It’s Wednesday: the day that we celebrate mamas (and dads too!) who have turned their parenting sagas into genius ideas. Today we introduce you to Baby Backups, the brainchild of Megan and her husband Steve, from Pittsburgh, PA.
You know how some memories from your childhood are so vivid you almost feel like you’re back in that exact spot, at that exact moment? I have a few of those: when my mom told me I was going to have a baby sister (I wasn’t excited), when our first family dog was hit by a car (we cried for days), and my brother’s baptism (that’s weird, right?). My brother’s baptism was a beautiful summer day. The sun was shining and we were all dressed in our Sunday best, ready to welcome the newest addition to our church, my baby brother. The ceremony was uneventful, as far as I remember, but immediately following, my mother and my Nana brought my brother upstairs for a diaper and outfit change. Lo and behold, he was covered from head to toe in poop. If you’re reading this, you know what I’m talking about. It was the kind of poop that was in his hair, on his WHITE christening suit, and, yes, even on his sweet little christening shoes. It was quite possibly one of the most disgusting moments of my five years on Earth.
Fast forward to my first child’s baptism, a few odd years later, and you can be certain that I was going to pull out all the stops to avoid a repeat performance of my brother’s messy situation; not only to save an outfit, but to save my sanity as well. I cut apart some maxi pads, stuck them around his little diaper, said a prayer that it wouldn’t have to be put to use, and the first run at BabyBackups was put into motion. Luckily, that first run was never tested by our son and we both stayed clean and dry.
Anticlimactic, you say? Well, fast forward again, this time 16 months to the baptism of our second child, who wasn’t quite so accommodating on her big day. Again I assembled our diaper safety net, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best. To say that Siena gave it her all would be an understatement. Our sweet little girl gave it everything she had not once, but twice. The look of surprise mixed with dread that my sister-in-law gave me as she experienced the force we all recognize as the sound and feel of the dreaded blowout made my stomach sink.
There goes that beautiful gown.
How am I going to clean this up?
Did I remember to pack a backup outfit?
Wait. Did my diaper extender really work? Fingers crossed.
Not only did my makeshift extender help, it COMPLETELY STOPPED both possible poopsplosions (we could call them the double Ps, diaper doody disasters, you name it) from becoming blowouts.
Siena continued to be exceptionally talented in the pooping department for roughly the first six months of her life. After experiencing a few blowouts a day, my husband Steve and I decided there was a real need for help with these dreaded diaper blowouts. We envisioned a world with baby poop staying where it belongs–in a diaper.
We set out to perfect a diaper extender, based on my prototype, for parents to use to save beautiful baby clothes, not so beautiful baby clothes, and, really, just to have one less mess to clean up (those little babies sure pack a punch in the mess department, don’t they?). After a few design revisions and product testing, we introduced BabyBackups: a soft, hypoallergenic, disposable diaper extender that not only helps with diaper blowouts, but eliminates them.
When we first launched BabyBackups, we had quite a few critics. Diaper manufacturers had been doing this whole diaper thing for quite a while, so it couldn’t be quite so simple that a mom and dad from Pittsburgh could design and manufacture the solution for something so big (and stinky and gross), right? What’s that phrase? The proof is in the pudding. And that was exactly the case with BabyBackups. After experiencing a few blowouts with their daughter, friends of ours used BabyBackups for every diaper change thereafter. They even posted some pretty graphic diaper pics as a thank you to us (they were gross, but we still loved them).
BabyBackups are made from soft, super-absorbent materials with a wedge-shaped design and fit securely between your baby’s back (Or front! We know blowouts don’t discriminate) and the diaper. They were designed to fit any brand of diaper from sizes 0-5, adhere to the diaper, and are easily disposed of after they’ve served their purpose. Parents are using BabyBackups with cloth diapers, too, which are actually known for having fewer blowouts.
We REALLY knew we had something great when we were nominated for the 2015 INDA Visionary Award for Best New Nonwoven Product of the Year (say that three times fast!). This international award is given to the best product introduced to the nonwoven industry–in a nutshell, products for incontinence, menstruation, and diapers—and we came home as the big winners! We were (and are) thrilled and honored to have even been nominated, let alone to have won an INTERNATIONAL award, just for helping moms and dads eliminate one more poopy situation.
The experience of designing, manufacturing, patenting (pending), and marketing BabyBackups hasn’t been an easy road, especially since we’re raising three little poopers of our own (ages 5, 4, and 2). As I mentioned, there have been many critics and introducing a new product category is very challenging. Is it worth it, though? Absolutely. Every time Steve and I hear that BabyBackups have helped save a piece of clothing or eliminated a clean-up during a nighttime feeding, we know we’ve done the right thing in bringing our product to market. As Moms and Dads, we’re all knee deep in this parenting thing together. If you’ve created a new product that you truly believe in, give it wings and make it happen. Most likely, the rest of us could use a little help, too.
Check us out at www.babybackups.com or add some BabyBackups to your cart while you do your weekly Amazon shopping “run” (we’re Prime!). We love being able to help new and seasoned Moms and Dads of the world have one less thing to worry about, especially if that one thing gives you a little less laundry.
Saralyn Ward is an award-winning writer, wellness advocate, and mountain mama. She is the founder of The Mama Sagas, writes for several publications and hosts a regular parenting TV segment on Colorado's Everyday Show. When she's not huddled over edits, you're likely to find Saralyn climbing peaks or skiing down them, and reminding herself that the two little girls that call her mom are not the boss of her.