Clinicians CuddleCot Testimonials
When supporting families through the loss of a baby, time is precious. In the midst of shock, physical recovery, and profound grief, the care provided in those moments leaves a lasting impact.
At CuddleCot, we believe care shouldn’t end after death. We partner with healthcare teams across North America and Europe, in labor and delivery, NICU, emergency departments, and beyond, to help families have the choice of unhurried time with their baby.
Read the testimonials below from clinicians leading the way in compassionate bereavement care. We’re here to support you every step of the way.
Why the CuddleCot matters - H. Fox, Director of Nursing, Banner Estrella Medical Center
A. It’s the right thing to do.
In the face of loss, we can’t change the outcome, but we can change the experience. Providing families with the option of a CuddleCot gives them precious time and space to say goodbye. This support is deeply meaningful, not only to the family, but also to the nurses, providers, and staff who want to offer compassionate, dignified care.
B. It directly impacts patient experience and trust.
When families feel supported during the most vulnerable moments of their lives, they are more likely to feel confident returning to the hospital in the future, especially if they choose to have another child. Positive care experiences influence decisions about where to seek future care.
C. The absence of a CuddleCot can have lasting consequences.
When families later learn that a device like the CuddleCot could have given them more time with their baby, it can add to their pain and lead to feelings of resentment or regret. This can negatively affect their perception of the care they received, and the reputation of the hospital.
D. Personalized care is the most valued element of patient experience.
Studies consistently show that personalized, compassionate care is the number one driver of hospital reputation. Offering a CuddleCot reflects a commitment to individualized, family-centered support during loss.
"Providing compassionate care for grieving families is essential for hospitals. When loss occurs on an obstetrical unit, whether expected or unexpected, the gift of offering time can help to facilitate the transition from the anticipation of parenthood to the death of a baby." - RPMH Obstetrics Team, Rolling Plains Memorial Hospital in Sweetwater, Texas (Source: Ashlie's Embrace)
"A CuddleCot is an invaluable tool that allows parents and families the gift of unrestricted time to spend with their babies who have passed. This allows other family members to come share in this precious time and gives the parents all the time they need to say goodbye. I am so grateful for this opportunity to enhance our care for grieving families" - S. Zimmerman CNM, Midcoast Hospital
"We are enjoying the ability to use the device and parents love that they can keep their baby with them longer. We are so happy that we have the CuddleCot at our hospital. Staff enjoy using it and the patients enjoy the benefits even more." - LaBrita Marion, BSN, RNC-MNN, Memorial Hermann Southwest, Houston, Texas
Restoring Choice After Perinatal Loss
Dr. Solimar Santiago-Warner,LCSW, PMH-C, SIFIDr. Solimar Santiago-Warner,LCSW, PMH-C, SIFI
CuddleCots provide something that is often taken away from families in moments of perinatal loss: choice.
When I worked in a perinatal palliative care program in the hospital, I witnessed how quickly time can feel stolen after a baby dies. Decisions are rushed. Goodbyes feel abrupt. Parents are often in shock, trying to understand what just happened while their bodies are still postpartum, still lactating, still aching.
A CuddleCot gently cools the baby’s body, allowing families more time. More time to hold. More time to study their baby’s face. More time for grandparents to arrive. More time for siblings to meet their brother or sister. More time for photographs, blessings, prayers, silence.
It does not take away the grief.
But it reduces secondary trauma.Without this option, families are often told they have only a short window before separation. That urgency can compound distress, create regret, and intensify the rupture between body and baby. The postpartum body is still wired for attachment. To rush separation in that moment can feel disorganizing to the nervous system.
CuddleCots create space.
Space for presence instead of panic.
Space for ritual instead of reaction.
Space for memory-making instead of medical urgency.In perinatal palliative care, we speak often about comfort. Comfort for the baby. Comfort for the family. Comfort in how a chapter closes. A CuddleCot is a simple intervention, but its impact is profound. It allows families to move at their own pace. It restores a small measure of agency in a moment that feels overwhelmingly out of control.
