October is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month and on Monday night the city made a declaration in connection with the month.

The council declared Oct. 15 as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in Albert Lea to unify parents in tribute to their children who die each year in Minnesota.

“It’s important that we as a community and as a government entity recognize those losses and recognize those families that have lost,” 3rd Ward Councilor George Marin said. “A compassionate society is a caring society and we need more of that in our world.”

He said it can be a critical time in people’s lives to lose children early in life.

The request to honor the day was made by Infants Remembered in Silence Inc., a nonprofit organization that works with thousands of people across the country who have experienced the death of a child during pregnancy or through early childhood.

The organization provides support for parents whose children have died from miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, stillbirth, neonatal death, sudden unexplained death of a child, sudden infant death syndrome, birth defects, illness, accidents and all other types of early childhood death.

Bereaved parents remember children they have lost annually on Oct. 15 with a 7 p.m. candle lighting. According to a press release, some remember their child they have lost in their homes, while others remember them in small gatherings across the state and the nation.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there were 23,440 infant deaths in the United States in 2013. Leading causes of infant deaths included congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities, disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight and sudden infant death syndrome.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed October as National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.