Being pregnant is a life-altering experience. For the would-be fathers however, the early part of the pregnancy is much less concrete than for the woman carrying the baby. There are no obvious physical manifestations, no kicks to feel on the stomach. So mothers carrying the baby often feel a bit alone in their pregnancy, they’re not able to share the experience with their partners, as they would like to.

Historically would-be dads become more aware as the baby’s activities become more apparent, kicks you can feel, movement. When fetal ultrasounds became widely used 1970s things changed. Ultrasound pictures made parenthood more tangible, more concrete and as a result would-be dads became more involved earlier than before in the pregnancy. We can thank technology for this positive change of behaviour.

Shared pregnancies lead to better relationship, happier couples, more secure mothers and safer and less complicated deliveries. In short it is better for everyone involved including babies.

Sweden is the most gender equal country in the world, providing Swedish parents with the worlds longest parental leave for both mothers and fathers. Despite this the discourse in Sweden is how we can become an even more progressive country regarding parenting, parenthood and children’s upbringing. Swedes are tech-savvy and generally adopt early to technical innovations. The wearable trend is omnipresent but has still hasn’t penetrated the broader masses in general usage.

BabyBuzz is in alpha stage and is now being tested in groups of first-time mothers and their partners. The reception has been overwhelming and BabyBuzz is now heading for the next stage; research on how to convert the bulky prototype into a readily available commercial product.

Libero had noticed discussions regarding lonely mothers during their pregnancy in The Libero Club, their customer club, where mothers asked on advice on how to get their partners to participate more in the pregnancy. This is the problem BabyBuzz addresses. The challenge was to find a way for the pregnancy to become a more shared experience through the use of simple technology and readily available tools. The solution was to build a prototype of a single purpose wearable (a wrist-band) that lets the mother “buzz” the father when she feels the baby move. The wristband uses a Bluetooth link-up to a smartphone that connects the same way on the other end to the receiving wristband. The prototype does two things: 1. It reduces the need for proximity, giving the father a concrete reminder of the baby to come. 2. It gives him a “signal” to his surrounding that he’s to become a father, as there is none today.

BabyBuzz ambition is to bring soon to be fathers into the pregnancy earlier and thus strengthen the bond between couples and their step into parenthood. From a business-perspective, BabyBuzz makes Libero relevant before the baby is born (when consumers actually start to buy Libero products) and build loyalty to the Libero paving way for future sales.

Libero is all about “helping parents” and they do so in numerous ways, from producing premium baby-diapers and baby-care products to distribution of child knowledge and parent support.

BabyBuzz uses existing technology, wearable tech plus Bluetooth and smartphone connectivity in a new way. The complexity is mainly to produce an intuitive simple product that enhances an existing behaviour.

The next phase is to make BabyBuzz a cheap enough product for the many. All pregnancies would benefit from BabyBuzz, all babies born and all relationships involved.

The long term ambition is to make as many pregnancies possible less lonely for the mothers, create “fathers earlier” and thus creating better relationship, happier couples, more secure mothers and safer and less complicated deliveries. Commercially the product is expected to finance itself giving the Libero brand a boost and recruit customers to the Libero brand and product line.

Within the first two months since we started the project we have received a great response in all the Nordic countries. The quality of the responses and target affinity are even beyond our very high expectations and shows that there is a real need amongst expectant couples for a product like this from a trusted source like Libero. Nearly 700.000 views on YouTube, lots and lots of positive comments from expecting couples on the inititative and an estimated PR-value on 12 216 528 SEK.

At this stage 20 couples from The Libero Club have been able to try the BabyBuzz-prototype in order to give us feedback before we take the next step towards production.