Vigil: Safer infant holding in the NICU

Problem:

Mothers recovering from opioid use disorder (OUD) often face an impossible balance in the NICU: remaining fully alert while holding and bonding with their medically fragile infant, despite exhaustion and medications that can cause drowsiness. Skin-to-skin holding is critical for infant development and parent bonding, yet mothers with OUD frequently experience these moments under intense scrutiny and fear of judgment. Nurses must simultaneously protect infant safety while preserving maternal dignity, creating a complex emotional and clinical challenge with few supportive tools designed specifically for this experience.

Solution:

Vigil is a wrist-worn safety support system designed to help mothers safely hold their infants in the NICU without increasing shame, surveillance, or disruption to bonding. The system quietly monitors physiological signs associated with drowsiness and provides gentle haptic alerts to help mothers stay awake during holding sessions. At the same time, a connected nurse-facing application provides real-time insights and tiered safety notifications to support timely intervention when needed. Designed through a human-centered and trauma-informed lens, Vigil reframes monitoring as partnership by protecting infant safety while preserving trust, autonomy, and emotional connection between parent and child.

Click below to see the click-through nurse-facing mobile app and the mother-facing Apple watch app.