) and surname

The form also includes:

• The mother's forename(s) and surname
• The mother's birth surname
• Previously used surnames of the mother (if any)
• The mother's normal occupation
• The mother's normal address at the date of birth
• The mother's date of birth
• The mother's civil status
• The mother's Personal Public Service number (PPSN)
• The birth surname of the mother's mother (the baby’s maternal grandmother’s birth surname)

Similar information may be entered for the father.

When the form has been completed, it will be sent to a Civil Registration Office to tell the registrar of the stillbirth.

Then, you should attend a Civil Registration Service in person and sign the Register of Stillbirths.

You will need to bring photographic ID and written evidence of the stillbirth (such as the signed medical certificate stating the weight and gestational age) with you.

When you sign the Register of Stillbirths, the registrar will give you a stillbirth certificate. If you would like an additional stillbirth certificate at a later date, you can order a stillbirth certificate online from the HSE.

If a stillbirth is not registered within 12 months, the hospital, midwife or medical practitioner who attended the birth may be asked to register it.

If the stillbirth happened before 1995

If you wish to register a stillbirth that happened before 1 January 1995, you will need specific evidence that the stillbirth occurred. This evidence could be a written statement from your hospital, nursing home, medical practitioner or midwife, but the registrar may accept other forms of evidence.

From 16 September 2024, the definition for a stillborn child is a child who, at birth:

• Weighs at least 400 grammes, or
• Has a gestational age of at least 23 weeks and shows no sign of life

The new definition of stillborn applies retrospectively.

So a stillbirth can be registered if the baby weighed at least 400 grams or had a gestational age of at least 23 weeks.

A signed medical certificate, which you can get from the doctor, midwife or medical practitioner who attended the birth or examined the baby, is free of charge.

A stillbirth certificate is also free of charge. However, if you want to order a copy of the stillbirth certificate at a later date, this will cost €20.

Before the Civil Registration Act 2004 came into effect on 5 December 2005, a stillbirth could only be registered in the Registrar's District in which it took place. A stillbirth can now be registered in any district, regardless of where it took place.