"The Baby Soothers" a SHORT HISTORY

The Jaygee Babysooth® sounds came into being as "The Baby Soother"™ cassette in June 1979 when baby Jeffrey Grant Wannell was 6 weeks old. He had cried loudly from the day he was born and went on doing so most evenings and nights -for several hours at a time. After a short while- with broken evenings and little sleep every night, Roger Wannell- Dad — a teacher in a dyslexic unit at the time — decided to tape record the crying infant and play it back to him in the hope of controlling his crying. A midwifery sister friend had said that sometimes in hospital nurseries one infant would stop crying if another started. The tape recorder was switched on and a tape left on to record the noisy baby. Later when harassed dad played the tape back to the new born a wall of rhythmic, swishing sounds came pouring out of the machine -it had malfunctioned !!! BUT the infant stopped crying. (See video clip) The Jaygee Babysooth® sounds and "The Baby Soother"™ were "born". Every playing of the sounds calmed baby Jeffrey and continued to do so for 10 months whereupon he ‘gave up crying’ -nocturnal howling... and using his tape.

Meanwhile other babies around in the English countryside were being given copies of this seeming "miracle" tape and similar reactions were being reported to founder- Roge Wannell. In December 1979 the whole thing ‘exploded’ with the help of the BBC ‘s "Radio Bristol" and "Point’s West" T.V. who helped get the "The Baby Soother"™ more babies to test which started an 18 month research project.

Within a few months 324 babies had been tested and the Jaygee Babysooth® sound was proven to be an amazingphenomenon. It calmed over 90% of babies and it worked when baby was suffering from colic and through teething. But it had to be started on baby within the first 3 months of birth to be sure of success. Later research found that it worked for as long a baby needed it. The U.K. media embraced this with open arms and called it a ‘breakthrough in baby care’. The national independent news "ITN" featured it immediately as did "The Daily Mirror" and the ‘Daily Express". Other magazines and channels picked up the story and the Wannell household became frantic for a few months. From this came Jaygee Cassettes - 'Jaygee' being Jeffrey's early pronounciation of his name

Roger gave up full time teaching, started Jaygee Cassettes to market the cassette and took up lecturing Sociology part time in a College. The following year in October 1980, baby Joy appeared to join toddler Jeffrey. The media came around again — regional news all over the south-west of England along with local, regional and national newspapers. European magazines in Holland and Sweden along with Australian titles joined in as did several big name British ones. The 'Jaygee Babysooth'® sound became even more famous.

In 1983 the major U.K. chain - W.H.Smith came to Jaygee Cassettes and bought ‘The Baby Soother’™ cassette where it enjoyed continuous stocking and sales on the shelves of every shop in the country selling cassettes from that time to recently when general cassette/CD titles were dropped. It became one of their best sellers and was and was constantly in their top 200.

The 'Jaygee Babysooth'® sounds continued to attract attention and slowly won over the medical profession who were very sceptical at first. Roger Wannell went on lecture tours sharing his findings and research knowledge on ‘babies and sounds’ with paediatricians, doctors, nurses, midwives, Health Visitors, other baby care professionals and groups like the National Childbirth Trust and LaLeche League. By 1984 about 1/3rd of Britain’s maternity units/hospitals were using the cassette in their nurseries and several hospitals were selling them to raise money for unit equipment. Writers like Sheila Kitzinger and doctors like David Haslem and Mark Porter were putting 'The Baby Soother'™ cassette sounds forward as a definite aid in "How to stop babies crying" type books.

At this stage the cassette went to the USA where it was championed by G.U.Enterprises of Denver who in turn had it succefully tested in local hospitals and clinics

A proud moment came in 1988 when Roger was invited by The Royal College of General Practitioners to write in their Annual Journal about his work.

By the turn of the decade the Wannell’s were awarded an Enterprise Award for their work in the previous decade and for pioneering work in the field of babies and sound. When the venture first started there were no categories in Directories or Trade journals and most people thought the whole thing a ‘bit of a joke’. This was no longer the case.

In 1993 the tape went on sale in Japan under licence to JVC/VMI where it proved an instant success- so much so that in 1994 it received a Gold Award for its social good with Japanese families. Prior to its release Japanese doctors checked out the claims make for the sounds and found them to be replicated — over 90% of Japanese babies were also calmed by the weird but wonderful 'Jaygee Babysooth'® sounds.

That same year it appeared on the extremely popular "Good Morning Show" on BBC TV which was hosted by TV celebrity and Jaygee Babysooth user Nick Owens. It was an unusual moment to say the least to be publicly thanked in front of millions of viewers for the help and peace we had given to him, his wife and three children.

In the year 2000 the newest and almost most humbling experience occured - selling the first ever cassette to a lady who herself was a Baby Soothed baby right back in 1980. She was buying it for her first baby — 21 years later. Her mother —one of our first customers almost a quarter of a century ago said it had been a "Godsend" and the best thing she had ever bought. The hospital which she had been in had sold it to her!!.

A year later - the new CD version was selected by Tesco Baby Club to be their "Brilliant Buy" product for 2001/2/3 and 4 - and on a personal level - Jeffrey (Jaygee) graduated from Cardiff University (Wales) with a First Class master of Physics Degree. A positive long term consequence of using "The Baby Soother"™ - . . . who knows!!??.

And there it is- a quick history of "The Baby Soother"™ cassette and 'Jaygee Babysooth'® CD sounds. Sold to tens of thousands around the world - and responsible for bringing peace to thousands and thousands of families.