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THE STORY OF NIGHT GENIUS™
The Problem
Is your baby dropping their dummy from the cot?
Some parents got really fed up having to go into their child’s room many times during the night. The dummy or soother keeps falling out of the cot constantly and there is nothing you can do about it. We decided to look for the best dummy or soother that might prevent the dummy falling out of our daughter’s mouth, and ultimately onto the floor. But even the best dummy or soother on the market didn’t help. To make things worse, our daughter figured out that she could throw the dummy or soother out of the cot to get our attention.
We thought of putting a few dummies in the cot hoping that if one dummy or soother fell out, or was thrown out, she would find the others. That lasted only a night or two, as she figured out that it’s a great game to look for all the dummies and throw them all out. Babies are smart! The dummies kept falling out of the cot, and there was nothing we could do about it. The dreaded sound of the dummies falling out of the cot and onto the floor, followed by her crying drove us crazy.
We decided to buy a dummy or soother holder, one of those devices that have a strap or some sort of cord or lace and a dummy or soother attached at the end of it, with a clasp on the other end. We attached that on her pyjamas, but she immediately pulled it off. Even if she didn’t, we wouldn’t want her to go to sleep with it. The ones available had a hard plastic clip that could leave a mark on the skin, or the ribbon was too long and could tangle round her fingers, or neck. The soother just kept falling out of the cot. The clasp on some of these devices was bulky and can even be sharp. The last thing we wanted was her falling asleep on one of these things with the risk of it leaving a mark on her neck or cheek.
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We started thinking of something we could make ourselves that would stop the dummy or soother fall out of the cot, something that would anchor the dummy or soother to the cot. We initially thought of simply tying the soother to one of the bars of the cot. But we immediately realised how dangerous that would be if the string was too long. They baby could get it tangled round her neck or round a finger and stop the blood supply. We could imagine her pulling on it harder and harder in an effort to untangle herself, only ending up tightening it even more.
If we made a shorter strap from one of the bars, it would be impractical to expect the baby to sleep with her head near the bars and to one side of the bed. We started exploring the possibility of the dummy or soother coming out from the middle of the mattress. But we realised that the sheet would just pull and so there shouldn’t be anything attached directly to the sheet.
After a lot of trials and errors, we eventually came up with a design that would stop the dummy or soother falling out of the cot, while anchoring the dummy to the sheet in a safe and convenient way for any baby to sleep well. While thinking of the design, we insisted the device wouldn’t consist of any hard or sharp parts, no clasps or hard plastic materials and wanted to ensure that whatever position our baby slept in, she would never have marks on her skin.
We wanted to invent a product that was very simple to use, a dummy clip that is safe at night and universal so it could be placed anywhere in the baby’s bed.
We came up with a design that involved a cushion made of plush material from which a ribbon would be tied holding the dummy, with a magnet inside, and another free magnet that would hold it in place.
We of course had it tested for safety of product and design under the British Standard specifically dealing with soother holders and after a few adjustments finally got it approved. We now thought it would be great if other parents would use it since if it solved our problem, it would definitely solve theirs. Many people are already buying this dummy catcher and using it to great success, and mostly for peace of mind! And of course, you can too if you think it will solve the problem of the dummy or soother falling out of the cot. Click here to read more of the benefits.
Night Genius™ soother holder for babies who drop their dummy from the bed is trademarked, design protected and patent pending.
USING A SOOTHER
Using a Dummy or Soother
Advantages for using a dummy or soother in a cot
A dummy or soother can soothe your baby to sleep
If disturbed at night, a dummy or soother can help your baby get back to sleep quickly
Sucking gives a feeling of security and comfort, so a dummy or soother can also be used to calm your baby if he is suddenly anxious
Dummies or soothers mean a baby is less likely to start thumb or finger-sucking, which can lead to dental problems later on in life
Research shows that adults who had dummies as babies are less likely to take up smoking
Most importantly - in June 2007, The Foundation for Study of Infant Deaths announced that settling your baby to sleep with a dummy or soother - even for naps - can reduce the risk of cot death.
Babies who are put to bed with a dummy or soother in their mouth have a significantly lower risk of falling victim to cot death, according to research recently published
The benefits are greatest among babies who are considered to be at the highest risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), such as those sleeping on their stomachs, or whose mothers smoke or share a bed with them. Experts said parents should be encouraged to use dummies for their babies, but some campaign groups urged caution.
More than 300 babies, mostly under 12 months old, die every year in the UK from cot death, which is the most common cause of infant mortality. The death toll has fallen steeply since parents were advised always to put their baby to bed on their backs, but there is still much confusion about the causes of cot death, and the best ways of preventing it.
The study is published in the British Medical Journal. Researchers from the Kaiser Permanente research foundation in California interviewed the mothers of 185 babies who had died of SIDS and compared their experiences with 312 'control' parents whose children were healthy.
When other risk factors, such as the age of the mother, socio- economic status and smoking habits, were taken into account, babies who slept with a dummy or soother were 90 per cent less likely to be a victim of cot death, the researchers found. The reduced risk was strongest when the baby was in what the researchers called 'adverse sleep environments'.
The experts believe that dummies may help to prevent cot death by changing the configuration of the airway passage surrounding the nose and mouth in a way that can stop babies from suffocating in their sleep. Sucking on a dummy or soother may also help to boost development of the upper airways.
Use of a dummy or soother seems to reduce the risk of SIDS and possibly reduces the influence of known risk factors ... It is important that these findings be confirmed as they provide new insight into the underlying mechanisms of the protective effect of dummies.
Dummy or soother use among higher-risk babies was comparable with those in the low-risk groups in this study. Advocating the use of dummies for infants in high-risk populations may have the potential to further reduce the incidence of SIDS.
While the number of cot deaths has fallen by 75 per cent since a Government awareness campaign was launched in 1991, the children of young single mothers and those from poorer families have a much greater chance of falling victim to the syndrome. A recent survey by the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths found a third of new parents had had no information on prevention.
There is no reason for parents not to use a dummy or soother, but if you do, you must use it every time the baby sleeps, and never forget to give the baby the dummy or soother.