Project Poppyseed is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to breaking the silence of perinatal loss. By raising awareness and providing resources for those impacted by perinatal loss, Project Poppyseed addresses a critical social knowledge gap that impacts millions of lives each year.
Few people understand the impact and prevalence of perinatal loss. In fact, most people think that less than 5% of pregnancies end in loss, when in reality, at least one in four pregnancies (that’s 25%) end in loss every year. Each year, 24,000 babies are stillborn and between 750,000 and 1 million pregnancies end in miscarriage. In 2020 alone, 2.4 million children died in the perinatal period in the United States. To put these numbers into perspective, perinatal death claims more than four times the number of lives as cancer.
Up to 75% of parents who experience perinatal loss develop complicated perinatal grief, a preventable and life-altering condition with symptoms of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance misuse, suicidality, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. Many parents have difficulty learning how to continue living daily life or interacting with their partner, children, families, friends, and community following perinatal loss.
In addition to raising awareness about perinatal loss, Project Poppyseed offers resources to parents, families, communities, and health care professionals impacted by perinatal loss.