CUDDLE COT PLACEMENT PROGRAM
Giving "the gift of time", in honor of the baby you miss so much.
What is a Cuddle Cot?
Our Baby's Legacy recognizes the need for more access to Cuddle Cots, a cooling device that is placed in hospitals for parents that experience a loss. This medical device cools the bassinet of the baby, extending the length of time the parents and loved ones can spend with their child before saying their forever goodbyes. This time is absolutely invaluable to those families. It allows them to hold and care for their precious little one, memorize their features, take pictures, invite other loved ones to meet them, and create memories.
Why be involved?
We also know for loved ones of loss, the opportunity to donate a Cuddle Cot in their child name is a big deal. Having the opportunity to create a legacy for their child, knowing it will help their fellow bereaved families, can be invaluable to the grieving process and really moving forward and carrying their child's name and memory with them.
The problem is these devices cost $3k. The task of fundraising or saving up that amount for an individual family can be daunting. Many would love to do so but don't have the encouragement skills or support to take it on, and some that have attempted it have not reached the full amount needed. This can add disappointment onto an already heartbreaking situation of loosing a child.
A solution!
This is why Our Baby's Legacy's Cuddle Cot Placement Program was created.
We wondered, how many families could find pride and healing in having provided a Cuddle Cot in honor of their babe/s if we all worked together on the $3k goal? How many more Cuddle Cots could be placed, and how much more quickly, if we all worked together? This would mean more angel babies being honored, more families finding healing, more newly bereaved families having access to "the gift of time", and let's not forget more hospital staff being enlightened to the importance of this time and being able to provide it!
How it works:
First, start by filling out this form.
By donating $300 or more to this program, your child/ children's name can be placed along side other families babies names on our next Cuddle Cot placement. You can make a donation outright or fundraise for it. We are here to help every step of the way and guide you through the best fundraising practices and provide "how-to/ step by step" guides.
Want to place a Cuddle Cot in a specific hospital? With a $1000 donation or more, you can chose where it will go!
Not sure you're ready to commit to the $300 minimum? You can make a smaller donation at any time and let us know if you want it us to track the accumulation of your gifts until you reach the $300 goal! Every dollar helps the cause.
We do all the work to communicate with the hospitals, which can be a pretty emotional and lengthy process. We also handle ordering the Cuddle Cot from the manufacturer, and provide the hospital with any additional tools they need to know how to best serve their families with the cot.
What happens after I donate?
A few meaningful and beautiful things happen as we connect families on this project.
Your child's name will be written, read, acknowledged and remembered!
For each child who is honored on this cot, we forever memorialize their name, photo, and story on a special webpage. It's a place for them to be recognized, and for the family to proudly share a few words about and a photo of their babe/s.
We also mail each family professionally printed Certificate of Contribution that can be added to their child's keepsake box or framed and displayed in the families home.
We also provide the hospital who received the cot, postcards that bear the names of each angel baby that is being honored on the cot. Sometimes with Cuddle Cots that are donated in honor of a child, their name is inscribed on a plaque placed the side of the cot. But the parents using it are both grief stricken and focused on their precious babe, so they may miss the plaque and the chance to read the honored child's name. By Our Baby's Legacy providing these cards with your child's name who is being honored, you can be sure the cot recipients will know and remember your precious one. It also gives us an opportunity to share our site with them, in hopes they read our families webpage and story, and join our community for support.
Lastly, we coordinate with the hospital a dedication ceremony for anyone who is local or willing to travel to the hospital for the event. In about an hour a Our Baby's Legacy representative and hospital staff will share thank you's and a meaningful message, a Chaplin is also often present to say a prayer, it is an opportunity to meet the other families who made the placement possible, and time take photos with the cot and others who are present if you wish. We encourage you to bring living children and a photo, memorial animal, urn, or other item that holds space and represents your child being honored.
*Please keep in mind we have families donating from all over the world. We try our best to connect your donation to a cot in your area so you may attend this event, but it is not always possible.
Thank you for considering being part of this program and helping us place more Cuddle Cots, sooner.
Your gift will help so many other families, create priceless memories by providing the gift of time. Your heart ache and love for your child can create a ripple effect for so many others by creating this legacy in honor of your child. Your baby would be so proud.
A " GIFT OF TIME STORY"
If you’ve ever lost a loved one, what would you give to get a few more hours or days back with them? We got to hold our son Davin for 3 days in the hospital after his stillbirth. For some this may sound creepy. But for a moment, imagine losing a baby.... you’d want to soak up every minute you had with them, knowing it will soon end and you’ll never get it back. Saying hello and goodbye with in the same few days was a bitter but sweet experience for us. We got to hold Davin, kiss and cuddle him, change his swaddle, show him off to a few loved ones, and take 153 photos of and with him. We memorized the size of his tiny feet and fingers, and oooh and ah over him like any other parent would do.That is the gift of time. Time made possible by the Cuddle Cot.
The Cuddle Cot is a device made specifically to cool a stillborn’s bassinet, which slows down the effect of nature. This allows grieving parents to spend some extra time with their newborn after they have passed away, in an effort to ease the mourning process and create those few memories that they can.
With out the Cuddle Cot, we may have only been able to hold Davin for just a few short hours. Having that longer length of time with him was absolutely invaluable and the only thing we wanted in the world in those moments. It most certainly positively impacted our long term ability to grieve. With out it, we have no idea how much harder the loss would be.
The Cuddle Cot is immensely important but not in many hospitals. You may be surprised how many families would face needing one though. According to the CDC, in the US, about 24,000 stillbirths occur every year. Also, 1/4 women experience a miscarriage and some of those occur in a hospital and would also be able to benefit from the Cuddle Cot.The device we were blessed to have had access to was donated by other bereaved parents in honor of her son Liam McGovern.
In honor of Davin’s first heavenly anniversary and what would have been his first birthday here on earth, we set out to donate a Cuddle Cot in his name, to a local hospital that does not have this amazing device and thus parents who currently have very little time with their baby before saying goodbye.
We were overwhelmed and brought to tears by receiving the generous finial gifts from so many loved ones. We made a huge dent in our goal almost right away. Unfortunately the donations slowly stopped coming, but we were so grateful for ever dollar given. We fortunately could come up with the remaining funds ourselves, but my husband and I wondered what did families do who couldn't cover the rest of the cost? I searched "go fund me" and found several campaigns that never reached the amount needed. My heart broke to think of the discouragement that may have caused them. In the mean time I also wanted a way to acknowledge the angel babies whose parents donated to our fundraiser. It didn't seem right that I would have Davin's name on it and not their child's name too.
All this eventual led to us creating Our Baby's Legacy Cuddle Cot Placement Program where famlies can work together, lowering the pressure to raise the full cost of a cot and to feel united and connected in the common goal. This fits Our Baby's Legacy's mission statement perfectly: to provide families of pregancy and infant loss tools for comfort, community for support, and an opportunity to create a legacy in their child's name.
- Sarah Adams, Davin’s Mom
Contact us today or start getting involved.