The Tummy Shield serves two primary purposes:
- Many moms, especially later in the pregnancy, find the seat belt very uncomfortable to wear. Some find it so uncomfortable and so intrusive into their pregnant abdomen, they choose to “play the odds” and not wear the seat belt at all. The Tummy Shield™ makes wearing the seat belt more comfortable by taking the seat belt off the growing abdomen.
- The Tummy Shield™ makes driving while pregnant safer. It is designed to take the crash or sudden breaking energy that would normally load the upper pelvis and lower abdomen and redirect it to the thighs and lower pelvis area completely eliminating the possibility of the lap portion of the seat belt causing injury to the fetus, uterus, placenta or the placenta/uterine interface.
There are several studies that have been done which demonstrate that even a “properly positioned” seat belt can do harm to mom and/or fetus.
Remember race car drivers and children’s car seat manufacturers utilize multiple points of anchoring to the vehicle over and above the 3 points offered by a conventional 3-point “lap and shoulder” belt found in most motor vehicles today. This is referred to as the “harness system.” It uses the strongest parts of the body, pelvis and shoulder, to avoid causing internal injuries to soft tissues.
The Tummy Shield™ utilizes this same principle to protect the growing fetus in the mother’s uterus during the gestational period. The Tummy Shield™ simply converts any three point lap and shoulder belt into a harness system hence protecting the fetus from the pressure/energy of the seat belt on the tummy during a crash or sudden braking.
The Tummy Shield™ is the earliest first step in keeping children safe from the inherent dangers of living in today’s motorized world. Seat belts, as originally designed and traditionally used, are intended to keep mom safe and by default, keep baby safe.
The unfortunate reality is that even though mom’s who wear seat belts are more likely to be uninjured in a statistically “typical” crash, there is evidence that the seat belt is in-fact contributing to certain types of injuries to mom and baby. According to U.S. National Library of Medicine, “Automobile crashes are the largest single cause of death for pregnant women and the leading cause of traumatic fetal injury mortality in the United States.”
