A cot for bereaved parents to spend a short time with their children “born sleeping” will be placed in a funeral home in Eltham.

A fundraiser campaign raised more than the required £1,600 to buy the ‘cuddle cot’ and put it in PL Mulligan Funeral Directors.

Tracey Cordaroy started the campaign after she lost her grandson before he was even born in January this year.

She said: “We lost our grandson at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich - he was born sleeping.

“My daughter was given the chance to use what we call a cuddle cot, it's a specialised cold cot that is used when a baby passes away.

“This gives the family to spend time with their angel baby for a couple of days instead of having the baby taken away as soon as they are born.”

The cuddle cot is a special type of cot with cold water running through it to keep the baby inside cool while the parents get to spend time with their child before being buried.

The cold cot is supplied by Angel Wings, a charity which provides the cots to locations across the country for bereaved parents.

Tracey ran a fundraiser to buy a cuddle cot for the Eltham funeral home and passed the £1,600 mark this weekend (September 23 to 24).

She said: “I can't explain the comfort this gave my daughter and us. Even though we still had to give him over a couple days later, it gave my daughter the chance to hold her baby and be a mummy.

“These cots are amazing and mean so much to families grieving but unfortunately they are not always available to others.

“There are very few about and only by donating and the help of locals fundraising are we able to obtain these.”

Danny Mulligan from PL Mulligan Funeral Directors in Eltham said: “She raised the money on behalf of us. We didn’t charge anything for the child at the funeral home so it was a thank you from the family.

“The cuddle cot should be here within the next couple of weeks, dependant on Angel Wings.”