By Ciara Donlon, founder & CEO of MOSS

A baby is born.

In the first hours of their life, before they have tasted food, before they have felt sunlight, before they have learned the sound of their own name, they are wrapped in a nappy.

That nappy, in most cases, is made from plastic, synthetic polymers, and wood pulp sourced from trees that took decades to grow.

It will be used for two hours. It will sit in landfill for five hundred years plus.

We do this up to eight times a day. For three years. For every baby born.

I have spent the better part of my adult life working with bamboo, not as a founder chasing a trend, but as someone who has watched this material perform under the most demanding conditions imaginable.

Before MOSS, I built THEYA Healthcare, one of Ireland’s first femtech companies, pioneering bamboo-based care for women undergoing breast cancer treatment, backed by clinical trials from UCD (University College Dublin).

When I turned to what came next, the answer was staring at me from every buggy on the street.

We are living through a crisis our children will inherit entirely. Conventional nappies are the third largest single-use plastic item in household waste.

An estimated three hundred million go to landfill every year.

The tree-derived wood pulp in their absorbent cores is responsible for the destruction of one billion trees annually, and the plastic components that make them leak-proof make them essentially indestructible once discarded.

A child who goes through approximately 6,000 nappies in three years generates a legacy of waste that will outlast not just them, but generations to come.

I am not writing this to make parents feel guilty. Parents are doing the very best they can. I am writing this because the industry has not given them a genuine alternative, and I believe that is something we have a responsibility to change.

MOSS was built on one question: what would a nappy look like if it were designed entirely around what was best for the baby’s skin and best for the planet they will grow up in?

The answer was bamboo, and I say that not from instinct, but from evidence.

Through THEYA’s research at University College Dublin, bamboo viscose fibre was tested against cotton across every performance metric that matters for fabric worn against the most sensitive skin.

In antibacterial testing, bamboo resulted in a 97 per cent reduction in tested bacteria. Cotton produced a 0 per cent reduction. In absorbency and breathability testing, bamboo outperformed cotton and all leading competitor products.

When I turned to nappies, manufacturer testing confirmed what the clinical evidence had shown.

MOSS’s bamboo absorption core matches or outperforms conventional wood pulp cores on every performance measure: faster second-cycle absorption, significantly less rewet against the skin, and higher total absorption capacity across every size.

In the MOSS parent product trial: 88 per cent of parents felt their baby was drier, 93 per cent found them softer, 73 per cent reported fewer leaks, and 87 per cent said they would recommend MOSS.

Bamboo is 59 per cent more absorbent than cotton. Ten times more bamboo can be grown per square metre.

It requires no irrigation, no pesticides, no insecticides, no synthetic inputs, while cotton accounts for nearly 30 per cent of global pesticide and insecticide sales and needs 20,000 litres of water to produce a single T-shirt.

Bamboo sequesters five times more carbon per hectare than most trees, regenerates from its own root system without replanting, and harvesting it does not kill the plant.

What that means in practice: a softer material better for the health of the baby’s skin, proven to reduce bacterial load and regulate temperature, is also the most sustainable choice available.

These are not competing priorities. They are the same priority.

We are the only nappy brand in Europe that does not require a single tree to be cut down for production.

MOSS nappies contain no tree-derived pulp, no PFAS, no fragrance, no alcohol, no bleach. They are between 60-100 per cent bamboo.

THEYA Healthcare was recognised by the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards for its work at the intersection of materials science, sustainability, and women’s health.

That recognition mattered less than what it signified: designing for the people the industry had left behind is not a niche. It is the future.

When I turned to nappies, I brought the same lens. Who is being left behind?

Two groups: the baby, whose skin deserves a material free from synthetic chemicals; and the planet, which cannot absorb another generation of single-use plastic waste at current volumes.

MOSS exists for both of them.

I think often about what it means to build something for babies in 2026. These children will live into the 2100s.

The decisions we make in the next decade, about materials, about what we choose to manufacture and what we choose to discard, will shape the world they inherit in ways that are difficult to overstate.

One nappy brand will not solve the climate crisis. But founders have a responsibility to ask harder questions, to look at an industry built on cheap plastic and ask: does it have to be this way?

It does not.

What I found when I went looking was that the sustainable choice was also the better choice for the baby. Bamboo is softer than cotton. More absorbent. Naturally antibacterial, temperature-regulating, and proven to support skin health at a clinical level.

The product that was better for the planet turned out to be better for the child wearing it.

I built MOSS because I believe that the standard of care we offer newborns, in the materials we choose, the ingredients we exclude, should be as considered as every other decision a parent makes.

And because when parents are given a genuine choice, they will make it.

We owe it to them to make that choice available. We owe it, even more, to the children and future generations.

About the author

Ciara Donlon is a multi award-winning entrepreneur with nearly 30 years of experience in corporate strategy, e-commerce, and medical devices.

