The Journey

The Origin: A Wriggly Baby. An Airport Bathroom. A Nappy Changing Nightmare.

It was a hot, hazy day in the summer of 2018 when the unthinkable happened: Mark Hamilton needed to change his 7-month old daughter’s nappy (diaper) in the Tenerife, Spain airport. 

He pleaded. He begged and negotiated. He was prepared to make a deal with the devil to get out of changing his wriggly bundle of joy … but his lovely wife would have no part of it.  

As they say, the rest is history. Under the blinding fluorescent bathroom light, Mark released the comically narrow changing table from the wall and let fate take over. 

There was squirming, kicking and rolling. There were deep, bellowing screams that reverberated against the walls of the tiny airport bathroom and sent chills down Mark’s spine.

Like a violent ocean squall, his daughter thrashed side-to-side to do anything to get off the changing table. She was imposing her will … and nothing short of an act of God would stop her. 

Mark, only months into fatherhood, saw his life flash before his eyes as his daughter reached out and grabbed a used piece of toilet paper off the sink and lowered it towards her mouth … we’ll leave the rest of the gory details to your imagination. 

Emerging from the bathroom a broken man, Mark thought to himself: NEVER AGAIN. 

The Idea: Creating the Ultimate Baby Hack

Mark returned home from his trip a changed man. He was now determined to create a restraint-free baby distraction toy that would help him make nappy changing time a more enjoyable and meaningful experience. 

He knew it would have to be a solution that would prevent his daughter from:  (a) wriggling (b) rolling (c) kicking, and (d) screaming during the nappy changing time. He also knew he wanted to make clothes and nappy changing time a meaningful time to bond with his daughter.  

The first prototype was a wearable coat hanger with the keys jingling down from the hook … and it worked beautifully. Almost like magic, his daughter stopped squirming and rolling during nappy changing time and focused her attention on the jingling keys.  

Whenever Mark would bring his creation out during changing time, his daughter would adorably say “dingy dangy” - hence, how the name Dingle Dangle was born. 

Mark knew he was onto something … he also knew that he would be reported to social services if he went out in public with a metal coat hanger with keys attached to the hook. 

He needed help to move his vision forward. Little did he know, help was already on the way.  

The American Moves Upstairs

Since the Revolutionary War, many say it’s impossible for Brits and Yankees to co-exist … but that’s not how this story goes. 

In the spring of 2019 a tall, handsome and mysterious American named Stu moved upstairs from Mark and the pair quickly hit it off. They looked alike. Shared a mutual love for “The Office”, and most importantly, knew the emotions of what it’s like to be a dad to young children. 

Over a night of fish and chips and cheap wine, Mark showed Stu the latest version of his distraction toy. Stu, ready to add son number two to his brood, knew he wanted in. 

The dynamic duo spent the next year (and many bottles of cheap wine later) perfecting the prototype for their portable baby distraction toy.  

When Stu had his second son in August, 2020, they had the perfect subject to test out the prototypes - making adjustments along the way to better meet the needs of both parent and baby. 

An Innovative Baby Hack for Both Parent and Child   

After 16 months of innovation and safety testing, Mark and Stewart completed the final design and functionality for the Dingle Dangle. Gradually evolving from Mark’s initial concept, the Dingle Dangle is now an innovative, multi-use interaction and distraction product designed for babies from 3 to 18 months. 

The key design feature of the Dingle Dangle is that it is created with both baby and parent in mind to encourage meaningful interaction during your baby’s first year.   

Whether its nappy changing time, play time, or sleep time, the Dingle Dangle takes the stress and worry out of during some of the most difficult moments of parenting.