Local mothers' baby products gain steam from here to Hollywood
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From left, Cindy Schaab, Kristen Napoleon, Jenn Daley and Elizabeth Rychcik formed a company to make baby products in 2005, starting with a baby bathtub with continually refreshing water. The fifth mom is Erin Rimmel, not pictured. -
The company's mamaRoo baby bouncer was designed based on observations of the movements of parents holding and soothing their infants. -
The mamaRoo from 4Moms soothes babies by imitating a mother's movements. The five mothers behind 4Moms came up with the idea because they didn't like vibrating bouncy seats.
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Like most new moms, Mt. Lebanon's Jenn Daley and her friends spent time in those sleepless and harried early baby days griping about some of their infant products.
The infant bathtub: "Your baby sits in dirty, cold water." The vibrating bouncer: "Nobody vibrates their child." And strollers: "Something has got to be done about strollers."
But unlike most new moms, Mrs. Daley and her friends have done something about it. The women are now the face of a company called 4Moms, based in the Strip District, whose products have drawn a following from Pittsburgh to Hollywood.
The company began in 2005. Mrs. Daley's husband, Rob Daley, was in the process of starting a business with his partner, Henry Thorne, but the product that they were developing wasn't panning out.
So Mr. Daley's business, called Thorley Industries, instead starting working on the baby bathtub that met the dreams of his wife and her friends -- one that would constantly test the water temperature and circulate clean water.
Although the company is called 4Moms, there are actually five moms involved (the marketing team thought 4Moms sounded better -- one mom goes by "stealth mom") with 15 children among them, now ages 4 to 12. In addition to Mrs. Daley, the other moms -- a couple of whom have known each other since middle school -- are Elizabeth Rychcik, Kristen Napoleon and Erin Rimmel, all of Mt. Lebanon; and Cindy Schaab of Scott.
Their years of friendship show as they gathered one recent morning at the Galleria in Mt. Lebanon, giggling and taking goofy cell phone pictures of each other.
By May 2006, the bathtub -- designed by several Carnegie Mellon University engineers -- was ready for its debut at the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association's trade show, the must-see event for retailers of baby products.
The verdict: "People went crazy for it," said Mrs. Daley, 41.
The Cleanwater Infant Tub now sells for about $40 at stores ranging from small boutiques to Babies R Us and Target.
First Published March 30, 2011 12:00 am
