Hands down: the perfect gift for NICU babies & more!
By mom4life | Category: Mom 4 Life Product Feedback
Last year a friend of mine delivered early and her little girl spent several weeks in the NICU. We don’t live near each other so I felt helpless to be able to do something to show how much I cared. Then I remembered The Zaky hands that we offer on Mom 4 Life and together with a few friends we sent two Zaky’s to enfold and embrace the little bundle of joy in her incubator. When my friend sent me this photo below, I couldn’t help but smile. Isn’t it simply precious the way her hand is wrapping around the Zaky finger?
The Zaky is a soft but weighed pillow, partially filled that conforms to the baby’s body. It imitates the look, feel, weight, scent, and warmth of the parents’ hand and forearm. It assures proper positioning, helps with pain management and sleep, provides a sense of protection, and assists with the physical and psychological development of the child.
And it’s not just for babies in the NICU, infants and small children can benefit from this unique product as well. The story of how The Zaky came to be is a both touching and tear producing. It involves a tropical storm, a 155 day stay in NICU and promise made to God. I invite you read more about the story of mom inventor Yamile and her son in this interview.
I also invite you to consider The Zaky as a unique gift the next time you are invited to a baby shower or when you hear of a baby being admitted to the NICU. I have a feeling that your gift will be remembered and treasured 
!
Back in 2008 we gave away The Zaky as a Friday giveaway. The winning mom wrote us back after she received her Zaky with a testimonial and a photo. Here is what she shared.
Thank you for the wonderful picture and story! And thank you for remembering The Zaky when you knew about the birth of this beautiful baby. We are blessed to be able to help babies and families in the NICU, where we can bring some nurturing and healing to babies that come to this world feeling pain and struggling to survive.
It is un-natural for a baby to be away from his/her mother/father right after birth but we all know that we must step away for some reason (to take a shower, do chores, or even work/travel), so the Zaky (best if scented by the parents and our new product: The Kangaroo Zak, help the baby feel nurtured 24/7 while it helps with the physical, emotional, physiological, and neurobehavioral development of the baby.
Our main purpose is to help the baby achieve deep sleep as long as possible and as frequent as possible because it is ONLY when the baby is in quiet (deep) sleep that the brain develops and the baby can heal and grow. This applies to healthy and sick babies, of course.
The picture and story above touched my heart, and for that I THANK YOU!!
I can’t wait to read the comments of the rest of your readers.
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@yamile jackson (inventor of The Zaky), It is so wonderful to see how your product is touching the lives of so many babies and families (literally). Thank you for creating this product!
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Hi! My daughter, Emily, is the preemie in the picture above, and I am the friend Heather referred to in her post. I just wanted to comment that The Zaky was truly a thoughtful gift for us when Emily was in the NICU. We knew we couldn’t be with her all of the time (especially with two older kids at home), and the NICU nurses are busy and could only hold her for limited amounts of time. With The Zaky, I knew Emily always had my scent near her and had the weighted feeling of being held and hugged when we couldn’t be there to hold her ourselves.
Emily is 8 months old now and doing great. She still sleeps with her Zakys every single night. I position one on each side of her to help her feel secure, and I think they provide comfort since she’s been using them for so long! Some babies have a teddy bear; my baby has a pair of hands.
We’ve also used them in her bouncer and swing to prop her upright when she was too small to center herself, and Emily’s physical therapist suggested that we use them under her chest/arms for tummy time when we needed something smaller than the boppy. There are so many uses for The Zaky for any baby, not just preemies.
Thanks again for the gift, Heather. We’re still using them daily! And thanks Yamile Jackson for inventing this wonderful product.
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mom4life Reply:
May 18th, 2011 at 8:55 pm
@Kim, ahhhhh I love hearing that Emily is STILL enjoying her gift, that is SO great and it is wonderful to know she is doing well. Yeah ((hugs))
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