Baby loss: bereaved father urges grieving dads to open up
Nick Lang runs a Hampshire football team for dads who have lost a baby
A bereaved father from Hampshire says he hopes sharing his experience of losing a baby will encourage grieving parents to open up.
Around 13 babies die before, during or soon after birth, every day in the UK.
Nick Lang from Waterlooville runs a football team for dads who have been through the ordeal.
Sands United FC Solent fields players who have lost a child either through miscarriage, stillbirth or neo-natal death.
Nick and his wife Lyndsey lost their unborn daughter Evalyn in November 2016.
Nick said: "It's a really complex type of grief and it really plays weight on mental health sometimes.
"It'll be Evalyn's sixth birthday this November and the grief has definitely eased but it hasn't gone away.
"We still have bad days and weeks, and even this time of year you are preparing yourself emotionally for it."
A charity claims that parents face a postcode lottery when it comes to bereavement support.
Sands is campaigning for more bereavement care staff in every hospital trust and access to bereavement care training for those who need it.
NHS England has announced an additional £1.3m in funding to improve bereavement care provision.
Baby Loss Awareness Week is being held on 9 - 15 October to remember lost babies and to raise awareness of pregnancy and baby loss.