She is the Founder & CEO of MOSS and the founder of THEYA Healthcare, one of Ireland’s first femtech companies. THEYA’s bamboo fabric research was conducted at University College Dublin in conjunction with four Dublin teaching hospitals. Ciara is a Cartier Women’s Initiative laureate for Europe.

After a decade working in e-commerce in the corporate world, in 2010, Ciara transitioned to entrepreneurship, founding a lingerie business inspired by her interactions with breast cancer survivors, revealing a gap for non-toxic underwear for women undergoing treatment.

This led to Theya Healthcare, where she pioneered bamboo-based post-surgical innovations, backed by clinical research and protected by global patents.

Under her leadership, Theya gained international acclaim for its innovative approach to comfort and safety.

Now, as CEO of MOSS, she is transforming the baby care market, driven by a simple belief: that the everyday essentials of parenthood should give parents genuine peace of mind and protect babies, without compromising their health or the planet.

MOSS publicly launches 5th October 2026. Founding Members can register from 7th September at mossnappies.com

A single day of inhaled psychedelic treatment may relieve postpartum depression symptoms, with effects lasting for a week, early research suggests.

Postpartum depression is a severe mood disorder that affects women after giving birth. Symptoms can include extreme sadness, anxiety, changes in sleep and eating habits and difficulty bonding with a baby.

The condition affects up to one in five mothers globally. If untreated, it can have lasting effects on a mother’s psychological wellbeing and a child’s cognitive development.

Standard antidepressants, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a common type of antidepressant, often take four to six weeks to start working.

They can also cause side effects including weight gain, nausea and sexual dysfunction.

The only medication specifically approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for postpartum depression is zuranolone. It works faster than standard antidepressants but requires a 14-day daily course and carries warnings about drowsiness.

Researchers are exploring psychoactive compounds as possible alternatives for faster relief.

Mebufotenin, also known as 5-MeO-DMT, is a psychedelic compound that acts on serotonin receptors in the brain. Serotonin is a chemical messenger involved in functions including mood, sleep and digestion.

Previous early-stage trials found that an inhaled synthetic formulation called GH001 produced very rapid antidepressant effects in people with treatment-resistant depression.

Lead authors Martin Johnson of St Pancras Clinical Research and Kristina M. Deligiannidis of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research investigated whether the treatment could safely help women with severe postpartum depression.

The trial assessed its safety, side effects and impact on maternal functioning. It was funded by GH Research, the company developing the drug.

Researchers enrolled 10 women aged 18 to 45. All had major depressive disorder that began shortly before or after giving birth and were at least four weeks postpartum.

Participants also had to score at least 28 on a standard depression questionnaire, indicating moderate to severe depression.

Treatment was given on a single day using a specialised vaporisation system, with patients inhaling the medication from a collection balloon.

Doses were adjusted according to each woman’s response.

Participants first received 6mg. Those who tolerated the drug but did not experience a sufficiently intense psychoactive effect could receive 12mg one hour later, followed by 18mg after another hour if needed.

Researchers used a specialised scale to assess the intensity of the psychedelic experience, including feelings of losing control and how profound the experience felt.

Further doses were stopped once participants reached a predefined score.

Patients were monitored for changes in vital signs, psychiatric symptoms and overall comfort.

The psychedelic effects lasted for an average of around 20 to 25 minutes after each dose.

Participants also had to arrange for a trusted adult to care for their baby while they received treatment.

The main measure was the change in depression scores between the start of the study and day eight. Researchers also measured symptoms two hours after the final dose and on day two.

Four participants were lactating, allowing researchers to test their breast milk and assess how quickly the drug was eliminated from their bodies.

All 10 women experienced at least a 50 per cent reduction in depression symptoms two hours after their final dose.

By day eight, average depression scores had fallen by around 96 per cent and every participant met the study criteria for remission, meaning they no longer met the clinical threshold for depression.

Participants also reported improvements in maternal functioning.

Scores on a questionnaire assessing psychological wellbeing, self-care and mother-child interaction improved by around 56 per cent by day eight, with gains seen across almost all areas measured.

No serious adverse events were reported.

The most common side effect was mild to moderate headache, experienced by five of the 10 women.

The treatment did not cause lingering sedation and all participants were able to return home on the day they received it.

Among the four lactating women, levels of the drug and its byproducts in breast milk peaked around one hour after the final dose and fell below detectable levels after about 10 hours.

Researchers said this suggests mothers may only need to pause breastfeeding for a relatively short period on the day of treatment, although further research is needed before firm clinical recommendations can be made.

The trial was open-label, meaning both participants and researchers knew the active drug was being given.

There was no placebo comparison group, making it impossible to rule out the possibility that expectations about the treatment influenced the reported improvements.

The sample was also small and lacked demographic diversity, with nine of the 10 participants identified as white.

Almost none of the women were taking other psychiatric medications during the trial, meaning the findings may not reflect how a broader and more diverse group of mothers with postpartum depression would respond.

