I think almost everyone out there knows someone who has struggled to get pregnant or have a healthy pregnancy. It’s really hard in those moments to know how to support your friends especially when you have not been through it yourself. And even if you have, everyone is different.
96% of friends and family members I polled said it would be helpful to have some ideas on how to be supportive during these times. So here we are with a few ideas.
1. Ask your friends how they’d like to be supported.
Seems simple enough right? You’re not sure how to help so ask “How can I best support you during the time?” Some friends may want texts or calls here and there asking how it’s going to give them an outlet to share. Others may feel like they need some in person quality time.
Regardless, everyone is different and instead of feeling awkward or not addressing it at all, asking this simple question will help everyone!
Read about my infertility diagnosis to get an idea for how it feels here.
2. Support your friends with some comfort food.
Your friend dealing with infertility struggles will definitely NOT say “It would be nice if you made me your amazing chocolate chip cookies.” when you ask them how they’d like to be supported. But, that does not mean that dropping off some comfort food will not bring them lots of love, joy and feelings of being supported.
If you live far away, look into a local food place doing delivery. Send them dinner one night. Just call them, tell them you’re doing it and trust me, food is always comforting.
3. Send them a “thinking of you” gift or note.
Getting mail these days is usually not all that fun. And when is the last time you randomly sent out a thinking of you card of gift. I received a few of these when I was going through my fertility treatments and I remember feeling so touched by every one of them.
Not sure what to send? I wrote a whole post about it! š
Infertility can be extremely isolating, so just having friends you can count on to listen and keep you busy when you need it goes a long, long way!
