Infants who have difficulty breastfeeding can miss out on the many benefits of breastfeeding and face a greater risk for malnutrition. Since breast pumps can often harbor infectious pathogens in water in low-hygiene settings, the WHO recommends that mothers of children with feeding difficulties produce breast milk into a small cup and use the cup to feed the child.

Detailed description of the solution

The Neonatal Intuitive Feeding TechnologY, or NIFTY, Infant Feeding Cup, is an easy to clean, easy to use technology that seeks to address the needs of both mother and child. It is designed to be simple for the mother to capture expressed milk, and to be simple to feed to the infant.

Designed by

• Designed by: Program for Appropriate Technologies in Health (PATH), PO Box 900922 Seattle, WA 98109 USA
• PATH's official website here.
• Manufacturing: The device is currently in the prototype stage, under development in Seattle, Washington, USA, and in Kumasi, Ghana.

When and where it was tested/implemented

It is being developed and tested at University of Washington, Seattle Children's Craniofacial Center, and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana.

Funding Source

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provides public funding. The Seattle Children's Hospital provides academic funding.

References