Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep describes itself on its website as a “nonprofit organization that has provided thousands of families of babies who are stillborn or are at risk of dying as newborns with free professional portraits with their baby.” [3] They claim to have provided neo-natal remembrance photography to over 30,000 babies since their founding in 2005. [4] This service undoubtedly has an enormous impact on the grieving process of the families they encounter. The widespread nature of this service, and the compassionate, respectful, and open attitudes speak to a shift in American acceptance and understanding of death. By providing neo-natal remembrance photography organizations like NILMDTS normalize stillbirth and infant mortality. They make infant death something that can be talked about and provide a chance for families to celebrate and honor the brief lives of their children. In his essay The Reversal of Death: Changes in Attitudes Toward Death in Western Societies, Philippe Aries suggests that in America "it is no longer correct to display one's grief, nor even to appear to feel any." [5] But the existence of organizations like NILMDTS suggests that attitudes about death (or at least infant death) and grieving are potentially shifting.

NILMDTS was established in 2005 by a Cheryl Haggard and Sandy Puc. Puc was called upon to photograph Haggard’s six day old son just after he was removed from life support, when he was “free from the tubes and the wires that had sustained him.” Their Mission Statement video [6] includes testimonials from three couples: one who is pregnant and accompanied on the testimonial couch by a toddler, and two who have toddlers in their arms. This inclusion of parents who have had successful pregnancies mitigates the fear of those parents who have lost a child that they may never have another chance to welcome a healthy baby into the world.

Through their website NILMDTS connects local “affiliated photographers” with local hospitals, neo-natal hospice services, and parents who have or are expecting to suffer the loss of a child at birth. Their database includes over 1,700 photographers (they list fifteen photographers within the Portland area alone) who can provide services in every state in the US and in over 40 countries [7].