In February 2023, my husband and I welcomed our first child. We knew that, as first time parents, we would be navigating unchartered territories, but we thought we’d generally be ok because we have several nieces and nephews, nearly all of our friends already had children, we like to think we are relatively smart and have common sense, and we figured our natural instincts would also kick in. Boy, we were in for a rude awakening. While there are natural parental instincts that do indeed kick on, we were lost beyond belief. We called on our friends, family members, and providers for help. Every. Single. Day. Our primary go-to and savior was my sister, a Nurse Practitioner and former NICU and Pediatric ER Nurse. We felt like we abused her and often thought how wonderful it would be if all new parents had access to someone like her to answer our questions, give advice, and provide reassurance. Just as we started feeling comfortable and confident as new parents, a whole new challenge hit us: when our son turned four months, he started rolling over while sleeping, as nearly every baby does at some point, scaring us half to death. Every night, my husband and I took turns staying awake to watch the monitor to make sure our son continued to move and was not suffocating himself. We would zoom in as much as possible, stare at the monitor non-stop, and made ourselves crazy. After almost two weeks of this, we realized this was not healthy. There had to be another way to navigate this scary stage. That’s when the idea of our sleep sacks originated. My husband cleverly decided to add a strip of our reflector tape (that we added to his strollers, of course, for our evening walks) to the b ack of his sleep sack, in hopes that it would “reflect” on the monitor as he moved (i.e., breathed). It worked! From there, we started trying out other materials, such as glitter star stickers I had in my arts and crafts bag. It worked even better! We’ve been trying out new materials for over a year now and have come up with the perfect combination of shimmer and reflective materials to add to a sleep sack to give us peace of mind when we look at the monitor and can quickly tell that he is breathing!
Our son is 18 months old now and we still rely on our “peace-of-mind sleep sack.” And while we definitely feel more confident as parents, we also still call on my sister and others whom we trust quite frequently. We feel every parent, especially new parents, should have access to this type of comfort, guidance, reassurance, and peace-of-mind during their journey. With that, Help Me. Mama was born. We are here to provide parents peace of mind as they navigate the journey of parenthood, with a particular emphasis on new parents navigating their child’s first year. Check out our service bundles for access to a team to help you through the journey, or simply browse the products that have helped us through ours, especially our sleep sack! We are here for moms and dads alike and hope to help you through your journey.