OUR MISSION

To introduce remembrance photography to parents experiencing the loss of a baby with a free gift of professional portraiture.

OUR REACH

Since 2005, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS) has gifted more than 75,000 complimentary portrait sessions (about 8,000 in the last two years) to families experiencing the loss of a baby. Through our volunteer photographers, NILMDTS has reached every state in the United States and has been present in 40 countries worldwide.

The NILMDTS Medical Affiliate Program is nationally accredited and available to medical professionals worldwide. We currently have thousands of trained providers in every US state and Canadian province, as well as 14 foreign countries and military bases worldwide. This accreditation underscores our commitment to providing high-quality training and resources to healthcare professionals, ensuring that they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to support families in their time of need.

The ongoing support for the pregnancy and infant loss community from NILMDTS has brought together a reach of more than one million on social media and over 40,000 NILMDTS email subscribers.

OUR WORK

NILMDTS offers the gift of healing, hope and honor to parents experiencing the death of a baby through the overwhelming power of remembrance portraits. Professional-level photographers volunteer their time to conduct an intimate portrait session, capturing the only moments parents spend with their babies. Parents are gifted with delicately retouched black and white digital portraits free of charge.

These priceless images serve as an important step in the healing recovery for bereaved families. NILMDTS remembrance photography validates the existence and presence of these precious babies by honoring their legacy.

NILMDTS recruits, trains, and mobilizes professional quality photographers around the world. Through NILMDTS, medical providers are given a meaningful option to offer bereaved parents by creating remembrance portraiture for their babies.

Through further engagement in the organization, such as our NILMDTS remembrance events and online support, families become a part of a compassionate and supportive community. Parents gain a sense of inclusiveness, alleviating the alienation and perception of being alone in their pregnancy or infant loss journey.

Our History

Maddux Achilles Haggard was born on February 4, 2005, with a condition called myotubular myopathy, which prevented him from breathing, swallowing, or moving on his own. The following six days, his parents Mike and Cheryl Haggard sat by his side with questions that had no answers.

Cheryl tried to create memories of their time together using her own camera. In reviewing the pictures she captured, Cheryl said, “I saw our tear-stained cheeks, our red swollen eyes, our forced smiles, and the fear in our faces as we looked into the camera.”

On the sixth day of Maddux’s young life, his parents made the excruciating decision to remove him from life support. Before they removed life support, Cheryl knew she wanted professional images of Maddux that she could hang on her wall alongside the portraits of her other children.

“Maddux deserved that space on our wall. I could not comfortably hang the pictures I had taken. The color images bring back the reality of that day. I wanted heirloom portraits as a way to remember and honor our son,” said Cheryl.

It was then Mike called photographer Sandy Puc’ to take black and white portraits of them cradling their son.

Those tender photographs documenting Maddux’s eternal connection with his parents inspired Cheryl Haggard and Sandy Puc’ to create Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep in 2005 as a nonprofit organization. NILMDTS exists to give bereaved families the gift of professional heirloom portraits to bring healing and comfort.