Handy Burpee - How it all started... 

 

My name is Sheila McGoldrick - I am the mother of three WONDERFUL children, Tyler & Brody and our newest addition as of September 11, 2007, Laney Paige!!! It is because my children and their horrible acid reflux like symptoms that I started the awesome journey toward inventing the Handy Burpee^TM. My fun-loving husband, Wayne, is my "down to earth" partner in this business.

It all started in 2002 about 4 months after the birth of our oldest son Tyler. My hands were continuously broken open and blistered. I had no idea why, but I knew that when Tyler (and later Brody) spit up on me, I would cry when I washed my hands because of the burning. Tyler was a terrible spitter and I thought for sure he had acid reflux, but he was never diagnosed with having acid reflux condition. My regular doctor diagnosed my skin condition as severely dry winter skin all year round, but I knew that could not be the answer. I did everything that involved getting my hands wet, with gloves on my hands so the burning was not so severe. I wore gloves for bath time, burping, diaper changing, etc. At night I would put medicine or bag balm ointment on my hands and wear socks over them to help them heal. Middle of the night feedings were pretty tough.

My skin condition went on for 2 years until a friend of mine suggested I see an allergist. Tyler's acid reflux symptoms did eventually stop, but my hands were still badly blistered and broke open. My Dr. determined that I was allergic to a preservative found in most of their toiletries (body washes and wipes), which was causing my hands to break open and blister. The acidic nature of spit up was acting like salt in a wound and making it much worse.

One day, in the middle of burping Brody who also had the same acid reflux symptoms involving spit up, it hit me like a brick. In my mind I pictured a baby burp cloth (Handy Burpee^TM) that would protect my blistered hands from horrible acid reflux like spit up. Since I had never seen anything like it, I knew I needed to make this burp cloth to relieve the terrible pain I was in.

The Handy Burpee^TM worked great! I never got spit up on my hands again. It saved me time because I didn't have to wash my hands off during feedings, and it saved Brody from the aggravation of having to wait for his bottle while I washed my hands. A bonus was how much less laundry I had to do since he wasn't covering 4 outfits a day in spit up! I am telling you, I don't know how they were not diagnosed with having acid reflux or even an allergy to their formula. It was horrible.

I donated 3 Handy Burpees^TM to my local hospital's nursery department. After one week, I went back to get their opinion and they said "we LOVE Handy Burpee" because they worked so great! I donated over 40 Handy Burpees^TM to organizations, OBGyn offices, stork baskets, parents of babies with acid reflux, parents of babies with disabilities, parents of multiples, and parents in need of something better. The feedback was always the same - they loved Handy Burpee^TM!

I have had mothers with babies that were actually diagnosed with having the acid reflux condition, including the terrible spit up problem, try my Handy Burpees and they absolutely LOVED them. Of course it did not stop the acid reflux problem, that is up to the Dr.'s or baby to just grow out of, BUT it helped in such a way that made each burping session with baby a whole lot easier to deal with and clean up. When you are already stressed about the acid reflux situation, it is nice to know that there is a product that is a perfect fit for a condition like acid reflux that can take some time to diminish. It truly is a HANDY burp cloth to have around with ANY baby whether diagnosed with having acid reflux or not. Regular spit up is not fun to wear either.

Reflux occurs during the first three months of age in more than half of all infants. Many babies don't require treatment, but can last up to 18 months or longer if baby is diagnosed with acid reflux or GERD.