Innovation and the baby teat
'Having this project funded by the Victorian Government means we can take the project from start to finish in one continuous process and there are many benefits to that in terms of time and cost effectiveness and getting the best out of the product.'Callum MacLeod, Project Manager, APS Innovations
Top tips
- Government funding has allowed APS Innovations to devote more time to consult, research and refine their product to better meet the unique needs of the customer.
The Challenge
The Royal Children's Hospital Nutrition & Food Services provides nutrition care to over 150 infants daily. This includes sick and small neonates, and infants undergoing cardiac surgery with complex nutrition needs and feeding difficulties. The service uses up to 400 teats daily, and currently these often fail to meet the needs of infants with feeding difficulties.
Teats have been found to produce flow rates varying by as much as 50%. The wrong flow rate makes it difficult for an infant learning to feed, but as the flow rate is highly sensitive to the force applied when teats and bottles are assembled, the appropriate teat for an infant can be very difficult to identify.
The Solution
This project was funded under the Victorian Government's Market Validation Program (MVP).
The result
APS Innovations, with input from the Royal Children's Hospital, has developed an optimised infant feeding teat and bottle that will be manufactured in Victoria.
State Government of Victoria
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Page updated: 24 Jan 2018