Vigil
Safer infant holding in the NICU
Image created by ChatGPT
The alert reaches her before it goes anywhere else.
Vigil is a wrist-worn safety support system designed to help mothers recovering from opioid use disorder safely hold their infants in the NICU without increasing shame, surveillance, or disruption to bonding. It quietly monitors physiological signs associated with drowsiness and gives a gentle haptic alert to help a mother stay awake during a holding session, escalating only if she does not respond.
A connected nurse-facing application provides real-time insights and tiered safety notifications, so someone can step in at the right moment. Designed through a human-centered and trauma-informed lens, Vigil reframes monitoring as partnership: protecting infant safety while preserving trust, autonomy, and the connection between parent and child.
From arrival to the last minute.
Both sides of the system.
Left, the nurse app, running here in the page. Sign in and it opens on the patient list: every mother has her own dashboard, and the bar along the bottom carries the holding schedule and a wellness section for the nurses themselves. Right, the mother-facing Apple Watch app, a gentle presence that nudges her awake with tiered alerts.
Support, not surveillance.
The watch senses signs of drowsiness during a holding session and answers in three steps. It begins as a haptic tap, felt only by her. If she does not stir, it sounds an alert she has chosen for herself. Only if that goes unanswered does it reach the nurse’s system, so someone can come and wake her.
Safety and dignity, at the same time.
Mothers recovering from opioid use disorder often face an impossible balance in the NICU: remaining fully alert while holding and bonding with their medically fragile infant, despite exhaustion and medications that can cause drowsiness.
Skin-to-skin holding is critical for infant development and parent bonding, yet mothers with opioid use disorder frequently experience these moments under intense scrutiny and fear of judgment.
Nurses must protect infant safety while preserving maternal dignity, a complex emotional and clinical challenge with few supportive tools designed for this experience.
Where this stands
This was a graduate HCI design project at UC Irvine, based on published research on kangaroo care and parent fatigue during infant holding in addition to conversations with NICU nurses. I researched the problem, designed the system, and built a prototype, but it has not been tested with mothers. The idea I wanted to explore was whether a safety system for a vulnerable parent could support them through gentle escalation rather than surveillance.