Technology is impacting our lives in every way possible with products for the home, kitchen and more recently products for babies and kids.
Utilising the latest ultraviolet light wave technology (UVC), a new baby’s bottle is set to revolutionise the market.
The Pronto Bottle is a self-cleaning baby bottle that can sterilise itself while parents are on the go, without the need to wash multiple bottles or boil water to fill the bottle beforehand.
Founder and inventor, Shannon Gilleland, came up with the idea when she was trying to prep the bottle in the back of the car while being parked outside her husband’s workplace one day.
“I thought to myself that if someone was looking into the back seat, they would surely have laughed at how ridiculous the process of preparing a baby bottle was while on the go,” she says.
Parents currently spend around an hour a day preparing baby bottles, which must be sterilised until their infant is at least 12 months old.
“I surveyed 100 parents and they all seemed to be struggling with the steriliser, boiling water or having to carry around heavy pre-filled bottles process too.”
Gilleland had her lightbulb moment when she started her research and realised that UVC technology, which had already been pioneered to sanitise surgical equipment, was also being used by hikers and aid workers to sanitise drinking water in remote areas. Indeed, UVC can destroy harmful microorganisms found on food and in the air; it can also be used for disinfecting water and sterilising surfaces.
However, getting the project off the ground was a major challenge and the bottle took 18 months to design, including a cut-off safety switch that will turn the UVC light off if it detects that it is not properly attached to the bottle.
Being made from glass and recyclable materials means it is also more sustainable than traditional baby bottles as it can be reused for subsequent babies in the family, unlike plastic ones that get thrown away after each child. This also makes it more cost effective than current methods. The product is currently patented with plans to have the bottles manufactured right here in Australia, in Adelaide.
A crowdfunding campaign has started yesterday.
“I’m so happy that my product is going to make a difference to the lives of mums and dads around the world. I don’t know anyone who is happy to wake up to a sink full of dirty baby bottles in the morning or enjoys lugging around a ridiculously large nappy bag with them if they’re just nipping down to the shops for two minutes.”
