Dads-to-Be Should Wear This Pregnancy Simulating Vest

on August 12, 2011 at 1:40 PM

pregnant woman There are a lot of things some men will just never understand -- a DVD box-set of The Hills, bath salts, and pregnancy being top among them. But thanks to a team of researchers in Japan, that might change. They've developed the 'Mummy Tummy,' a vest of sorts a man can wear that simulates being nine months pregnant.

Complete with full breasts and belly, the vest fills up with water in the stomach to mimic the unevenness, in the chest to simulate milk coming in, and using a series of actuators, the vest even simulates kicking. It stops kicking when the man soothes the "baby" (aka the sensors) by rubbing his belly.

The Mummy Tummy's realism was tested by women who have experienced pregnancy, and their reviews are surprising.

About 80 percent of women said that the Mummy Tummy was a fair representation of what being nine months pregnant really feels like.

The product is designed to help husbands become more empathetic. Nothing is wrong with a little empathy if you ask me, but it's too bad scientists haven't yet developed a belt that makes men feel what terrible period cramps are like, or a way for them to experience giving birth, or what it's like to wait in line for a half hour just to use a restroom, but the Mummy Tummy is a good place to start.

It's good for expectant fathers, but I also think the Mummy Tummy could be used in high schools around the country. Put that dang vest on every high school student, male or female, and see if teen pregnancy rates don't drop.

I would totally want my husband to feel what it would be like to be carrying around 15 pounds of watery goo and 9 pounds of baby around in his stomach. Seems only fair. The Mummy Tummy will likely be deployed to pregnancy classes and hospitals once it's further developed and tested.

So -- would you want your partner to try on the Mummy Tummy, or not really?

Photo via seanmcgrath/Flickr

About the author Lindsay Mannering

is a blogger, a pub quiz connoisseur, and a spicy food athlete.

Filed Under: fathers, take it or leave it

Comments (5)

Nonmember comment from Morgan

on Aug 12, 2011 at 2:55 PM

I totally agree with making high school students wear them! Wear that for a week, then take care of the robot baby for another week....Genius :)

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L1558

on Aug 12, 2011 at 3:04 PM

Hells yeah! Not to emasculate them...only for empathy purposes, maybe just to try em on at Lamaze class.

I definitely like the idea of a mandatory week spent, in class, for both sexes to wear 'em. Even kids that don't want babies, ever, will appreciate pregnant moms and for most, it will allow them to appreciate what their moms went through to have them. =)

hutchfam2007

on Aug 12, 2011 at 3:45 PM

I dont think anything could realistically represent the pressure and pulling that you feel towards the end of pregnancy!!! It also would NOT simulate quite evil things that babies can do while still inside. My daughter decided that during the last month and a half that her right foot belonged underneath my left side ribcage. I could literally push her by the knee and get her foot unwedged from there and soon enough, there is that sharp pain again.... she was born with a weird toe because of it!! Nothing will give an honest representation, nothing! lol.

momtolittleg

on Aug 12, 2011 at 4:20 PM

I wasn't all that uncomfortable during pregnancy after my gallbladder problem was diagnosed. Instead of the mummy tummy, I could just stick a hot poker in under hubby's ribs and pull a muscle in his shoulder blade and then he'd know the pain I was in from that stupid gallbladder. Actually, hubby appreciated that I was in pain, but the doctors- not so much. So, a hot poker and pulled muscle for THEM, then maybe they would've ordered the ultrasound on my gallbladder sooner and I could've gotten the relief that came from switching to an extremely low-fat diet. I'm not bitter, though.. ;)

Facebook comment from Rachel Schiller

No I really wouldn't.