There are 15 million babies born prematurely every year, who on average spend the first 42 days of their life in uncomfortable conditions to secure their survival. The idea of a skin-friendly belt with portable monitoring took 6 years to develop. It became reality when the start-up that invented the belt teamed up with Freudenberg Medical to benefit from its material expertise and process and production knowledge.
The resulting Bambi Belt helps premature babies and neonates to have a more comfortable and less stressful start into their lives while being monitored.
Which can be life-changing in a positive way, as being held by their parents helps their cognitive development.
A better beginning, for a better life
To ensure that prematurely born babies survive, medical surveillance is needed. Up to now, this surveillance was uncomfortable for the child, who was isolated in an incubator with painful adhesive sensors attached to their sensitive skin. If a baby is especially premature, their heart rate and oxygen level are the only vital signs that can be monitored.
In addition to the direct medical risk and pain, the isolation can harm the child for a lifetime. In half of such cases, the lack of parental contact leads to cognitive impairment. The Bambi Belt solves all these problems.
Even in very premature babies, the skin-friendly silicone belt allows thorough, pain-free monitoring of their respiration and of the electrical activity of their heart muscle.
It also enables the parents to take their child out of the incubator without the medical staff having to detangle all the wires first.
This helps parents provide the loving contact and attention babies so badly need for healthy cognitive development.
Technical expertise channeled to improve lives
The idea to save and change the lives of pre-term babies and neonates in need of intensive care was born in 2008. Professor Bambang Oetomo had the idea for a skin-friendly and wireless belt in combination with dry electrodes to provide extensive monitoring to grant quicker intervention when needed. He sought cooperation with Freudenberg Medical to contribute their experience in material, technology and production.
Freudenberg Medical supported the idea also with the development of special tools for the manual production of the Bambi Belt in four sizes. 13 years passed from the moment of the initial idea until the first successful clinical trials began, one of them in the renowned Amsterdam University Hospital.
The results proved that the Bambi Belt protects the skin of the baby better than adhesive electrodes while supplying the staff with reliable data of the infant’s vital signs. And one can only assume what a difference the Bambi Belt will make to the emotional health of babies and parents.
The Bambi Belt by Freudenberg Medical
As part of the Freudenberg Group, Freudenberg Medical brings innovation to the medical landscape all over the world. Our 11 manufacturing sites and almost 2,500 associates promote progress in healthcare.
What makes us unique?
- Leading global solution provider for selected market segments in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries. Advanced proprietary designs, processes, and platforms, along with a focus on materials expertise, pioneering technologies, and operational excellence. Values-based company focused on developing highly skilled associates who always put the customer first.
- Products and services meet the highest quality standards for the health and safety of patients. Long-term orientation and financial stability
- Vertical integration: One-stop-shop from components to finished devices, from ideation to mass manufacturing