“Necessity is the Mother of all Invention”

In 2004, my son Luke was born and at 6 weeks was diagnosed with Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). The first few months of his life he cried a lot after eating and sleeping was very difficult for him. Needles to say, his distress was our distress too! We were advised to raise his crib fro sleeping and keep him upright after feedings. We tried to raise his crib, but of course, he would slide down to the bottom and wake up. Our sleeplessness as a family continued.

To address our dilemma, we eventually purchased a product to hold him in place in his crib. We tried it out for a week. We would successfully settle him to sleep. Then while placing him in this apparatus in the crib (which required us to fasten all these straps) he would wake up. We would have to take him back out and start all over. All our efforts to calm and settle him were undone - this was not the solution!

As a Licensed Occupational Therapist, I finally designed my own positioning system for use in his crib when it was raised. I felt we needed something that allowed us to settle him to sleep and put him in his crib without having to do any adjustments after I had settled him to sleep. Best of all, he (we) slept more that first night then he had in 3 months!

Encouraged by conversations with other occupational and speech therapy professionals who work with parents of children with GERD, I have taken my idea and marketed it so that other babies with GERD and other related respiratory concerns can also benefit - so these babies and their families can get some much needed sleep!

Beth Jackson- Gagne MS, OTR/L