A CloudCuddle bed tent on the sailboat

Sailing is a great love of the Nout family. But: how can you take the boat on vacation if one of the children is often active at night due to Angelman syndrome? Then you buy an (extra) CloudCuddle. For on the sailing boat!

Nico and Anna’s son, Olle, has Angelman syndrome. This is a genetic disorder that causes a disturbance in brain development. Because of this, Olle (7 years old) has a developmental delay, abnormal motor skills and sufficient sleep is not self-evident. He cannot talk. In practice it means that Olle needs 24/7 supervision: he cannot be left alone for a moment. Four days a week he goes to a day care centre, one day a week he can go to his sister’s elementary school. Olle also receives intensive supervision here. On the weekends, the whole family is at home together – if they are not on the boat, that is.

Sleeping on the sailboat
The Nout family loves to sail. When Olle was a baby, his parents made a safe sleeping place for him in the forecastle. Once he got a little bigger, they adjusted his bed in the cabin for him so he couldn’t crawl out at night. But Olle grew stronger and more creative, making sleeping in the sailboat difficult. “It took at least a week every vacation for Olle to get used to sleeping in the boat again,” Nico explains. As a result, the whole family slept badly that week. Not quite the idea of a restful vacation.

Everywhere with bed tent
A few years ago, the family discovered the CloudCuddle, through a post on facebook. The bed tent has turned out to be a godsend: for vacations, at home and now also on the boat. “We hadn’t been on vacation in years. That changed with the CloudCuddle. Suddenly we could go away together for weekends or on beach vacations. In that respect, the bed tent is a real game-changer for us. It has expanded our world enormously. When it comes to spending the night, we don’t have to take anything into account: we just put a 1-person mattress on the ground and a minute later – we’re practiced – there’s a safe bed for Olle.”

CloudCuddle bed tent on the sailing boat
As travel became easier, the realization came that there was really only one solution for sailing vacations as well: the CloudCuddle had to come along. That was easier said than done, because the inflatable bed tent is not designed for on a sailboat. So in the end, the family recently purchased another boat with enough room for the CloudCuddle. “We spent a night ‘test sleeping’ on our new boat with Olle in the bed tent on New Year’s Eve. That turned out well. From April onwards, we will regularly go away for longer periods of time.” 
The family is so pleased with the CloudCuddle that they now own two copies: one for at home and one for on the boat. “Saves us having to carry them around,” explains Olle’s father, “and by now we depend on a CloudCuddle for our sleep. Then a spare copy is nice.”

Often active at night
“Olle is often active at night,” his father explains. “At home he has been sleeping in a bed box for years but Olle crawls out of everything. He even escaped from a bed with three kinds of locks on it. Then the bed manufacturer didn’t know what to offer either. Since then, Olle sleeps at home every night in a CloudCuddle. We know that the CloudCuddle is not made for daily use. But after years of experience we can say that the wear and tear is not too bad in practice. As a user, we have seen the further development of the bed tent over the years and we would not know what could be improved now. “*

Feeling safe
Nico continues: “Because of the soft walls of the bed tent, Olle cannot hurt himself, nor can he get out on his own. From the first moment Olle stepped into a CloudCuddle, he felt safe in it. He fell asleep almost immediately. It’s a low-stimulus environment and he can’t make any noise when he bangs against the walls, so everyone has more peace – also because we know he can’t escape from it. 
We are very grateful to the inventors and developers for putting so much effort into finding a solution to a problem faced by many parents of care-intensive children. Her is special that such a good and smart product is fully developed in the Netherlands and I am sure that this is the perfect solution for many parents and children worldwide.”

On the road night in hotel
At the time of the interview, Nico is on vacation in Austria with his family. Naturally, the CloudCuddle was also packed and taken along. “On the way to our destination, we spent a night in a hotel. We put the mattress of the box spring on the floor, pulled the cover of the bed tent around the mattress in about fifteen seconds and inflated the frame in a few minutes. You’re really done in no time,” Nico says.

Are you a parent of a child with a disability and would you like to test the CloudCuddle as an adapted travel bed for a weekend? You can do so by requesting a trial weekend or renting a bed tent.

* CloudCuddle’s explanation of the above story: the CloudCuddle is designed for occasional use, to sleep safely outdoors without the use of an adapted bed or bed box. Think of staying with family and friends, arranging respite care, an extra day in the guest house, a hospitalization or for vacations. The life span of the bed tent is based on this. Because many children sleep better in a CloudCuddle than ever before, there are parents who use the bed tent all days at home. They know that the parts of the CloudCuddle may then wear out sooner and need to be replaced.