I have seen parents exhale when they realize they do not have to say goodbye immediately. I have seen rooms transform from crisis to sacred space. I have seen grief unfold slowly, tenderly, beautifully.
Time matters in grief.
Choice matters in grief.
How we care for families in those first hours becomes part of the story they carry forever.CuddleCots do not change the ending.
But they can soften the way families move through it.
“It’s hard on the staff, too, and helpful to know you gave the parents the chance to create that bond.” – Nurse Laird, Tidelands Health
In 2023, Tidelands Health became the first hospital in South Carolina and only the second in the U.S. to achieve advanced perinatal care certification from The Joint Commission and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists. (source)
We knew the CuddleCot would cool the baby and allow the baby to be in the mother’s room longer so they could bond with the baby, hold them or take pictures. It’s been nice to not feel like we’re rushing them. Using the CuddleCot gives families a little more peace, comfort and essential bonding time with their baby.
Ashlie Woodward
Registered Nurse, Missouri Delta Medical Center (source)
"The CuddleCot enables families to have as normal memories as possible after experiencing a stillbirth.
“We had an older cold cot system here and are so grateful to Kit, Blake and Bears of Hope for this new CuddleCot that will help families through such a trying time,”
- Relle McMillin, BCH midwifery unit manager (source)
“Our unit has truly been blessed by the gift of this CuddleCot™, but even greater is the gift that this will be to our grieving parents for years to come,” said Jeanette Jernell, RN, nurse manager of GRMC’s Family-Centered Maternity Suite. “Our staff is forever grateful to Ashlie’s Embrace and Be Like The Willow for their support and partnership.”
“Leaving the hospital without your baby is one of the hardest experiences for parents who have faced pregnancy loss. We are dedicated to ensuring that families have as much time with their babies as possible while they are here.”...“CuddleCots help support the emotional needs of families facing profound loss,”
“As health care workers, we know that these families’ needs don’t stop when they are discharged,” “Southeastern Medical Center is committed to providing support for their difficult days ahead."
Courtney Gray, bereavement coordinator for Southeastern Medical Center. (Source)
Vicky, a nursing assistant at a Seville hospital, who lost Alba six years ago: “It will allow me to fill some memories that are the only thing that will remain after the loss of a child at birth or pregnancy. That, along with my box of memories that they gave me in the delivery room, is what I have left of my daughter.” - Vicky, Nursing assistant, Valme Hospital, Seville
"CuddleCots are a phenomenal resource for nurses and grieving families in the hospital. CuddleCots provide families a safe, tailored place for their baby to rest when she’s not in their arms. As a labor and delivery nurse, I’m grateful for the way CuddleCots provide a special way to love and care for angel babies." - Jessica Harrington BSN, RNC-OB, Visiting Nurse, Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, Yokosuka, Japan
"When a child dies, it is never easy. Ryan House, along with our care partner, Hospice of the Valley, is here for families in Arizona when they face this unimaginable Journey."
"One of the amazing tools we have for families is a CuddleCot. The CuddleCot is the size of a bassinet and allows families more time to spend with their baby in Ryan House’s home-like setting before the mortuary needs to be called. So many of our families have extended family who live out-of-state, or even out of the county. The Cuddle Cot gives family members time to travel to Ryan House to say their goodbyes. It also allows time for memory-making – to make an impression of a thumbprint or ink a footprint. Precious memories that will help a family through this difficult time."
"Having a CuddleBlanket allows our families with children and teens the same experiences of those with an infant. More time with their child before the mortuary needs to be called. More time in an environment of support and comfort."
- Tracy Leonard-Warner, Executive Director, Ryan House, Phoenix
“Our staff understands that providing compassionate care to grieving families during times of loss, whether anticipated or sudden, is vital. The gift of time can greatly aid families in navigating their grief during such an unimaginable experience.”
