The EMBER for Mothers model (Engaging/Empowering Mothers for Breastfeeding Equity & Resilience) recognizes the profound impact that safety, emotional stability, and connection have on both parents and infants—especially in the NICU, mother–baby units, and high-risk perinatal settings. Nurse managers play a central role in creating environments that minimize trauma, strengthen parent–infant bonding, promote breastfeeding equity, and improve clinical outcomes.
This is where The Zaky® Experience—The Zaky HUG® and The Zaky ZAK®—integrates seamlessly with EMBER. Designed by a NICU mother and engineered with the rigor and trauma-informed principles of an ergonomics and safety expert, The Zaky Experience offers consistent, developmentally protective, and emotionally supportive care that honors the parent as the infant’s primary source of safety and connection.
Why The Zaky® Aligns Naturally With EMBER
EMBER prioritizes:
- Emotional stability
- Trauma-informed practice
- Equitable access to breastfeeding
- Parent engagement
- Physiologic stability
- Continuity across shifts
The Zaky HUG and ZAK reinforce each of these priorities by establishing a stable, nurturing, and responsive environment that elevates developmental care and parent–infant connection.
1. Trauma-Informed Emotional Stability
The Zaky HUG®
The Zaky HUG provides a warm, reassuring, and stable presence that remains with the infant when parents cannot. Its design fosters regulation, calm, and restorative sleep. By incorporating the parent’s scent, the HUG promotes attachment, emotional grounding, and familiarity—key components of trauma-informed developmental care.
The Zaky ZAK®
The Zaky ZAK enables safe, sustained Skin-to-Skin (Kangaroo) Care, one of the most powerful trauma-modulating interventions in perinatal care. It stabilizes posture, supports natural alignment, and maintains containment while giving clinicians quiet, immediate access for procedures. Parents gain confidence and agency, which strengthens their role and reduces the emotional burden associated with separation, fear, or uncertainty.
When emotional safety is reinforced, parents engage more fully in breastfeeding, bonding, and shared clinical decisions.
2. Advancing Breastfeeding Equity and Clinical Effectiveness
Breastfeeding success is a core EMBER priority.
The Zaky ZAK enhances breastfeeding and pumping by establishing an ergonomically optimal position during Kangaroo Care, reducing strain for the parent, and maintaining alignment and stability for the infant.
The Zaky HUG promotes energy conservation, regulation, and feeding readiness between sessions. This continuity is particularly important for families facing structural or logistical barriers such as transportation challenges, work constraints, or limited bedside availability.
Through sustained stability and connection, The Zaky Experience advances equitable lactation outcomes while supporting the clinical goals of EMBER.
3. Reducing Disparities Through Consistent, High-Quality Developmental Care
The Zaky system introduces a standardized, reliable approach to positioning and Kangaroo Care across all caregivers and shifts. Its universal design supports families of all backgrounds, body types, and abilities.
When parents cannot remain at bedside, The Zaky HUG maintains a nurturing environment that reduces disparities in bonding and developmental support.
For parents engaging in Kangaroo Care, The Zaky ZAK elevates inclusion, confidence, and participation—central to trauma-informed practice and EMBER’s emphasis on parental resilience.
4. Financial and Operational Advantages
Integrating The Zaky Experience into EMBER initiatives strengthens both clinical and operational outcomes.
Reduced Risk of Adverse Events
The Zaky ZAK stabilizes posture and reduces unsafe handling, lowering the incidence of costly events such as unplanned extubations.
Improved Breastfeeding Outcomes and Earlier Discharge
Kangaroo Care supported by the ZAK advances feeding performance, sleep cycles, growth, thermoregulation, and neuroprotection—all contributors to shorter lengths of stay.
Lower Nursing Workload
A calm, stable infant requires fewer interventions, less repositioning, and less time to settle, supporting staff efficiency and reducing cumulative workload.
Enhanced Quality Metrics
The Zaky system elevates:
- Exclusive breastfeeding rates
- Parent engagement and satisfaction
- Trauma-informed care indicators
- Neuroprotective developmental care
- Non-pharmacologic pain and stress modulation
Reduced Reliance on Disposable or Improvised Aids
The Zaky HUG replaces numerous inconsistent developmental care tools with one evidence-based, washable, durable device—strengthening infection-control practices and reducing long-term costs.
5. Seamless Integration Across EMBER’s Continuum of Care
The Zaky ZAK® provides:
- Safe Kangaroo Care from birth
- Support for breastfeeding and pumping
- Alignment for infants 1–15 lbs
- Stability for medically fragile infants
- Increased parental agency and confidence
- Interdisciplinary compatibility
The Zaky HUG® provides:
- Alignment and regulation between feeds
- Neuroprotective positioning
- Parent scent transfer
- Comfort during procedures
- Improved sleep quality
- Continuity for families with limited bedside availability
Together, they create a continuous, 24-hour therapeutic environment that reinforces stability and connection throughout the EMBER pathway.
The Zaky Experience: A Strategic Resource for EMBER-Aligned Units
EMBER elevates equity, parental resilience, physiologic stability, and trauma-informed care.
The Zaky HUG and ZAK were created to advance these exact goals.
- They reinforce emotional and physiologic stability.
- They promote breastfeeding success.
- They elevate developmental and trauma-informed care.
- They strengthen parent engagement.
- They reduce risk and operational strain.
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They provide consistency across shifts and caregivers.
For units seeking an evidence-based, trauma-informed, and financially responsible solution to advance EMBER implementation, The Zaky Experience is a high-value choice that transforms the clinical and emotional landscape of care.
contact us for more information.