The Zaky HUG - Instructional Videos for the NICU, PICU and units with babies and small children

February 7, 2019

"Relax, because if you relax it will hurt less" says every doctor or nurse doing a painful procedure to an adult. How do you relax a baby?

The Zaky HUG is a non-pharmacologic aid for pain management (see publication about pain indicators) and is the best device that assists with self-regulation and the only one with positive results in clinical trials (see the randomized control trial for self-regulatory behaviours and apnea/bradycardia). Babies need to sleep to develop the physical, physiological, neurological, and psychological development.

The Zaky HUG is the only ergonomic and evidence-based device designed to provide a safe and proper position for family integrated developmental care.

Since 2001 it has been used in hospital units with babies and small children and then at home. Designed by the mother of Zachary and has a Ph.D. in ergonomics and human factors engineering.

Easy to learn and to use: Nurse educators love our The Zaky HUG as it is very intuitive, it reduces errors, and improves satisfaction of families and staff. Position the baby with your own hands and use The Zaky HUG to keep the position and continue proper posture.
Proper positioning is easy and effective to support proper musculoskeletal development in prone, supine, and side-lying. From a firm bolster (hold the Zaky HUG vertically and fold the empty hand to achieve a firm roll), to displacing the beads from the hand for just a few grams of weight to place over VLBW babies.
Attachment/Bonding - parents scent them by placing them on the chest or behind the neck to impregnate The Zaky HUG with their scent.
Containment and boundaries: Soothing containment all around the baby. Rule of thumb, only place 10-15% of the weight of the baby over the body. With the Zaky HUG the filling is displaced to achieve the appropriate weight.
As a transport aid, The Zaky HUG helps babies remain calm while safely transporting the baby from room to room, from the incubator to an open crib, in any hospital unit, and once they are discharged.
Family Integrated Care: It is the perfect support to parents as they learn about developmental care and family integrated care. With training, they soon become very proficient positioning the baby lovingly and with patience.
Help Kangaroo with The Zaky HUG: place The Zaky HUG behind the neck to help stabilize the neck of the parent, and to scent and warm The Zaky HUG to leave with the baby after the session ends. It assists the parent/child separate from each other.