I, Steff was a was a medical doctor working in neonates and the biggest hurdle was swaddling properly .I had to constantly call the nurses to help get it right.

I, Roxy was an exhausted, anxious mom who wanted peace of mind, knowing that my baby would sleep safely and happily throughout the night, but i just couldn't get the swaddling right, and neither could my husband. My baby was also particularly small at birth and so nothing on the market would fit her.

I landed up using wedges and tucking blankets under the mattress with my hand over my baby to secure the blanket from coming near her face. As you can imagine, that is no way to get sleep as a new mom.

The Struggles

Trying to survive as a new mom and an exhausted doctor working in NICU. We really wanted to take advantage of our very limited sleep, knowing that our babies are safe. As a doctor, I wanted to swaddle a baby quickly and safely to save me time on a busy night on call, without having to call a nurse and waste further time. We wanted a convenient swaddle that could alleviate extra stress off of moms and paediatricians & that was safe and comfortable for the baby.

The problem was that I was using blankets to swaddle and that is surprisingly a very hard skill to master, especially when you are so exhausted and overwhelmed. This also meant that I wasn’t able to swaddle my baby safely and easily, resulting in more anxiety and poor mental health. To make things worse, we felt terrible because one would think that surely swaddling is a simple thing to do? Because society makes it look like it’s such a simple task, when in fact hundreds of thousands of moms find it difficult and stressful everyday. Seeing these moms effortless ace motherhood makes you question your own self belief and worth.

The problem was that night time had become our biggest enemy where we would sit the whole day not being able to be present with our children because the anxiety of not knowing how to swaddle and how we would safely get through the night became all encompassing. Then, as if by chance, something amazing happened...

That's when after an accumulation of sleepless, stressful nights we both had experienced the potential dangers of not swaddling correctly. I had woken up to my baby kicking her legs up to get the blanket away from her face. Thank GD she was okay and safe but it was the most terrifying moment in my life. Steff also experienced something similar in the NICU rooms where she went to put a drip in for a baby and found that the blanket was over the babies face.

It was now crystal clear to us that babies needed a safe, comfortable, convenient and reliable swaddle because traditional swaddles and swaddling was no longer an option.

The Prototype

As a result we started making prototypes and testing different versions of swaddles and sleep sacks on dolls for the correct sizing, measurements, reliability and safety. We would time ourselves to see how quickly our prototype took to comfortably and safely swaddle the doll. After months of creating different prototypes on dolls, we finally aced the winning prototype that we were comfortable to test on our own children. Our babies were swaddled comfortably and safely in 1 minute!!! Wow!

Testing

Once we knew that it was safe on our own children in the day and night, we then contacted mom groups that we are a part of, Facebook Groups, Whatsapp Groups and play schools and we received incredible feedback from these different moms from different circles. It showed us that the problems we were facing were real and not that we were just neurotic parents. We knew how much it would decrease stress and increase sleep for other moms too.

After that, we started Drem Baby in order to relieve as many moms as possible, from the stress of not sleeping due to the dangers that come with the traditional swaddles. 99% of people don’t know how to actually swaddle correctly due to no fault of their own.

We were so excited to share this incredible creation with the world, only to find that the there was a problem...

We got feedback from moms that the initial design of velcro to attach the wings to the sack was uncomfortable and scratches the heads of the baby, the wings were not always aligned correctly, the material was too warm... Ah no, what now?

Back To The Drawing Board

We went back to the drawing board, tried and tested other accessible ways to attach the wings to the sack and then finally decided on using press studs to avoid the scratchiness of the velcro on the babies head; We reduced the thickness of the towelling and limited the use of the towelling material to ensure temperature regulation was optimal; We changed the shape of the wings to ensure a secure, safe & snug fit.

Success

We had finally done it!! After many many trial and errors and alot of feedback, we had created the perfect swaddle!

We chose to call it “Drem Baby SnuglSack”.

We thought if we could create something that would make it possible for moms to sleep in the night, and thus decrease stress, we’d have achieved something really special. This took us months and months and all our savings but it was all worth it,even if it just meant that we helped one mom through the night.

Although we have only just started, we have already seen such positive and heart-warming feedback from other moms expressing how thankful they are that they no longer have to dread the night.

After creating Drem SnuglSack, all of this means we’re now able to sleep with comfort and allow our mental health to be prioritised so that we can be the best mothers to our kids.