Carrie Johnson won widespread praise yesterday for revealing a previous miscarriage heartbreak in her announcement that she is expecting another baby.
The Prime Minister's wife said she decided to be open about the tragedy she suffered earlier this year because she 'found it a real comfort to hear from people who had also experienced loss'.
Announcing the news in a post on Instagram at the weekend, she added: 'I hope that in some very small way sharing this might help others too.'
The 33-year-old environmental campaigner said she and husband Boris were 'hoping for our rainbow baby this Christmas'.
A rainbow baby is the term given to a child born to a family that previously lost another to miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death.
The Prime Minister's wife (pictured with Jill Biden) said she decided to be open about the tragedy she suffered earlier this year because she 'found it a real comfort to hear from people who had also experienced loss'
Mrs Johnson illustrated her post with a picture of a Christmas tree decoration in the shape of a blue pram. She and Mr Johnson, 57, had their first child, Wilfred, in April last year. The new arrival will be the Prime Minister's seventh child.
Mrs Johnson's honesty has led to praise that she is helping to break the miscarriage taboo by sharing the experience with others.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer put politics aside to send congratulations to the couple and said he was 'very sorry' to hear about the earlier miscarriage. 'I'm sure that Carrie speaking out will be of comfort to others and make them feel less alone,' the Opposition leader added.
Ruth Bender Atik, national director of the Miscarriage Association, said: 'Not everyone wants to talk about their experience of miscarriage, they may feel it's private to them or they're just not comfortable talking about it.
Mrs Johnson illustrated her post with a picture of a Christmas tree decoration in the shape of a blue pram
'They might worry that people will say the wrong things, but also it's important to talk about pregnancy after loss because it can be a very anxious time.
'I think a lot of people say they lose the kind of innocence and optimism that they had the first time around because they're always concerned that something might go wrong this time – and for most people it doesn't.'
Zoe Clark-Coates, chief executive of the Mariposa Trust, a baby loss and bereavement charity, told BBC News: 'We see a massive influx of people asking for support if anybody of note or even a TV show covers the story of baby loss. It just means to a lot of people that it's OK to talk about this subject and, sadly, for generations people have been told to not talk about loss or miscarriages.
'When people of note, people in the public eye, talk about their own personal losses I think it gives a lot of people the confidence to start speaking about it and sharing their own personal stories.'
A series of high-profile public figures have revealed their trauma over miscarriages recently.
In November, the Duchess of Sussex wrote in The New York Times about losing a baby following the birth of son Archie. 'Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few,' she wrote. The Queen's granddaughter Zara Tindall has spoken about her two miscarriages after the birth of daughter Mia. She and husband Mike went on to have two more children.
She and Mr Johnson, 57, had their first child, Wilfred, in April last year. The new arrival will be the Prime Minister's seventh child
And Michelle Obama wrote in her bestselling book Becoming about suffering a miscarriage and undergoing IVF treatment before having two daughters with the future US President Barack Obama.
Meanwhile, model Chrissy Teigen and
