Baby Drool Champ Drives Mom to Invention

Little Jacob in the original Baby Chaleco prototype

It started with a new baby boy who had a special "talent"...

Hi I'm Carol Schiller, the chief Mama here at Baby Chaleco. People often ask me how I came up with the idea for Baby Chaleco, a waterproof garment that eliminates all the frustrations of using ordinary baby bibs. The answer is easy: DESPERATION.

My third child, Jacob, was born a champion spitter-upper and graduated to become an Olympic drooler. He was wetting his shirts within minutes, so I was changing him constantly - going through bibs and outfits galore per day. So, with two little kids already, I had now given birth to a nuclear-powered laundry generator.

Desperate times call for desperate measures

Increasingly exasperated, I tried every bib in the market from the cheapie ten-packs at discounters to the high-end terry ones at fancy department stores. I searched the internet high and low. NOTHING WORKED.

The lighter velcro ones, he mainly yanked off. The sturdier velcro ones tended to shift around and stick to everything in my laundry. The fabric ones soaked through in minutes. The plastic ones - ick!  I felt like Goldilocks, trying each new item with something always not quite right. And always, no matter how nice the fabric, they just weren't as cute as real clothes.

So, I did what every mom does, I asked other moms! I soon discovered that I was not alone in my frustration. My friend Cindy's son was a big drooler too. She told me, "I remember I used to have a huge pile of bibs, Maybe 30 or 40. The laundry was crazy!"

My friend Deanne told me, her son wore a bib for nearly two years. Her comment? "It really ruins the outfit." Yep. But there was no solution.

Pretty soon I started fantasizing about what I wished I had: something totally soakproof that couldn't be yanked off, wouldn't move around, and didn't need to be changed every 15 minutes. Not an ugly bib covering his clothes, but a stylish little vest or top that was so waterproof it could be worn for hours and hours.

A solution began to emerge

As a mom living the problem,I knew the results I wanted, so I started working on the features that would deliver them. I spent months traveling to fabric shows, researching baby-safe options that were waterproof and learning about which cottons were most absorbent.

I experimented with different body shapes for different uses. I added cap sleeves for spitters, a snap-in-the-back style for easy on/off at meals. I gave samples to friends to try on their babies and test, test, test.

When it came to fit, all that testing showed it was better to have two snaps at the neckline, not one, because when it comes to babies necks, one size does not fit most! Every detail was tried on real babies including my son, and every fabric was used and re-used, washed and re-washed repeatedly, to be sure every aspect of the garment would stand up.

A happy ending

As a full-time mom to three kids, it was a big challenge. There were many late nights of research after the kids went to bed. But after months of trial and error, the line finally came together, and I now offer six basic shapes in a variety of stylish designs.

I knew I really had something when even my skeptical-of-all-baby-gadgets husband started asking for them when dressing Jacob in the morning. I am so pleased to be able to offer this solution to other parents and I hope your family will try them and find them as useful as we do.

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