The loss or still birth of an infant is one of the most heartbreaking tragedies that a family can experience. There’s no one right way to grieve over such a loss, so some families have chosen a solemn and beautiful way to immortalize the lives that could have been – family photos together with their lifeless infants.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep is a non-profit that trains and supports photographers around the world “to provide beautiful heirloom portraits to families facing the untimely death of an infant.“ Over the last 10 years of operation, they have provided 30,000 families with these heartwrenching photo sessions. The organization claims to have participating photographers in every state in the U.S. and in 40 countries around the world, for a total of 1,650 participating volunteers.

The organization was founded by Cheryl Haggard and photographer Sandy Puc. Together with Cheryl and Mike Haggard, Puc documented the brief life and death of Maddux Achilles Haggard, who was born with a condition called myotubular myopathy.

More info: nowilaymedowntosleep.org

UPDATE: A grammatical error in the title of the post has been corrected