The SW Cuddle Bundle

Promoting family connection, involvement and skin-to-skin contact from birth, throughout your Neonatal journey and at home

The SW Cuddle Bundle is a collaboration of quality improvement projects from around the region. Originating with the Cuddle Bundle project from Plymouth NICU, where the team observed a need to further support families with the frequency and duration of skin-to-skin contact ‘Kangaroo Care’ cuddles with their babies. They implemented staff education and strategies to improve their practice.

Plymouth’s work has been combined with other quality improvement projects from around the South West region to develop a bundle of care aimed at increasing closeness and connection for every baby and family from birth, throughout their neonatal journey and at home. The bundle focuses on the following 5 main elements:

  1. Delivery room cuddles

  2. Early and frequent skin to skin contact cuddles

  3. Implementation of Kangaroo Care Cuddle Wraps©

  4. Cuddles and parental involvement during painful procedures

  5. Kangaroo care at home

The bundle also includes the consideration for kangaroo care during transport, drawing on the KaKoon project within the SONAR transport service and cuddles during therapeutic hypothermia treatment with support from the CoolCuddle study.

Watch about the importance of cuddles for you and your baby during your Neonatal Unit stay…

Coming soon…

Videos of skin-to-skin transfers

Link here to read a powerful parent story about the ‘Power of Skin-to-Skin Contact’ on the BLISS website

Link to our family support page

  • "Skin-to-skin cuddles is something that just mum and dad can do, so that feels really special. It breaks down the barrier That barrier of not feeling like a mum, or not feeling like their parent because you know nobody else is going to do that for them"

  • “Don't be afraid to hold your baby, soak up every moment of cuddles. Read and sing to them as much as you can”

  • “Physical contact with our baby was so important – it made everything feel real. Being able to take him out of the incubator for cuddles and not just look at him through a plastic screen made us feel like parents”

  • “All feelings are normal; guilt, grief, sadness, not feeling connected. It’s a tough journey, but you will get through it.”