Empowering Neonatal Therapists with Innovation, Safety, and Love

💛 Evidence-based tools designed by a NICU mom and PhD engineer—to support your hands, your heart, and your mission from day one.

I’m Zach’s mom—and an engineer with a PhD in ergonomics and safety.

Zach was born in Houston, Texas at just 28 weeks on May 15, 2001. We spent five intense months in two NICUs, including surviving a blackout and emergency evacuation. Amid the uncertainty, I made a quiet promise: his pain would not be in vain.

Neonatal therapists like you held us together—with your hands, your hearts, and your extraordinary skill. You gave us hope, healing, and the chance for a future.

I created The Zaky HUG® so Zach could feel my presence when I had to leave. I wanted to reduce the risk of him associating touch with pain or growing up with an aversion to human contact, like many preemies do. A nurse saw its impact and asked for more—and that moment sparked our mission.

We refined The Zaky HUG® to be as gentle, consistent, and intentional as your care. To further support safe, sustainable kangaroo care, I also:

• Engineered The Zaky ZAK® – a patented skin-to-skin wrap for safety, access, and proper positioning.

• Founded Kangaroo Care Day (May 15) – a global movement to raise awareness and advocate for safe, evidence-based practice.

• Created The Zaky APP – a platform to track, analyze, and “count what counts” in kangaroo care.

Today, Zach is a thriving young entrepreneur—still the heart behind everything I do.

We envision a world where every baby receives trauma-informed, loving, and developmentally supportive care from the very beginning—and where you are equipped with tools to carry out that mission with intention and ease.

You’re not just a therapist. You are a lifeline.

Let The Zaky® be your right (and left) hand—supporting your hands, your heart, and your healing mission.

Together, we change lives—one touch, one baby, one family, and one therapist at a time.

With deep gratitude,

Yamile Jackson, PhD, PE, PMP

Zach’s mom | Engineer behind The Zaky®

CEO, Nurtured by Design | Founder, Kangaroo Care Day (May 15)

Empowering Neonatal Therapists with Trauma-Informed Tools That Make a Difference

As a neonatal therapist, you play a vital role in nurturing and protecting fragile infants and their families.

The Zaky® was created with your goals in mind—to support neuroprotection, trauma-informed care, and family involvement through safe, ergonomic, and developmentally supportive tools.

With The Zaky®, you can:

  • Enhance neuroprotective outcomes
  • Provide trauma-informed, individualized care
  • Support self-regulation, pain relief, and sleep
  • Promote parental involvement and bonding
  • Ensure continuity across therapy and caregiving teams
  • Provide first-line, nonpharmacologic care for NAS

Explore how The Zaky® can elevate your practice and help babies thrive.

🔶 Products Engineered for Hands-On Therapy

Providing safe, developmentally appropriate care for every baby, in every condition, at every stage—from admission through discharge and into life at home.

  • 🟣 The Zaky HUG®

    - One universal weight and size provides individualized care for every baby from admission to discharge - multiuse!

    - An ergonomic, scentable hand designed to provide gentle containment, comfort, and continuity of care.

    - Enhances self-regulation, sleep, and co-regulation between sessions.

    - Supports family bonding—especially during separation.

    CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION, EVIDENCE, VIDEOS, ETC.->

  • 🟠 The Zaky ZAK®

    The only evidence-based kangaroo care device that supports babies 1–15 lbs.

    Promotes safe, aligned skin-to-skin contact during therapy, even with tubes, lines, and monitors.

    Allows quiet access for interventions without disturbing the baby.

    Supports breastfeeding, pumping during kangaroo care.

    Ideas to fund it: Go to the Patient Safety Department in your hospital and explain that parents may fall asleep during kangaroo care and you have a solution that is very inexpensive (less than $100/baby for their entire stay). Here is what you should share which includes the cost explanation of $50k per unplanned extubation.

    or

    CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION, EVIDENCE, VIDEOS ->

  • 🔵 The Zaky APP

    - Encourages parental involvement and improves family-integrated care

    - Empowers families to log kangaroo care sessions, breastfeeding, milestones, and journal observations.

    - NICU teams can use the kangaroo care data for quality improvement, kangaroo-a-thons, and family-integrated care planning.

    MORE INFO->

🧠 Built for the Way You Care

As a neonatal therapist, your hands are essential in helping babies develop, self-regulate, and connect with their families. The Zaky® products are engineered to extend your care—even when you’re not at the bedside. Whether supporting skin-to-skin therapy, calming a distressed baby, or helping families bond through separation, The Zaky® empowers your practice every step of the way.

🤝 We Believe Therapy Begins at Birth

Babies deserve access to trauma-informed, developmentally supportive therapy from day one—and so do you. The Zaky® exists to bridge the gap between clinical care and emotional connection, supporting your role as a therapist, educator, and advocate.

Whether you’re caring for a micro-preemie or preparing a baby for discharge, The Zaky® is designed to adapt to your evolving care goals.

🎉 Kangaroo Care Awareness Day (May 15)!

✅ Wear Green to Celebrate Kangaroo Care Day on May 15 – Get Your Free Limited-Edition T-Shirt!

If you didn't get your special green t-shirt featuring this year’s Kangaroo Care Day theme: “In my arms, you thrive.” you can still get yours.

Send a photo to info@kangaroo.care (by sending it, you confirm we have permission to share it) showing:

--A group photo or a photo of yourself celebrating past Kangaroo Care Days (not just decorations) or someone in a kangaroo costume from your NICU.

First come, first served—while supplies last.

Visit www.kangaroo.care

Here are some photos from our booth at NANT15

How Our Risk-Free Trial Works

This is a great time to trial The Zaky and use them for your Kangaroo Care Day Celebrations on or around May 15 - Risk Free.

OUR COMMITMENT: If The Zaky does not improve your kangaroo care duration, safety, and satisfaction of parents and staff, return them and we void the invoice.