“In a place very near, at a time very soon, there live the Hush Buddies, who glow like the moon. In quiet they live, with smiles all around, for their glow comes from silence, and dims when there’s sound…”
Those two insightful lines start the storybook tale of Hush Buddy, a sleep training program for toddlers. It features and introduces Whisper, a nightlight character that encourages toddlers to go to sleep quietly by dimming when it hears sound and brightening again with silence.
With the storybook’s help, children soon come to love Whisper. Hush Buddy smartly incorporates the child’s own imagination along with research-proven techniques and parental training.
“We’ve invented a device that lovingly helps reduce bedtime meltdowns by toddlers and gets them to go to sleep quickly and quietly, usually in just a night or two. That’s huge since well-rested toddlers become adults who are physically and cognitively healthier,” says Scott Hanson, former news reporter and now inventor and founder/president of Hush Buddy.
“The toddler years are a time when our brains are being bolted together during sleep. Sleep deprivation during those precious years has all kinds of impact, from diabetes to behavior issues, even obesity. Just imagine if we can put a dent in attention issues or help families with autistic children. We get really excited about the long term and lifelong implications of better sleep.”
Scott and his COO/engineer partner, Edward Danyo, are both fathers who intimately understand the child sleep challenge. Scott is the father of twins and Ed has two children, including one with a diagnosed sleep disorder. But Scott says the initial concept was planted years before, followed by one, ahem, sleepless night of motivation.
“A news story I did several years ago had stuck with me. I interviewed a doctor who said that two things motivate young kids to sleep: light and keeping the door closed. Last year while staying with family in a house with paper thin walls, my two-year-old nephew in the next room had a meltdown at 3:30 in the morning. Come to find out, he does this every night.”
So the “light bulb” went off. Or on, depending on how you look at it.
“It came to me that kids want more light in their room, not less. So Hush Buddy dims when they make sound and lights back up when the room is quiet. Just the opposite of what you might expect. When I started researching it, I just knew it was going to work – and then the studies on pediatric sleep backed it up. That’s when I got excited!”
Dr. Craig Canapari, head of the Yale Pediatric Sleep Center, provided valuable insight into the science behind what Hush Buddy set out to do. In addition to validating the light cue, Dr. Canapari suggested they needed a character the child could bond with and a story to capture their imagination. So Scott put his journalistic skills to task, writing the accompanying storybook in a weekend. But illustrating a product that was not yet in production was another hurdle.
“I came up with this placeholder design for the main character. When we did focus group feedback, it was favored 4:1 over the later professionally designed ideas. So we believed in ourselves and stayed with the original design. It is a simple character. Kids’ imagination does the rest.
And the storybook sets up cause and effect, so they get it. Noise means less light and quiet means light. Toddlers become attached to the character, just like they do a favorite toy or blanket. Whisper becomes a trusted friend.”
There are 10 million families with two-, three- and four-year-olds and 71 percent of those say they struggle with getting their child to sleep. More than half (58%) of those say they are likely to buy a product to help their child go to sleep.
Hush Buddy believes word of mouth marketing through Moms online is their best market. They identified the specific personas of five types of likely purchasers, targeting the top three Mom types most likely to buy.
The Raleigh, NC-based startup continues to progress along its identified timeline, which includes a planned crowdfunding campaign.
So “Hush little baby, don’t you cry” doesn’t have to be the frustration of today’s parents any longer. Hush Buddy’s storybook ending has a new beginning for that night-time routine.
Hush, Mommy, no need to cry. Sleep is coming!
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