"Tamara Monosoff, a former business consultant and Clinton White House staffer, quit work to stay at home when her daughter Sophia was born. Then she found herself annoyed by the constant need to re-roll the toilet paper Sophia unraveled onto the floor.

So she invented a special latch to prevent the problem. Now, she sells the $6.95 product to parents and pet owners.

'It's not glamorous,' says Ms. Monosoff, who lives in Walnut Creek, Calif. But it's profitable. She projects sales of more than $1 million next year from the TP Saver and her other products, including duck and puppy shoe-stickers that help children tell left from right. Her husband, Brad Kofoed, recently quit his job in software sales to work with her. In March, they hired a full-time nanny.

For many women who leave the work force to care for children, motherhood is making invention a necessity. The daily routine of child-care presents such a minefield of little problems that they turn to tinkering, and then market their brainstorms."