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Everdeen made the CD in her home in just a few hours with the help of Brown and Brown Recording Studio of Kalamazoo. They recorded the sounds on studio-quality professional equipment while Everdeen operated what she called "loud and obnoxious household appliances."

To further the authenticity of the recordings, Everdeen operated the appliances in the same setting in which an infant would typically listen to it. The sound of the car engine, "Engine March," was recorded in Everdeen's car. The quality of the CD is amazingly accurate, Everdeen says.

"I was in the car with two of my sons, listening to the CD to check it for quality," she says. "We were listening to a recording of a car engine running. It put both my sons to sleep right away."

Everdeen is doing the marketing and promotion of "The Big Z." She has mailed letters and brochures to pediatricians and hospitals and has advertised in several magazines. She says she will donate $1 to the neonatal units of local hospitals including Bronson and Borgess for each CD sold. The CD is priced at $13.99.

Other CD's feature such sounds as maternal heartbeats, waves and rain--soft sounds that may be relaxing to parents, but don't usually work to stop a colicky baby from crying, Everdeen says. Her CD is unique because it has the noises that kids will really respond to. Her pediatrician, Nicolette Baumgartner, agrees. "This CD cleverly transforms everyday household sounds into 'white noise,' which can help soothe the colicky infant," Baumgartner says.

A product similar to Everdeen's--a vibration unit, "Sleep Tight," designed by pediatricians to be used in a crib--sells for $124.95 and simulates the sound and motion of a car traveling at 55 mph. A three-year study at Johns Hopkins University proved the product to be 85 percent effective.

Everdeen cautions parents not to jump to the assumption that an infant is colicky simply because she cries a lot. She says that before it was determined that Tyler was colicky, the Everdeens had examined numerous medical possibilities with their pediatrician. On rare occasions, colic may be an early indication of a serious medical problem, according to Shirley Hay of Pro-Med Pediatrics in Kalamazoo.

"Always operate on the side of safety," says Hay. "If you have a baby that cries a lot, that is always something that should be checked out."

For Tyler, it was determined that "he was a frustrated, mad-at-the-world kid," Everdeen says, who found solace listening to the soothing sounds of a vacuum.

MAUREEN COYLE can be reached at 388-7777.

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