Researchers followed the women for only one week after treatment, leaving questions about how long the antidepressant effects may last.

Future studies will need to follow patients for several months to assess whether depression returns or additional doses are needed.

Larger trials will also need to randomly assign participants to receive either the active treatment or a placebo.

These studies will be needed to confirm the treatment’s safety and determine whether the drug itself is responsible for the rapid reduction in symptoms.

Weekly app monitoring can reduce fatigue and improve daily life for women with metastatic breast cancer, according to a study.

The approach involves regularly asking patients about their wellbeing through an app and responding quickly when problems are identified.

Germany’s Federal Joint Committee, known as the G-BA, has recommended that the treatment model be incorporated into standard care.

Professor Maria Karsten, senior attending physician at the Charité Breast Cancer Center and initiator of the PRO B project, said: “The new medications often no longer need to be administered at the hospital but can be taken at home.

“As a result, we see patients less frequently at the hospital, and our medical oversight has become somewhat incomplete.

“In order to close this gap and provide patients with close support in spite of the distance, we have developed the PRO B digital treatment concept.”

Around 68,000 women in Germany are living with metastatic breast cancer, meaning the disease has spread to other organs.

At this stage, the cancer is generally considered incurable. Modern treatments can, however, temporarily control the disease and extend life expectancy by several years, with some women able to continue working.

At the centre of PRO B is an app that asks women up to 52 structured questions once a week about their symptoms, daily life and emotional wellbeing.

Questions include whether they have experienced pain, felt too tired to carry out their usual activities or experienced shortness of breath.

An algorithm analyses the answers and immediately alerts the treatment team when relevant changes are detected.

The team then contacts the patient within 48 hours to decide whether any action is needed.

Karsten said: “During these phone calls, for example, we discuss whether the dosage of anti-nausea medication should be adjusted or offer practical tips for managing the various symptoms.

“But we also detect serious side effects more quickly – such as those indicated by a seemingly harmless symptom like fatigue – and can immediately schedule the patient for an appointment at the hospital.”

The study involved 909 women with metastatic breast cancer aged 19 to 81 across 52 breast cancer centres in Germany and followed them for one year.

Around half received PRO B care alongside drug-based cancer treatment.

The other half answered questions about their wellbeing once every three months and were not contacted by their treatment teams in response.

Women receiving PRO B care reported significantly less fatigue, which refers to physical, emotional or mental exhaustion that can severely restrict daily life.

They also rated their physical functioning more positively and required fewer hospital admissions.

Karsten said: “These are effects that have a noticeable impact on the patients’ daily lives; the women are more capable and better able to manage their lives.

“We even have evidence that the PRO B approach extends the remaining lifespan for some patients. We are achieving all of this not through a new medication, but simply by regularly and systematically assessing the women’s well-being and responding accordingly.”

More than 90 per cent of women in the PRO B group said after the study that they wanted the approach to become part of routine care.

Stephanie Neumann-Johnston, 51, who took part in the study, said: “I feel like the app has saved my life several times.

“There are so many situations and incidents that you can’t make sense of – you have so many questions.

“With the app, I can look up common problems and find medically reviewed information, for example, about fatigue. That way, I can help myself, also on the weekends.

“And the personal contact provides me with emotional and medical support.

“For example, I can find out whether I’m allowed to take certain medication for a fever, or get an assessment of my situation: Should I go to the emergency department with these symptoms or not? The app takes a huge weight off your shoulders.”

Based on the medical findings and a health economic analysis, the G-BA recommended in June that PRO B should be incorporated into standard care.

This would allow patients with statutory health insurance to access the model in future when they receive the relevant diagnosis.

PD Dr Christoph Kowalski, department director at the German Cancer Society and a co-author, said: “This recommendation must now be implemented as quickly as possible.

“If a new care concept offers medical and economic benefits, we should not withhold it from the most seriously ill women.”

The health insurance companies involved in the project are also planning further developments so affected women can receive routine PRO B care before its wider introduction into standard care, with access expected to begin this autumn.

The care model will continue under the name “ida”, led by Karsten and her team.

The PRO B project ran from 2020 to 2024 and received around €4.8m from the Innovation Committee of the Federal Joint Committee.

The project was led by Karsten, with consortium partners BARMER, mkk – meine krankenkasse, DAK-Gesundheit, the German Cancer Society and OnkoZert GmbH.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Germany, with around one in eight expected to develop the disease during their lifetime.

Worldwide, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths.

Despite advances in treatment, 30 per cent of women with early-stage breast cancer and up to 70 per cent of those with lymph node involvement in later stages develop distant metastases, which typically make the disease incurable.

For patients with metastatic breast cancer, treatment aims to prolong life while maintaining the best possible quality of life.

Since 2016, the G-BA has been responsible for supporting new forms of care that go beyond existing standards, as well as health services research aimed at improving healthcare quality in Germany.

Its Innovation Fund is financed through contributions from statutory health insurance plans and the Health Fund.