Los Angeles

Mother of Stillborn Donates Cuddle Cot to Give Grieving Families More Time With Babies

A Cuddle Cot is a refrigerated bassinet that helps preserve a baby's body after death to give families more time with their stillborn babies

Christina Browning wanted more time. When her daughter Maddison was delivered stillborn after 43 hours of labor in November 2011, Browning had just three hours with her infant daughter before Maddison’s body began to deteriorate.

Now Browning is channeling her grief to help other families in need. This week Browning donated a Cuddle Cot to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, where Maddison was born. The refrigerated bassinet helps preserve a baby’s body after death.

"When your child dies … that’s it, that’s the end and I want people to be able to remember their babies the way they want to remember them," Browning told NBC4. 

About 24,000 babies are born stillborn in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Browning began fundraising on what would have been Maddison’s fifth birthday.

A Cuddle Cot costs nearly $3,000 and in February Browning met her fundraising goal.

Hospital officials said this will be the first and only Cuddle Cot to be available at a birthing hospital in Los Angeles County.

The cot case includes a commemorative plaque with Maddison’s name and the date she was born stillborn. The inscription reads: "If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever."

"I want to be able to honor her," Browning said of Maddison.

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