5 Gentle Ways to Heal Emotionally After a Miscarriage

Banish guilt

Even if you drank a margarita, went to hot yoga, dyed your hair, took a 9-hour plane ride, or busted your bum on the ice in your driveway, the miscarriage is most likely not your fault and could not have been prevented. Don’t believe the myths that can make the miscarriage even more painful. “There’s nothing you did or didn’t do that caused your miscarriage,” says Alice Domar, PhD, author of Conquering Infertility and executive director of the Domar Center for Mind-Body Health at Boston IVF. Keep in mind that miscarriage is incredibly common: For women in their 20s and 30s, 1 in 5 pregnancies ends during the first trimester; that ratio climbs to 1 in 4 for women 35 and older, and to 1 in 3 for women over 40. Don’t stress yourself out examining with a microscope every little thing you might have done to cause the miscarriage, but do talk to your healthcare provider to rule out medical problems, such as polycystic ovary syndrome or lupus.