I'm dictating this as I walk Amelia in the front-pack in an attempt to induce sleep. We thought we'd skipped the infamous "4-month regression", but a week after arriving in New Zealand, her predictable sleep patterns disappeared and now we have to get creative.

Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who shared mamacool with their friends. We found moms for every sample we brought back to New Zealand. We've just received the first feedback on our cesarean product, the BellyCool. It's been hard to find moms to test this product, because c-sections aren't usually predictable and post-c-section moms aren't exactly reading mamacool emails first thing after surgery.

Our good friend Helena, who's also an OB, had a beautiful baby by cesarean just before Christmas. After using our BellyCool, she suggested we could reduce the size of the incision channel, to bring cold closer to the wound and still provide adequate protection for the scar. She also thought the whole pack could be slightly thicker and still stay secured inside her clothes. A thicker pack stays colder for longer but also weighs more.

Dr Helena was also gifted an ice pack from one of our soon-to-be competitors. I'm not going to say which one she preferred, but here's a hint: it's the one that was designed by moms for moms. Not the generic white-labeled plastic ice pack with a logo slapped on.

Embarrassingly, because we gave out all the mamacools, I didn't actually keep any for myself. We've just been at a wedding in Wanaka, where I started to get a clogged duct, felt hot and feverish and was worried I might have mastitis. The small town pharmacies didn't have anything useful beyond ibuprofen, and same-day delivery doesn't exist in NZ. My only option was this plastic ice pack that was in the Airbnb freezer. It was a sad day. Never again.

Manufacturing update

Thankfully, we're a step closer to having an unlimited supply of mamacools. Our factory has completed the first molds for our CherryCool and PeachCool products and we've just received the samples. We had the samples made with different stiffness silicone, so we can figure out the perfect level of flexibility while maintaining the shape of the ice pack. We also got samples of our packaging. Both the samples and packaging are looking really good! It's starting to feel like a real product! We're about to pull the trigger on our first bulk order. I'll share details in the next email (including lead times, finding manufacturers, cost etc).

As well as the ice pack we have also made progress on the freezer bags. These help keep your mamacool products clean and separated from the other items in your freezer. We've got samples from 3 different suppliers and also ordered some unbranded bags on AliExpress. We are leaning towards embroidered logos because they are more durable and, in my opinion, have a more premium feel to them. But we're unsure how they'll handle the moisture, temperature and friction from other things in the freezer vs printed logos, so we'll do some testing.

Regulatory update

Our FDA regulatory review came back! The good news is our consultant confirmed we're Class I, which means we can skip the dreaded 510(k) process. The less good news? For $7K USD, we got a report that was about as useful as that sad plastic ice pack from the Airbnb freezer. Approximately 60-70% of the report was verbatim copy-paste from the Code of Federal Regulations (a government rulebook that's freely available online). Jack sent a strongly worded email. I'll let you know the outcome.

Mombassadors update

It's official. No one liked the term "Mombassadors". Thankfully, we've had plenty of other suggestions from the last email so we'll mull them over and let you know what we decide to call our early adopter mom group.

Ask for help

We've started reviewing candidates for our video editor position. We're yet to find the perfect team member so if you do know anyone who has video editing aspirations, please put us in touch. Bonus points if they are a mom.

Till next time,

Soph and Jack

PS Here's me in the Ashburton Library's recording studio, recording voiceovers for our video content.