Tania says she knows about the dangers of co-sleeping _ a cousin's baby died while bed- sharing and she says mothers get pretty tired with the rigorous regime of a baby wearing them out.
When 12-year-old daughter Gracen was being breast-fed, sometimes Tania fell asleep with baby in bed, she says.
"They wake up in the night to be breast fed and burped and that can be quite arduous. There were times I'd find myself dozing off. It's much simpler to feed Jovi and burp him and just pop him back in his pepi-pod to sleep safely.''
If Jovi is a little unsettled, she can rock him to sleep snuggled up in the pod and put him down without interrupting or waking him, Tania says.
``It's just so versatile. I can take him to work and to see family and friends.''
She jokingly says it's a multi-use piece of furniture.
``You can even use it as a bath or a tackle box in the future, Michael reckons. Jokes aside, it's definitely multi- purpose ... we don't have to take the whole house when we go anywhere now.''
Tania believes every mother of a new-born should be given one to help reduce the needless deaths of about 60 Kiwi babies every year.
``It's such a huge benefit.''
The pepi-pods can be used until a baby is six-months-old.
Tania plans to pass her one on to other whanau (family) members who have babies in the future.
``It's just fantastic,'' she says.
Rotorua midwife Gwen Baars, baby care SCBU nurse Jeanette Peacock and Lorraine Anderson run the pepi-pod programme at Rotorua Hospital.
Gwen says they are offered to parents of babies born premature, of low birth weight, of Maori descent or born to parents who smoke, but have to commit to stop smoking.
Research shows 80 per cent of babies who die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) are Maori and 80 per cent had parents who smoked.
The aim of the campaign is to reduce the number of sudden infant deaths while sleeping.
When she started working in Rotorua a decade ago about 250 babies a year were dying needlessly but as result of education and awareness, the number has reduced drastically, Gwen says.
About 26 babies each year in the region die in their sleep.
``We have 26 babies' grieving families out there every year.''
She is an avid advocate of putting baby down face up, clear of blankets and toys, and living in smoke-free environments.
``We hope to reduce that number ... In the 1990s we were losing our babies by the hundreds but we are more aware of placing baby on their back with face clear now. We will still have some babies who will perish that don't need to. We will still have the true unexplained SIDS deaths.''
The midwife wants to see every mother receive one, but for now, they only have funding to provide 100 of the pepi-pods. Change For Our Children has provided the plastic pods, which are lined and given to parents with a covered mattress, sheet set, swaddling cloths and a merino blanket. Maori woven pepi-pods are available for parents to buy and Gwen hopes those who can weave will get behind their families and start making them to be handed down for whanau to make use off.
``I'd like to see our grandparents weaving these baskets and handing them on for families to use.''
Rotorua coroner Dr Wallace Bain is stoked to hear of the campaign, stating it will result in a drastic drop in co-sleeping deaths.
``This is going to go a long way towards preventing any co-sleeping deaths of our babies if not eliminating it totally. I'm rapt about this. It's a positive move.''
