Why do bereaved parents choose to take baby home using a CuddleCot?

After the loss of a baby, many parents wish for time, privacy, and space to say goodbye in their own way. For some families, taking their baby home with the support of a CuddleCot offers a gentle and meaningful option during an unimaginably difficult time.

More Time, Without Pressure

A CuddleCot allows parents to spend extended time with their baby at home, free from hospital time pressures. Families can move at their own pace, creating space to process their loss, talk, reflect, and say goodbye when they feel ready.

Creating Precious Memories at Home

Being at home gives parents the opportunity to create memories in a familiar and comforting environment. This may include holding their baby, taking photographs, gathering handprints or footprints, or simply spending quiet moments together. These memories often become deeply valued in the months and years that follow.

Privacy, Comfort, and Familiar Surroundings

Grieving at home can feel safer and more private for many families. Familiar surroundings allow parents to express emotion openly without the constraints of a clinical setting. Home can also offer greater flexibility for cultural, spiritual, or personal rituals that are important to the family.

Gentle Cooling to Maintain Baby’s Appearance

The CuddleCot system gently cools the baby, helping to slow natural physical changes. This can provide reassurance and comfort for parents, allowing them to focus on their time together rather than worrying about their baby’s condition.

Works With Existing Home Furniture

A CuddleCot can be used with any bed, cot, or bassinet already in the home. This flexibility makes it easier for families to create a peaceful and familiar space without additional equipment or disruption.

Including Siblings and Loved Ones

Taking a baby home allows siblings, extended family, and close friends to meet the baby and say goodbye in a calm and supportive environment. This shared experience can be an important part of collective grieving and remembrance.

Respecting Cultural, Religious, and Personal Practices

Many families have specific practices surrounding death and mourning. A CuddleCot supports these needs by allowing families the time and space to honour their traditions in a way that feels right for them.

Supporting the Emotional Journey After Loss

Having more time with their baby can help parents begin to process their grief and adjust to their loss. While nothing can ease the pain entirely, parents often describe this time as an important part of their healing journey.

Every family should be given the choice of more time, in a setting that feels right for them. This is the CuddleCot way and I firmly agree that there is no better way to put it than that.

As a parent who lost our baby at 21 weeks, the CuddleCot was the one thing that made an unbearably painful experience hold happiness and peace. We had never heard of a CuddleCot before going into hospital (this was sadly a termination for medical reasons, so we knew we were about to lose our baby), and we didn’t know what the next steps would look like. It’s hard, because you have to take each step as it comes, but in retrospect, I think the full information upfront would have been so much better, to give us a little preparation of foresight.

When our baby was born, we used the CuddleCot from birth and were able to bring our boy home and we had over a week with him before his funeral.

The CuddleCot slowed his body’s natural changes, allowing him to remain absolutely perfect, and it gave us precious time together as a family before his cremation and, before bringing him home forever.

Because of how strongly we feel, we purchased a CuddleCot and donated one back to Wigan hospital, so other families have the same choice. There should not be a limit on how many cots each hospital has, as every parent and baby should be given the option, even if it isn’t right for them. It’s about having the choice. So doing our bit and giving back also was helpful with grief and knowing we were helping others at a time they may not know they need this support.

Understanding all options before a termination of pregnancy is vital. It is such a scary, shocking, and overwhelming guilt to have to deal with, so having time to come to terms with what has happened, truly is a gift.

Thanks to the CuddleCot, our son was able to be loved at home and meet our family. There is no doubt, this was the greatest invention for bereaved parents and I hope one day we have these in abundance.” – Danielle 

The CuddleCot gave us time but time gave us so much more! I truly believe that having Dexter at home for 10 days gave us the opportunity to process and make rational choices about what we did.

The support from the funeral home was a relationship I hadn’t anticipated to be such an important and special one. The hand. Feet and face casts are something I’m so excited to get.

Rosie got to be a big sister and got to love her brother before saying goodbye. Time is limited but a CuddleCot helps you make the most of it!” Emily – Dexter’s Mum

> Why does continual cooling matter after baby loss? – Read our blog from bereavement expert Sian Ness

Taking Your Baby Home

We believe that all bereaved parents should be offered the opportunity to take their baby home. Some parents will want to take their baby home and others will not.

The only circumstance in which this is not possible is when a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) cannot be issued, and the death is being referred to the coroner or procurator fiscal. There are no other legal reasons to prevent parents from taking their baby home. (UK)

If there are good clinical reasons for discouraging parents from taking their baby home or if the parents do not feel comfortable or able to do so, they should be offered the option of a longer stay in hospital. This may be especially important if parents do not live near the hospital. 

CuddleCot’s are often loaned to parents by hospitals to enable them to take their baby home, knowing their baby can be kept cool whilst in the home environment.

Sian Ness – CuddleCot Bereavement Consultant and Relationship Manager

Learn More About Using a CuddleCot at Home

Every family’s situation is unique. If you are a healthcare professional supporting bereaved parents, or a family seeking information, our experienced CuddleCot team is here to help.

Read our Bereavement Care Toolkit Resources: cuddlecot.com/bereavement-care-toolkit

Supporting a family to take baby home after death – View/Download

This guideline supports teams to offer families the option to take baby home using the CuddleCot.

Free, evidence-based, online bereavement care training: cuddlecot.getlearnworlds.com

We can provide guidance on:

• Using a CuddleCot at home
• Clinical considerations and best practice
• Supporting families with informed, compassionate choice

Contact the CuddleCot team to learn more about supporting families who wish to take their baby home. info@cuddlecot.com