Traci Howard, the hospital’s chief nursing officer, Gadsden Regional Medical Center’s Labor and Delivery Unit, Alabama (source: WBRC)
“Using a CuddleCot ensures an adequate temperature is maintained to keep the baby cool,” said Christie-Ann. “It slows down the process of the natural changes that occur when a baby sadly dies. Parents are encouraged to keep their baby on the mat when they are not having cuddles or making memories to ensure they can spend as much time with their baby as they want. They can also choose to take their baby home with them and the CuddleCot is provided for them to use within their own home."
“Recently we had numerous families on the labour ward at the same time whose babies had died and we were short of CuddleCots."
“Having discussed this issue during support group the parents very kindly donated a third cot to the hospital, which was delivered within the week.”
Christie-Ann said it was "important to offer families the choice to use the CuddleCot, every family grieves differently and some might choose to use it for hour, days or not at all."
“All staff respect everyone’s decisions and will always provide individualised care to ensure all wishes are respected,” she said.
“As well as the CuddleCot we offer to take photographs, hand and foot prints, locks of baby hair, dressing and bathing baby and will try and meet all parents’ requests where possible. The memory-making we offer will last a lifetime. It is really important we offer parents all options so they can make an informed choice."
“They might change their mind in time, whether it be in weeks, months or years down the line, and we will not be able to get those moments back. All photographs are stored on an individual sim card, and hand- and footprints can be placed in a memory box and given to parents if they wish to keep them for a later date.”
- Swansea Bay’s specialist bereavement midwife Christie-Ann Lang
“I have cared for numerous families whose baby’s have died either during pregnancy or shortly after birth. I am so incredibly lucky to be able to provide a CuddleCot to the families in my care. Sadly, I can be caring for more than one bereaved family at a time so having several cots available is essential.”
These words echo the sentiment shared by countless families who have found solace and comfort through the use of a CuddleCot during their time of grief.
“I talk to parents about the CuddleCot early on; I explain that this special cooling device is put inside the baby’s bassinet/crib or their baby can be swaddled as they rest on the mat. I explain that the purpose of this device is to keep their baby cool; I gently explain that they are cooled to an optimum temperature and will never get too cold.
Keeping their baby cool in this way allows them time to bond together as a family, the way they would have done in the first few days of life, had their baby have lived. It also allows them to make precious memories with their baby, whether that be time spent cuddling, bathing or dressing their baby. Their baby is able to be close to them whether that be in their crib or sleeping with them in their bed.”
As a bereavement midwife, I have watched on quietly as parents share a double bed, their baby resting on a mat in between them. They spent a long time looking at every part of them. They have taken in all the creases on the soles of their feet, their little button nose, their long eyelashes. They have read a bedtime story and sung a lullaby to them. They have told them how they resemble their big sister or they have their dad’s long fingers and would have likely have played the piano. They have told them how much they loved them and cried together for hours. Without them lying on this cooling mat, none of this would have been possible. “
These powerful moments of connection, made possible by the gentle cooling provided by a CuddleCot, highlight the importance of creating lasting memories with loved ones, no matter how fleeting their time together may be.
“I always say to the families in my care ‘I’m so sorry that the time you have with your baby is limited, you should have endless time to learn about them and make memories together, however I will help you make as many memories as possible together in the short time that you have. Forming these bonds and creating these memories together would not be possible without the use of a CuddleCot.”
Siân Ness, RM, BSc (Hons), Winner of the RCM ‘Excellence in Bereavement Care’ Award 2021
Taylor and Sarah Hutchinson donated two CuddleCot cooling systems to SGMC Health Labor and Deliver in memory of their daughter, Josephine
“It’s definitely hard if you have any situation that’s rushed with a patient that’s grieving the loss of a child. It’s one of the most difficult things a parent goes through, but it’s also difficult for our nurses.”
For seventeen years, Gordon has navigated difficult situations in labor and delivery, but she said the CuddleCot system elevates the level of care.
She said, “This system helps empower the nurse to give them an ability to be able take care of this patient and be compassionate towards their grieving process.” - Katie Gordon, Nurse Manager Labor and Delivery SGMC Health (Credit: WALB)
