Types of miscarriage

An early miscarriage is one that happens in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy (the first trimester). There are different types of early miscarriage.

A missed miscarriage happens when your baby dies in your womb, but you don’t have any symptoms of miscarriage, such as bleeding or pain.

Recurrent miscarriage is defined as having 3 or more early (first trimester) miscarriages. It is often a difficult and traumatic experience.

A chemical pregnancy is when a pregnancy ends in miscarriage before five weeks of pregnancy. Here, we explain more about chemical pregnancies.

An incomplete miscarriage is when a miscarriage begins, but some of your baby’s remains or other pregnancy tissue stays in the womb..

A second trimester loss (sometimes called a late miscarriage) happens after 13 weeks and before 24 weeks gestation. It can also be called a mid-trimester loss.

People sometimes informally use the term 'threatened miscarriage' when you have bleeding and/or pain in early pregnancy but you have not miscarried.