The BreastFeeder for Babies Born with Cleft Palate
Overview
The Breastfeeder is a novel feeding device that aims to restore effective sucking for infants with cleft lip and palate deformities. By allowing the infant to breastfeed and therefore reducing the need for specialized bottles, our goal is to promote healthy growth, bonding, and developmental outcomes for the affected infant population.
The Issue
About one in every 600 babies is born with cleft lip and palate deformities, making it one of the most common birth defects in the United States. These conditions disrupt the normal anatomy of the lip and/or palate, preventing infants from generating the negative pressure required for breastfeeding. In low-resource regions, lack of specialized feeding support can significantly increase neonatal morbidity and mortality.
Approach
The Breastfeeder aims to promote the ability to directly breastfeed within this population. The objective is to improve upon Child Health Innovation’s existing silicone prototype through benchtop rig assessments, user studies, and clinical trial design. This project seeks to restore physiologic feeding mechanics early in life and increase neonatal weight gain, thereby enabling patients to qualify for necessary surgical treatment.
MTM Student Engagement
MTM students are leading market analysis, business strategy development, Minimum Viable Product (MVP) development, user design studies, and preliminary clinical trials for affected infants. Our work aims to translate human-centered design into a device that enables infants with cleft palate and/or lip to breastfeed safely and successfully.
Project Brief
