Urine Shield for Babies

About

A convenient disposable urine shield for baby boys, made from 'super-absorbent' materials. It gently attaches to baby’s tummy to cover their groin area at regular nappy changing times. Also, it can be used to maintain healthy skin on a baby boy, or girl’s bottom. Attempting to change a baby boy's nappy can be a very stressful experience indeed. Not only do you have the wriggling, sometimes crying and smell to cope with, you are always on ‘red alert’ at the prospect of being sprayed with urine. Initially, this can appear very humorous and seen as part of parenthood – but after a while it becomes a very frustrating experience. Instead of being able to enjoy every moment with you baby, you enter an anxious phase of get it done ASAP! Also, witnessing your baby suffering from nappy rash can be a very upsetting time. It isn’t simply down to infrequent changing and hygiene – there are many reasons-(e.g. teething, weaning onto solid foods, or simply a very sensitive skin). Despite this, parents often feel a great sense of guilt and anxiety and want to alleviate the symptoms as soon as possible. The gold standard advice to prevent or treat nappy rash is to let your baby to experience ‘nappy-free time’ as often as possible. However, because of the prospect of the involuntary urine spray causing unwanted mess, or wanting to preserve modesty (for a male or a female baby), parents are reluctant to do this. Problems which it solves: I experienced the problem first hand: at the age of six weeks, my grandson ‘Jack’ had a dirty nappy and just as we were about to leave for a shopping trip- I, (being a generally very calm and chilled person) took him off to change his nappy. I turned to pick up some cream and at just at that moment he ‘weed’ up into the air - drenching his face, his, coat, jumper and vest. He was literally soaked to the skin and had to be totally stripped off and re-dressed. Jack screamed throughout the whole of this re-dressing process and this was the moment when thought AHHHHGH!... After developing designs and  handmade prototypes, I held a Focus group to ascertain parent’s / carer’s experiences and their views on my prospective product. This confirmed that many parents have indeed experienced enormous frustration at the involuntary ‘urine fountain’ and associated stress anticipating it. Likewise they have experience the guilt at having their baby experience nappy rash – but are also reluctant to allow their baby to experience nappy-free time- due to wanting to preserve their nice furnishings, or cannot risk the time / inconvenience of of having to change clothing unnecessarily. Who is this product for? The product is designed as a convenient, disposable item for use by parents / carers of baby boys, from around 0-9 months of age, to prevent urine spray at regular nappy change time. Moreover, it is beneficial for babies of both genders (boys and girls) when used to provide ‘nappy-free time’ sessions every day. It would also be useful in baby clinics (e.g. when health checks are taking place); or in hospital settings. How is Tinkleguard unique? The need to stem the urine spray from male babies is a widely established phenomenon – hence the existence of the some reusable fabric cone-shaped product, as well as many humorous clips seen in the media. Combined with this problem is the need to offer support to maintain healthy skin for baby: There is widely accepted advice: to allow ‘Mother Nature’ (i.e. fresh air to circulate around a baby’s bottom as often as possible) to prevent them developing a nappy rash; or to treat an existing rash. However, until Tinkleguard®, there is not a disposable product that efficiently absorbs the urine spray, whilst at the same time being easily attached to baby to remain securely in place for as long as needed. Tinkleguard® is unique as it is ergonomically designed to fit the contours of a baby’s form and makes use of the latest developments in super-absorbent materials, as well as using skin-friendly silicone based adhesive tabs, to give peace of mind that the product stays in place to do its job. This is a patented fast moving consumer good which has world-wide potential.