title: When a child dies.
abstract: The family physician can be of great help to the parents after a child dies. Practical points to keep in mind are: in acute mourning, denial of death is a common response; parental emotional "detachment" from the dead child takes six to 12 months; parents may be motivated to "replace" the child too quickly; parental relationships with the surviving children can be impaired by overprotectiveness, and the physician should be aware of his limitations in this situation.
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003643:Death; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D010287:Parent-Child Relations