Thrive Feeding gets $500K for its smart baby feeding solution

Thrive Feeding

San Diego-based Thrive Feeding has raised $500,000 seed round from private investors to launch real-time performance monitoring devices for baby feeding.

“The economic and social price we pay for antiquated baby feeding tools is very high and not widely understood,” Brian Wadsworth, co-founder of Thrive Feeding, said in a statement. “Our advanced feeders will help parents and babies to thrive and give healthcare organizations the data to truly comprehend the feeding challenges of babies.”

The smart baby bottle will allow immediate detection of babies born with below-par oral feeding ability.The company’s product, currently in development, consists of a feeding bottle with built-in sensors that capture and transmit real-time milk consumption data to a companion mobile app. From there, the feeders get better understanding of the feeding capability and performance of individual babies and, in the bigger picture, the development of healthy feeding standards and treatments.

The smart baby bottle will allow immediate detection of babies born with below-par oral feeding ability and minimization of tube-feeding of infants who are actually capable of oral feeding. Also, it will offer reliable screening of feeding ability prior to discharge to the home, as well as tracking of feeding development over the critical first 60-90 days of life and reassurance for parents of their baby’s healthy feeding.

According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there were 3.99 million births in the USA in 2014.