Conceived and manufactured in Israel, Nanobébé is said to be the first baby bottle designed to preserve essential breastmilk nutrients by enabling rapid heating and cooling through an innovative geometric shape.
Coming to retailers’ shelves in January 2018, Nanobébé already was named Best Bottle for Breastfed Babies by The Bump and was No. 1 on “The top 10 mama + baby products you will want to buy this year” list by Motherly.
Nanobébé also won an innovation award at the 2017 Kind + Jugend international trade fair for baby and toddler products, and was a finalist in the 2017 JPMA Innovation Awards Competition.
Two online presales sold out quickly.
Another unusual thing about this revolutionary $11 product for nursing babies is that it was invented by two dads who have been best friends since age five.
Asaf Kehat and Ayal Lanternari grew up together, served in the Israeli military together and even became biomedical engineers together.
In the middle of one night in 2013, Lanternari was warming a bottle of his wife’s expressed breastmilk for their newborn son. He got to worrying that perhaps after being pumped, stored, chilled and warmed, the milk might have lost some of its nutrients.
Lanternari discussed the problem with his friend Kehat and their research found basis for his concerns.
According to the US Food and Drug Administration, bacteria double every 20 minutes in room-temperature breastmilk until uniformly refrigerated. Bacteria consume the nutrients in the milk and deplete its unique immunological properties because the milk uses up its immune defenses to fight off the bacteria.
Moreover, they discovered that the standard baby bottle was designed for formula, not breastmilk. Given that 65 percent of American nursing moms express milk for later feeding, the men were determined to find a bottle shape that could work directly with a breast pump, allow for quick and even cooling and warming, and provide easy and efficient storage.
“Breastfeeding mothers are an upwardly growing but underserved market,” says Lanternari.
Kehat and Lanternari turned for advice to Gil Lemel, inventor of the world’s first BPA-free baby bottle, BornFree. Lemel not only liked the idea but also invested in it and became a director of Nanobébé. Pediatricians and lactation consultants were involved in the design process as well.
“We have joined forces with industry experts at every stage of creating the Nanobébé product line,” says Kehat, who has toddler twins and a newborn.
The company, based in Hezliya Pituah, claims that the Nanobébé bottle’s unique geometry and increased surface area enable quick cooling to reduce bacterial growth, and faster warming so you can promptly feed your hungry baby without exposing breastmilk to nutrient-damaging high temperatures.
The 5-ounce bottles, manufactured in Israel by Polycad Plastic Products in Shefayim, are stackable and feature a wide base whose bottom is covered with anti-slip silicone to prevent tipping over. The base easily detaches for cleaning. (A larger bottle will launch later on.)
A breast-pump adaptor comes with the Nanobébé bottle, which has inspired a full line of feeding products including breastmilk storage bags and organizer, a microwave steam sterilizer, electric bottle brush, compact drying rack, smart warming bowl and ergonomic Flexy brand pacifier.
“No other bottle on the market today is specifically designed for breastmilk, and makes it easier for a baby to transition from breast to bottle and for baby to hold the bottle at an earlier age,” says Nanobébé Marketing Director Ellie Barziv, who happily got to test the product with her own baby boy.
Until Nanobébé is launched nationwide in US retail stores in January – and in Europe and the Far East soon afterward — you can put your name on an email list in preparation for the next presale, says Barziv.
“We are very excited about all the early buzz we’ve received,” she tells ISRAEL21c. “We are poised to make a big impact on modern breastfeeding moms and their little ones worldwide.”
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