Three out of five infants struggle with feeding. But all babies need to eat. So, what’s the solution?
LullaFeed has come up with one. It’s created the world’s first patented music-powered feeding solution. This device attaches to the bottom of a baby bottle and recognizes when babies are feeding from it. It then plays soothing lullabies to encourage babies to keep eating.
This approach isn’t some random attempt at successful feeding. LullaFeed’s business is built on thirty years of clinical research. And it’s led by award-winning neonatal founders with more than two decades of experience feeding infants and helping parents.
Perhaps surprisingly, technology isn’t only for adults or kids. It’s even for babies. That’s why the baby-tech industry has become valued at $197 billion.
When it comes to feeding, many parents struggle to get their babies the proper food and nutrition they need. An estimated fifty-seven percent of children experience feeding challenges, especially among those that are born prematurely or with a developmental delay.
Parents are often left to fend for themselves, trying trial-and-error troubleshooting options (different bottles, different nipples, etc.). In some cases, they end up admitting their child to the emergency room because things get so bad.
Co-founders Michael Detmer and Rebekah Gossom saw these issues first-hand working in neonatal intensive care units. And that’s what inspired them to start LullaFeed.
As mentioned, LullaFeed’s device provides research-based lullaby music that is synchronized to the baby’s feeding pattern. This device works in concert with the company’s mobile app, which offers insights and analytics for caregivers to track progress.
The LullaFeed device contains multiple sensors used to detect infant feeding patterns, and when feeding is detected, a lullaby or even the parent’s pre-recorded voice plays back to the infant via an embedded speaker to reward and encourage the baby to feed.
Simply put, if the baby drinks, they’ll hear their parent’s lullaby. If they stop, so does the lullaby. Because infants are attentive to and seek their parents’ voices, they learn to keep eating to keep the music on, thus strengthening their neurologic and oral motor systems for feeding.
Using the app, parents can select from favorite lullabies and even record themselves singing along with them. The app includes a rhythmic vibration of the phone ensuring singing is done at a tempo of sixty beats per minute, which matches a baby’s average suck rate of one suck per second.
Furthermore, the app enables parents to track how feedings are improving, how much milk their baby took, how long feedings are taking, and how many successful feeds were given each day.
LullaFeed is currently marketed as a consumer-health product. At $79.99 retail, it’s more affordable than other sensors or similar tracking devices. And at its current cost of goods, this price yields a sixty-six percent gross margin.
After gaining traction, LullaFeed aims to create a medical-device version that will be used in hospitals and help feed the tiniest and sickest of infants. The company will target neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and outpatient feeding clinics.
LullaFeed is backed by Render Capital, Cato Neonatal Innovations, and the Kentucky Science & Technology Corporation. It’s also raised $150,000 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and was a finalist invited to present at NIH’s Proof-of-Concept showcase.
LullaFeed has won five startup pitch competitions and built a baby-ready minimum viable product of its device. It’s in the process of alpha trials with parents. The company has also received one patent and has another patent pending.