Tamworth hospital was donated a cuddle cot yesterday by the Clarke family.

Ashley and Lauren Clarke from Newcastle lost their second daughter, Isabella, during birth in March last year, and Mr Clarke said having the ability to take their baby home with a cuddle cot helped greatly in dealing with their grief.

“You can prolong time with your lost one and it gave us the opportunity to take her home and, it might sound silly, to meet our dog and show her the room and just give us our time out of the hospital,” Mr Clarke said.

A cuddle cot is a cooling system designed to fit a small cot, giving families more time to be with their babies who have passed away.

Just having those extra hours at home helped the Clarkes through their loss.

“We made a promise to our daughter that we would make sure that other people would have the same opportunity,” Mr Clarke told The Leader.

The Tamworth cuddle cot is the third donation by the family, which has also gifted equipment to John Hunter and Maitland hospitals.

Not operating as a charity or foundation, Mr Clarke said it was more cost effective to simply raise funds, purchase the cuddle cots one-by-one and donate them to hospitals.

Mr Clarke said he chose Tamworth hospital for the third donation to ensure “western NSW had the same services and facilities as a city.”

The hospital welcomed the kind donation from the Newcastle family and said it was previously unavailable at the hospital.

“It is something that isn’t accessible in Tamworth and, fortunately, it doesn’t happen a lot, but there are still still-births,” clinical midwifery consultant Siubhan McCaffery said.

“I hope it doesn’t get used in a hurry,” Mr Clarke said.

“I hope it sits in its box and never gets used, but statistics show it happens.”