100 Days of Kangaroo Care : A Virtual Event

Love for Lily is grateful to be partnering with the Zaky Company to brung you 100 days of Kangaroo Care.

In partnership with The Zaky Company, our goal is to bring awareness to the importance of Kangaroo (skin to skin) Care for premature babies. We will be bringing 100 days of stories, products, pictures, videos and fun that will culminate on May 15th for National Kangaroo Awareness Day! During our 100 days, Love for Lily will be providing families a personal Zaky Zak so that they can more confidently and safely snuggle with their babies.

Starting today, we are launching Gift a Zaky! The Zaky Company will be donating 10% of all sales of the Zaky Zak for Love for Lily between February and May back to Love for Lily. If you would like to purchase a Zaky Zak for a family in the NICU please see the link below. You will be giving a family the gift of touch while helping continue Love for Lily’s mission to Empower, Support and Connect!

https://thezaky.com/products/the-zaky-zak-for-love-for-lily

For families currently in the NICU, the Zaky company has created a free app you can download to help you keep track of your Kangaroo hours easily. Over the next 100 days, we might even have some fun competitions so download the app and let’s kangaroo together!

http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07ehgictk9kiki9u2p/a011fkko7364e/questions

Love for Lily is not only partnering with the Zaky Company because their products help support NICU families Yamile Jackson, the founder and engineer behind the Zaky Company, is also a NICU mama herself. Her son Zachary, the inspiration behind the Zaky Zak, was born at 28 weeks and has an incredible story.

Our touch turned struggle into possibilities.
When Larry and I welcomed our son Zachary, life changed. I felt impotent every night that I had to leave the hospital. A nurse told me that NICU babies may grow with an aversion to touch and I could not imagine providing Zach a life without enjoying human touch. I touched and held Zachary as much as I could to teach him that not all touch was followed by pain.
Zach weighed a bit over 2 pounds when Tropical Storm Allison hit Houston, TX leaving the hospital and life-support equipment powerless. We helped keep Zach alive “by touch” for 9 hours until he was evacuated to another hospital. I held him skin to skin and Larry received a crash course on bagging. He and the nurses took turns giving him breaths. In those dark hours I promised Zachary that his pain and struggle to survive were not going to be in vain and we are still true to that promise.

Zachary was also in the NICU during the September 11 attacks and now he graduated from high school during a pandemic.

I used my 4 engineering degrees and my newly found maternal instinct to allow us to be together even when we weren’t. The staff used the first version of The Zaky HUG as a tool to provide neuroprotection care when I was not holding him skin to skin and we left our scent. Against all odds, Zach survived and thrived and now is an engineering student. We also grew our bond and attachment for a lifetime.

Kangaroo Care saved Zachary’s life and it changed mine. I slept with Zachary during Kangaroo Care and what it meant to me made me design The Zaky ZAK. Three years of engineering design ensure that, when used according to our instructions, The Zaky ZAK will keep the baby safe in the event that the parent falls asleep. By providing safety, comfort, and quiet and easy access at all times for breastfeeding and interventions, then the kangaroo care sessions are prolonged during Delivery, C-Section, Post Partum, NICU, PICU, etc.
Research proves our intuition right. Touch changes everything: from a newborn’s brain to an adult’s heart.
I started Nurtured by Design, on behalf of Zachary, to apply ergonomics, safety, and risk management engineering to research and develop devices that empower babies and parents to thrive like we did.

I invite you to unwrap what our journey made possible: The Zaky system for 24/7 loving and transforming touch and sensorial experiences based on clinical evidence and a great dose of Parent/Child intervention for the best possible neuroprotective care.

The Zaky HUG is ergonomically crafted for calmness, sleep and neuroprotective care, and it absorbs your scent extending the power of your senses.

The Zaky ZAK for safe, comfortable, and prolonged skin to skin contact/kangaroo care. Used from birth, in any hospital unit, then at home.

The Zaky ZEN is our wellness line and organic/natural skin care line for babies and those who love them.

The story of our brand is the story of our family. I invite you to be part of it.
— Yamile

Yamile Jackson, PhD, PE, PMP
Zachary’s mom
CEO, Nurtured by Design
PhD Ergonomics and Safety Engineering
Licensed Professional Engineer in Texas
Certified Project Management Professional
Certified Professional Kangaroo Caregiver