Do you think it's morbid to display pictures in your house of stillborn babies?

Question

I know two people who do this but I am not comfortable with it. What do you think?

Answer 1

I think that this is outside of the norms of society and is and should be considered disturbing. While the family may mourn the loss of their fetus it is not customary to display pictures of loved ones taken after their death. If they want to do something to remember their lost family members it should definitely not be this.

Answer 2

Quite morbid. My mother bought a double frame from an antique shop when I was a kid, and the two babies in it were dead. She took pictures of my two younger sisters and put them right over the pictures of the dead babies. Every once in a blue moon I would open it up and look at them and get grossed out. She told me it was common for people to take pictures of the dead in the past. When I saw the movie "The Others" I couldn't help but think about it.

Answer 3

That's kind of weird to me. Although, one poster said that we keep pictures of other dead people around the house (grandma, grandpa, mother, father, you get the picture). I still think it's weird to keep pictures of a stillborn because if I'm not mistaken, isn't a stillborn when the baby comes out dead? Well it's not like you're going to take the baby to Sear's for a photo shoot after that. Why would anyone want to put a picture of a stillborn up in the house?

Answer 4

Unless there's some explanation you're leaving out, it's definitely sounds morbid and disgusting. Having things around to remind you of death for its own sake, or worse, for the sake of art, is gross and inhuman.

I have a picture of a dead duck on my wall, but that's in the context of a still-life depicting preparations for a meal. I also have crucifixes, but that's for the purpose of reminding me what Jesus Christ suffered for my sake. Displaying pictures of aborted babies in public I can see too, because that would be for the purpose of making people wake up to the horrible reality of what takes place in an abortion.

But what justification could there be for displaying pictures of stillborn babies?

Answer 5

My sister's son was stillborn last year. His death was caused by cord prolapse. He passed away while she was in labor with him, about 15 minutes before he was born. It goes without saying that this was an extremely traumatic experience for my sister, her husband, and their three living children.

When I was visiting my sister to offer my condolenses, she was looking at some pictures of her baby son on her laptop. Her midwife had called in a professional photographer to take some pictures of the baby while my sister and her family were saying their goodbyes. When I heard she had pictures of him, I immediately thought that I didn't want to see them. I thought that they would put awful memories in my head that I wouldn't be able to get rid of, but just the opposite happened!

You wouldn't believe how beautiful these pictures are! He looked like he was sleeping...a perfect, beautiful little angel. My sister now displays the pictures in her living room for all to see. These pictures are not morbid, but they've actually allowed us a way to cherish my nephew's memory and remember how precious and beautiful he was.

Please don't judge unless you've been through the situation yourself.

Answer 6

Although I would also not be comfortable with it I think you need to step back and think about what your friends have lost! They have lost a beautiful and very wanted baby. Why should they pretend that these children did not exist and shut it out of their memories? These children did exist and the parents are coping with their grief in the only way they know how. Why should they put this child out of their minds? Clearly you have not been in this situation and probably none of the other answerers either so like the person above me said, please do not judge them. They are doing what is right for them.

Answer 7

If you are talking pictures of stillborns that are not their own, then yes. If it is their own child then I don't think so. If I had a stillborn, I would want to remember what he/she looked like. I would want a picture or some pictures to remember them by.

Answer 8

It would make me feel uncomfortable too. I think it'd be appropriate to put them in a storage container for your own personal reasons but having them displayed around the house as a constant reminder is odd.

Answer 9

I can't imagine any reason, other than to shock guests, that someone would hang such things in their home. I certainly wouldn't give them the reaction they are hoping for ;and if I didn't thnk I could help it, I just wouldn't go there again. Weird. And a little scary.

Answer 10

Yuk, tell them to seek help they obviously need it. Would you be asking this same question if someone displayed pictures of dead people in their houses.