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Tuesday, April 23, 2002

By Deborah Mendenhall, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Nothing can replace Mom, but replacing her scent is something else entirely.

	Jacob Russell, 11 days old, sleeps with his Snoedel at Children's Hospital. (Franka Bruns, Post-Gazette)

For years Dutch families have been capturing the essence of Mom, packaging it, and providing it to newborns to reinforce that "she's always there" feeling.

So say the manufacturers of a little doll called the Snoedel (pronounced snoodle), whose head is stuffed with pure Dutch sheep wool. The body is cotton flannel.

When mom places the Snoedel close to her body for a couple of days, the doll's natural fibers absorb her scent -- or Dad's, for that matter.

Placed with the baby, the Snoedel slowly releases the aromas. The dolls are particularly comforting for hospitalized babies on ventilators, heart monitors or other medical equipment who are separated from their parents.

Children's Medical Ventures of Norwell, Mass., is selling the doll to hospitals, including Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, which has been using Snoedels for about a month.

"No one has the same touch as Mom or Dad, and no one has the same smell," said Bev Sahlaney, patient service manager of Children's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Neonatalogy Services. "Babies know that smell and will feel more comforted and secure, especially as medical procedures are done."

For the doll to work well, the parent's scent must be refreshed every week.

For the coming year, every infant admitted to Children's will receive a Snoedel. Sahlaney expects to distribute 600 of the dolls, which sell for $25 each on the Internet but will be provided free to patients through private donations.

Call it aromatherapy of the very best kind.