By B.C. Manion
Shawn Campbell can relate to the old saying that “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
The Lutz man was inspired by a problem that popped up when his youngest son, Owen, was about 21 months old.
The toddler had discovered how to take off his diaper — unfortunately, the little boy was not yet potty trained, so he was leaving big messes all over the house.
It was not a happy development.
Campbell was at his wit’s end trying to solve the problem.
“I went online and I couldn’t find anything,” he said.
He looked for companies and checked mommy blogs to see if there was a product that could help him solve his dilemma.
The only suggestion he found was duct tape.
He used it, but getting the duct tape off of the diaper turned out to be a different kind of problem. He could cut the tape off, but he was concerned about using scissors so close to his squirming son.
So, he came up with his own solution. He calls it the Diaper Belt.
The belt has Velcro backing that adheres to the diaper.
It’s easy to use. It is simply wrapped around the baby’s diaper. It covers the diaper’s release tabs at the front of the diaper, so that a child can’t take off his diaper. It has a release tab at the back, so parents can take off the belt and use it again.
Owen was potty-trained shortly after he began wearing a Diaper Belt, Campbell said.
He credits his invention for helping to shorten the time it took to potty train his son.
Instead of taking his diaper off when he wanted to go and then going wherever he wanted, Owen would approach Campbell, or his wife, Caroline, to have one of them take off his diaper so he could go to the bathroom.
They would then use that opportunity to give Owen additional potty training.
Campbell has submitted a patent for his Diaper Belt, and he envisions a day when the product, bearing a picture of his son, will be sold in the diaper aisle in retail outlets throughout the world.
He makes this pitch for his product on his website: “Stop the madness. Stop the messes. Stop using duct tape.”
The Diaper Belt comes in pink or blue and sells for $4.95 each.
Campbell hopes to reduce the price to $2.95 at some point, but needs volume sales to do that.
He’s pleased with the fact that he has taken his idea and turned it into a product, but he still has a long way to go to make his venture a success.
He’s still looking for investors and for major retail outlets to stock the Diaper Belt.
Despite the many challenges, Campbell is confident.
“I know there are millions of parents with the same problem out there. It’s a simple solution to a common problem.”
For more information about Campbell’s invention go to www.diaperbelt.com or call Campbell at (813) 765-0004.
