About 15 million babies are born preterm each year around the World. Born with a natural lack of development, they are often taken out from their parents right after birth and assigned to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Their bonding is limited with time, and space, and strongly depends on the baby’s conditions. Left alone in the incubators without a real chance to experience skin-to-skin bonding with their parents, they are deprived of touch and physical contact. Bo.by is a solution that enables contact between parents and their infant in the incubator at a distance, in situations where it’s not possible. A parent device and an infant mattress are connected and collect, send, and receive data such as touch, breast movement, heartbeat, or body heat, enabling them to feel the touch of one another. This two-way communication, enriched with senses, offers the possibility to experience a natural, prolonged skin-to-skin bonding in and outside the NICU.
Credits
Design
Alekandra Radlak, Poland
Year of production
2021
