Our Story

As a new mother I suffered greatly when breast and bottle-feeding my son. He put on weight fast, he had a big appetite, and I – like most new mothers – felt like I was constantly feeding in those first few months. I enjoyed meeting friends and going out with our babies, but I would suffer for it.  My elbow would ache, my shoulder would get stiff, my neck would get tight, and my fingers often felt locked in one position, gripping on to the weight of my son and balancing on whatever I could find to give me support (finger tips on the table, rolled up coat, dirty pub cushion, hard wooden arm of a coffee shop chair).  I later developed painful tennis elbow.

One winters day in St Albans, I was having a mat leave lunch with my sister in a restaurant. I was holding my 4 month old son on an armless chair, trying to eat with one hand (as we often do in those early days) whilst my right arm was straining to take the weight of his body and head. In this moment I thought of BabyBean®. 

Why I asked myself, and later many others, do we have so many nursing cushions for use in the home but nothing which has been designed and adapted to take out of the house? As I opened my eyes to this reality I began to notice how many mothers would either strain and suffer, have to get physio, roll up a coat, use their bag, a blanket, prop their knee up awkwardly twisting their hips, or use precious space under their pram by bringing out a sofa cushion. 9 months of pregnancy, a long painful birth, and now I was facing elbow, shoulder, neck, and knee problems too? This just didn’t seem fair or right. I set about cutting up materials, even one of my children’s mattresses, and made myself what would end up being my very first mobile BabyBean® prototype.  

10 years later, it’s been an amazing, and very difficult, journey at times navigating life, family, illness, parents, Covid, and creating a product from a scratchy idea to a fully functioning, workable, tested, protected, product, which is ready to go.

I hope you love BabyBean® as much as we do and we look forward to launching soon!