We are excited to collaborate with Cold Hands and Monica Torres, renowned licensed funeral director, embalmer, cremationist, cosmetic reconstructive specialist, desairologist, and owner/founder of NXT Generation Mortuary Support! Every week Connecting Directors will now share “Cold Hands Embalming Tip of the Week,” which Monica posts each Sunday afternoon to her Instagram channel @coldhandshosts.
Cold Hands Embalming Tip of the Week: Place a Pacifier in the Mouth of a Baby, One Year and Younger to Create a Comforting Appearance.
There is nothing more unnatural and heart breaking than infant death. No parent should have to experience this type of grief, however infant death is a reality if the human experience.
Caring for these little angels that have been taken to soon is always a challenge, but I always try to make this difficult time more manageable for mommies and daddies by adding unexpected special touches such as embalming the infant with their favorite pacifier.
Crossing the hands is most unnatural. Even closing the mouth can appear unnatural considering most babies are never seen with their lips pursed. There are many opinions about facial feature setting and hand positioning during embalming among professional embalmers. I prefer to treat each case individually and embalm each baby uniquely depending on size, gestation age and circumstances surrounding the death.
Pro tip:
During the funeral arrangements ask for the pacifier that personally belonged to the baby for a personalized touch and embalm the baby with the pacifier in the mouth to fixate.
I have found these small touches really can make a difference for mommies and daddies. Hope you like this week’s tip!
Until next week, Happy Embalming!
Deathcare professionals: To gain online support for the embalming tips, visit Cold Hands Answers at
https://www.nxtgenmortuarysupport.com/product/cold-hands-answers-morticians/. NXT Generation Mortuary Support offers ongoing online continuing education opportunities for deathcare professionals!
