What Is a Perinatal Bereavement Cooling Device — and Why It Changes Everything
When a baby is stillborn or dies shortly after birth, families are thrust into a grief that most of the world is not prepared to hold. In the middle of that shock, they are also facing something almost impossible: saying goodbye to someone they never got to say hello to.
Time. That is what grieving families need most. And for too many of them, time is exactly what they are not given.
Perinatal bereavement cooling devices exist to change that.
What Is a Perinatal Bereavement Cooling Device?
A perinatal bereavement cooling device is specialized equipment used in hospital labor and delivery units, NICUs, and bereavement suites to gently and safely cool a baby's body after death. The cooling slows natural changes, extending the window of time families can spend with their baby in a dignified, peaceful way.
Without one, families may have only hours. With one, that time can extend to multiple days.
For parents, siblings, grandparents, and extended family who need time to arrive, to grieve, to hold their baby and simply be present — those days are not a small thing. They can be the difference between a wound that is given space to breathe and one that is sealed before it has any chance to.
The Isla Jade Foundation works to place these devices in hospitals across the country, because we believe every family deserves access to this kind of care regardless of where they deliver.
The Two Devices We Work With
There are two primary perinatal bereavement cooling devices available to hospitals in the United States: the CuddleCot and the Caring Cradle. They are made by two separate companies, use two different cooling mechanisms, and have different designs. Understanding the difference matters when it comes to hospital placement and family experience.
The CuddleCot
The CuddleCot, made by Flexmort in the United Kingdom, uses a water-based cooling system. Flexible, temperature-controlled pads connect to the unit via hoses and deliver consistent cooling to the baby. It is designed to work with virtually any existing bassinet, crib, or basket, and the pads are soft enough that parents can hold their baby while cooling continues.
Key features of the CuddleCot:
Water-based system with no harmful chemicals
Works with any existing bassinet or crib
Flexible cooling pads allow parents to hold their baby with continuous cooling
Suitable for both pre-term and full-term babies
Portable, including the option for families to take their baby home
Can be set up in under five minutes
Free bereavement care training included for hospital staff
The CuddleCot is trusted in thousands of hospitals, hospices, and homes worldwide and has been featured in the New York Times and People Magazine for the way it supports families through infant loss.
The Caring Cradle
The Caring Cradle, manufactured in Lakeland, Florida by a US-based company, takes a different approach. It is a self-contained refrigerated bassinet unit mounted on a rolling cart with locking wheels. The Caring Cradle uses a closed, sealed system with an environmentally safe refrigerant (R134a) — similar to how a refrigerator works — and requires no water, no hoses, no chemical handling, and no staff monitoring once it is plugged in and running.
The Caring Cradle comes in two versions: the Original and the Mini, which is designed for micro-preemies and smaller babies.
Key features of the Caring Cradle:
Closed, sealed refrigerant system — no water, no hoses, no chemicals to handle or dispose of
Requires no staff monitoring once set up
No alarms (other devices can alarm when water needs to be refilled)
Arrives assembled and ready to use — plug in, allow approximately 30 minutes to reach temperature, and it is ready
All non-porous surfaces can be cleaned with any hospital-approved or bleach-based cleaner
Sturdy HDPE plastic bassinet mounted on a metal cart base
Made in the USA
Families can hold their baby using a cooled gel mat with no tubes or attachments
Two Devices, One Purpose
The CuddleCot and the Caring Cradle are different in meaningful ways, and hospitals may choose one or both depending on their setup, staffing capacity, patient population, and budget. What they share is the same irreplaceable purpose: giving grieving families time they cannot get back.
At The Isla Jade Foundation, we work with hospitals to place whichever device best fits their bereavement program and patient needs. What matters most to us is that families have access to one when they need it.
Why Access Is Still Not Universal
Here is the reality that drives our work: not every hospital has one of these devices. Not even close.
Access to perinatal bereavement equipment in the United States is deeply uneven. Whether a family receives this kind of care can come down entirely to which hospital they happen to deliver at. That is not a system. That is a gap.
We are also working to change this through legislation. Texas passed Everly's Law, which requires hospitals to have perinatal bereavement resources available to families. We are advocating for similar legislation here in New York, because we believe this should not be optional. It should be standard.
Every family who loses a baby deserves the gift of time. Not because of where they live or which hospital they walked into, but because they are a family, and their baby's life mattered.
How You Can Help
If you are a hospital administrator, labor and delivery nurse, social worker, or bereavement coordinator who wants to request a device for your unit, we want to hear from you.
If you want to donate a device in memory of a baby, that option exists too. Every device we place carries a baby's name. It is one of the most tangible ways grief can become something that protects another family.
And if you are simply someone who did not know these devices existed before today — now you do. Share this. Tell a nurse. Tell your OB. Awareness is the first step toward access, and access is what saves families from carrying a layer of grief they should never have had to carry.
The Isla Jade Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to supporting families after the loss of a baby through stillbirth, miscarriage, and infant loss. We donate perinatal bereavement cooling devices to hospitals, advocate for statewide bereavement legislation, and walk alongside families in their grief.
