Mount Sinai – Rainbow Clinic
When parents have experienced perinatal loss, it can be difficult to hope again or plan for another child—often called a “rainbow baby.” At the Mount Sinai – Rainbow Clinic, we understand. We help to provide women and their families with emotional support, the most advanced medical attention, and someone to walk beside them—every step of the way.
Specialists at the Rainbow Clinic care for patients who have experienced the birth of a stillborn child, multiple miscarriages, or a neonatal loss. Our goal is to provide the extra specialized care needed to help prevent another loss.
The First Rainbow Clinic in the U.S.
The Rainbow Clinic at Mount Sinai was established as a partnership with PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy, an organization that seeks to prevent stillbirth. The Clinic is led by Joanne Stone, MD, MS, Chair, Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System, along with the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine physicians. Dr. Stone is a renowned physician-scientist in women’s health with special expertise in fetal imaging and caring for high-risk pregnancies.
The first Rainbow Clinic was established in the United Kingdom in 2013 by Alexander Heazell, MBChB (Hons) PhD MRCOG, an internationally recognized leader in stillbirth research, in an effort to provide specialized, standardized care to women and their families who have experienced a loss during pregnancy.
At the Mount Sinai – Rainbow Clinic, we follow the model established by Professor Heazell. The staff receive special training to be sensitive to the unique needs of bereaved parents. The Clinic itself is equipped to provide enhanced clinical care and psychological support to help reduce fear, anxiety, and future perinatal losses. We offer nutritional counseling, the support of social workers, genetic testing, and the very latest prenatal and obstetrical care.
Personalized Care for Each Expectant Mother
Every care program is customized around the needs of each patient and family based on a pre-conception consultation. We review the medical history with the patient and determine the cause of the previous perinatal loss. Together, we develop a strategy for conception and pregnancy to achieve positive outcomes. All patients will be able to access a range of services, including mental health support, nutritional guidance, ultrasounds, and other tests during the progression of the pregnancy. Patients also have access to enhanced monitoring and fetal testing services, which can help guide the course of treatment and care.
At the Mount Sinai – Rainbow Clinic, we monitor the development of the unborn child more frequently than is typical. And women are encouraged to schedule appointments as often as they want, to minimize anxiety. We counsel women to get to know the movements of their fetus, whether patterns occur in the morning, afternoon, or evening. And if there is any deviation in that pattern, we underline the importance of coming in immediately for examination because timely intervention can make all the difference.
Research
At the Mount Sinai – Rainbow Clinic, we are involved in extensive research to learn more about perinatal loss. We are collaborating with the Rainbow Clinic in the U.K. to standardize data-collection procedures and share data. Through this research, we are able to better understand the factors that lead to complications in pregnancy and to provide outstanding clinical care to support more successful outcomes.
