Aarti Mehta MD is Co-Founder of aLoo, a device that blocks a baby's backwash from contaminating their bottle of precious breast milk. Aarti, can you tell us a little about yourself?
Sure! So, to get right to it...during the day, I am a Psychiatrist specializing in Women’s Mental Health, particularly post-partum depression and anxiety. But most importantly, I am a Mom. My daughter, Ariadna (Ari), is 3 years old. Ari was the inspiration behind aLoo because I struggled to produce enough milk when I was breastfeeding her.
I faced TWO major issues:
Problem 1
I had trouble making enough breast milk from the start. Then, I returned to work and had even LESS milk production. I felt a lot of guilt, frustration and had feelings of inadequacy as a mother.
Problem 2
Of the limited breast milk I made, once my daughter took a sip from the bottle, the bacteria from her saliva contaminated the milk. Whatever she didn’t finish would need to be thrown away. That was SO MUCH WASTE!
The Question
Why isn’t there something available that simply blocks the backwash from contaminating the whole bottle? A barrier to keep the backwash in one part of the bottle, separate from the full contents of the bottle would decrease waste significantly.
The Solution
aLoo. A simple, patent-pending, easy to use device that blocks 99.6% of backwash from contaminating the bottle. So, if you are going to re-use the bottle later, at least you aren’t feeding your baby added bacteria that didn’t need to be there in the first place.
What inspired you to create aLoo?
I was inspired to create aLoo because I knew that if I was feeling as guilty and frustrated with myself for not producing enough breast milk, and then having to waste it, many other mothers must be feeling this way too.
What makes aLoo unique?
aLoo is unique because there is nothing out on the market that specifically blocks backwash from contaminating the contents of a bottle. There are solutions for colic, sterilization, nipple confusion, but nothing to protect precious liquid-gold breast milk from being unnecessarily contaminated by saliva, which carries hundreds of millions of bacteria.
Can aLoo be used with any bottle?
I quickly learned that there are so many innovative bottles on the market and parents/babies have their favorite brand. Knowing that there are challenges transitioning from breast to bottle, we did not want to exclude anyone merely because of bottle brand loyalty. Our initial goal is to make the device compatible across multiple bottle brands. Currently, our device is compatible with Philips Avent and we are planning to create more sizes that will work well with other brands (Dr. Brown’s, Medela, Tommee Tippee and Playtex) soon.
Can these be reused?