Though scripture and Talmudic texts do not address how to cope with infertility, Rabbi Michael Gold, author of  of  "And Hannah Wept: Infertility, Adoption and the Jewish Couple"  advises couples to frame their response to infertility by viewing it as a loss, the death of a dream.  Learning from Judaism’s mourning rites can give couples a context for accepting infertility and working through the pain.

Mourning begins with the period of onain, before the funeral, when mourners are absolved from all other responsibilities – prayer, for example – except for the mitzvah of arranging for the burial.  For an infertile couple, onain might be the months of infertility treatments, when work life and social obligations are put on hold.  

Shivah is the next phase of the mourning ritual.  Traditional observance has the mourner stay home, sitting on low benches, and receiving visitors who come to offer comfort.  It is a time where the focus is the person who sustained the loss. So too it can be with the couple experiencing the loss that infertility bears.

The period of shivah ends and blends into the thirty days, sheloshim, where the mourner takes the first step back into life, returns to work, but still does not participate in joyous occasions. 

The infertile couple may need a time period to adjust to their loss without the constant reminders of what they will never have. This may be a period where the couple shuns family gatherings, and celebration of new births.