Interview with Sita Carolina & Bree Tinecheff, Creators of the BeSwaddle

Mom’s Choice Awards is excited to announce another post in our interview series where we chat with the inventors, designers, publishers, and others behind some of our favorite family-friendly products.

Greetings, Mom’s Choice readers! Thanks for joining us for another installment of our interview series. We were privileged to speak with Mom’s Choice Award-winners, Sita Carolina & Bree Tinecheff, Director and Founder of Bebitza, makers of the MCA award-winning swaddle BeSwaddle. We hope you’ll read on to learn more about these ladies and their innovative baby swaddle!

MCA: Hi Sita & Bree! Thanks for taking the time to talk with us today! Can you start by sharing a little bit about yourselves and your company with our readers?

Sita: My name is Sita and I have had the pleasure of holding the position of Director for Bebitza as well as be the head of product development for some of our products. I grew up in an Asian household where we believe in simplicity. If it’s not functional, it’s not necessary. My first love was Ballet – here I learned to combine discipline and order with my artistic and creative side. From there, I fell into photography, where my love of science met with my creative side. Then, contemporary fashion, where pretty much everything I have ever learned combined together. So, I don’t think it is surprising that I believe that clothing should, first and foremost, serve a function and aesthetics second. My aim with all of Bebitza’s amazing products is to help mothers simplify their daily tasks (including caring for the products!) and make more time enjoying quality time together with bub and the rest of the family (spoiler alert, my love language is quality time). Important factors I especially consider include: safety, practicality, and simplicity.

Bebitza® is an Australian owned and operated company that started in 2006 through the excitement to share an amazing breastfeeding concept; a shawl-inspired cover that is beautifully designed for complete privacy. Having since pioneered the nursing cover category in Australia, we continue to bring this excitement and joy with us today, to share with mums around the world new products that simplify and celebrate the motherhood journey.

MCA: I love that saying, “If it’s not functional, it’s not necessary.” And how about you, Bree?

Photographed by Sita Carolina of Precious S2 Photography

Bree: I’m a proud mum of three gorgeous children and a wonderful husband. I feel blessed and I love being a mum. My motherhood journey has been colored with many wonderful times mixed with personal challenges. Bebitza was born and grew through these experiences and is still being written today. I have become aware of how quickly time passes and that each day is so precious. With this in mind, my vision for Bebitza is to walk alongside, encourage, excite and inspire you and your family so you can have more time enjoying, bonding and creating memories with your little ones.

My hobbies include spending quality time with my family and cook delicious healthy meals for them. Riding the bike around our neighborhood, stopping for a cup of chai latte on the way or tending to our home organic veggie garden makes me feel so blessed and happy!

MCA: OK, now you’re making me hungry! Can you tell us about the creation of your company?

Sita: Bree founded our company back in 2006, because she was struggling to find a good nursing cover that worked well and didn’t look like a nursing cover. So, came along our range of nursing covers.

MCA: From the looks of your website, you’ve been busy creating even more wonderful products. I see you also have Baby Wraps, Baby Mittens, Bamboo Towels just to name a few and of course your MCA award-winning baby swaddle, the BeSwaddle. What needs were you trying to fill when you created the BeSwaddle?

Sita & Bree: We wanted to make a swaddle that saves time, easy to use and also increased safety for mum, bub and other carers.

MCA: I just love how you both say “mum” :) Now, your swaddle is different than most. It features a pants design, which I read helps prevent hip-displasia. Can you tell us about the research that went behind the product’s unique features like this one?

Sita & Bree: We always like to start things off with WHY. We researched about why babies are swaddled in the first place and what part of the swaddle is actually giving the baby benefits. We obviously wanted to keep all the benefits but also improve on the functionality and everything else. We then looked at what’s available in the market and what mums have had to say about them. What’s good and what’s bad. We analyzed all this whilst creating our first prototype (fun fact: it was yellow!).

In the end, we came up with a pants design which helps with healthy hip development as well as avoiding swaddle caused hip dysplasia. This design also allows for pram and car-seat used, provided you open the top portion first to buckle the baby in securely. However, you can swaddle them back up and there is no need to take the swaddle completely off! This top portion is really what is swaddling the baby. We opted for a very soft but strong velcro which is very quick & easy to use and keeps the baby in very well. All of the features make swaddling pretty much fool-proof!

MCA: I swaddled my kids because I was told to by my doctor, but why is it so important to swaddle babies?

Sita & Bree: Swaddling is very important! Though there are many debates at the moment, but we are a firm believer in swaddling babies in their first stages of infancy.

Swaddling increases a baby’s quality of life. It prevents accidents that may occur due to the baby’s involuntary movements in their first few months and the snug feeling calms and soothes them as it reminds them of the feeling of being in the womb. Because of this, swaddled babies are more likely to sleep better for longer too!

MCA: Maybe that’s why my kiddos are such great sleepers! What kind of feedback have you received about the BeSwaddle?

Sita & Bree: We have heard much positive feedback from mothers who have used the BeSwaddle! Many mothers have come back to buy multiples so they have extras to use in between wash loads. Sleep experts around the world have also given the thumbs up and said the BeSwaddle has everything they are looking for in a swaddle – effective and easy to use.

MCA: I wish I had the BeSawddle when my kids were infants. Car rides would have been much easier! So, tell us, what is next for Bebitza?

Sita & Bree: You can expect more products with lots of research like the BeSwaddle and of course, just like our other products, they will have the softest hand-feel.

We always listen to feedback and improve even our current products.

MCA: I can’t wait to see what you come out with next! Thank you so much, Sita & Bree, for sharing your time, knowledge, and talents with us! We are excited for our readers to have access to such a great product!

To learn more about Sita & Bree and their award-winning products, check out the Bebitza website!