Helping babies and parents sleep easy
A baby's mattress that simulates the rocking feeling of being cradled has been shown to reduce average crying time from 18 minutes to less than one minute in pilot operational trials with parents.
The mattress which encourages babies to stay lying on their backs and settle themselves to sleep is the brainchild of 44-year old mother-of-six Lynda Harding (pictured right), who has been working with researchers from the University of Brighton to develop and trial the product.
The nursery owner came up with the idea of the rocking mattress, called Easidream®, after struggling to get her sixth child to sleep. Having approached the university's Faculty of Science and Engineering to help develop her ideas, work began on trialling the desired rocking movements and producing several prototypes.
"Easidream® is an independent and retro-fitted piece of equipment that fits snugly into a mass-produced cot," explained Lynda. "The device works by stimulating the rocking feeling of being cradled by placing a pneumatic pad underneath a mattress in the baby's cot."
"The product also encourages babies to fall asleep on their backs, which is proven to be the safest sleeping position for babies under six months old. Because of this the temptation for parents to adopt high-risk methods of encouraging their babies to sleep such as lying them 'front down' or letting them sleep on the sofa or in bed with them are reduced."
Following local advertisements, 14 parents and their babies were recruited to take part in the pilot operational trials carried out at a Hampshire nursery by university researchers from the School of Nursing and Midwifery. The parents' completed sleep diaries revealed to researchers that the average crying time reduced dramatically and the time taken for babies to settle dropped, in some cases by 90 per cent.
The product has already been shortlisted as a finalist at the Baby Product Association Concept Awards. Lynda now hopes to launch Easidream® into the childcare consumer market with the backing of ex-Dragon's Den entrepreneur and consultant Rachel Elnaugh later this year.
Maddison Desing Ltd, of Fittleworth, West Sussex, redesigned and developed the final production unit so that it complied fully with Lynda's original product specification. It now includes the pneumatic design/control unit/sound module and all components comply with safety standards.
GBE Designs Ltd, of Goring, West Sussex, developed the electronics including coding the soothing sounds for the sound module. They are now responsible for both the pump unit manufacture and co-ordination of the UK manufacture of the final production units for retail. They have also co-ordinated the manufacture of the dream sheep from China.
Lynda said: "Both companies worked extremely hard to produce the final spec' for easidream. They have been incredibly helpful throughout and have guided me through the entire design process. I couldn't have chosen better companies to work with and I would definitely commission them for any new products I am looking to develop in the future."
Lynda also praised Maggie Stewart, from the University of Brighton's School of Nursing and Midwifery: "Maggie was the researcher involved in the trials. She was incredibly professional throughout and has produced an excellent written research report."
