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Breastfeeding importance:
Breastfeeding is a natural and beneficial source of nutrition and provides the healthiest start for an infant. (1) Breast milk has significant advantages over formula, and is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and The World Health Organization that all babies breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months.
The problem:
Breastfeeding has its challenges and when a mothers’ milk doesn’t come as quickly as expected or supply begins to diminish, there aren’t many solutions to help continue the breastfeeding process and many feel defeated and switch to formula.
Currently, of the 4 million U.S. births a year, (1) approximately 80% of newborn infants initiate breastfeeding. Of these, only 25% continue to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months. (2) Of the mothers who stopped breastfeeding, 60% did so earlier than desired. Early termination was positively associated with mothers’ concerns regarding difficulties with lactation; infant nutrition and weight; illness or need to take medicine; and the effort associated with pumping milk.
Some difficulties mom's encounter when breastfeeding:
Low milk supply: when mothers experience low supply and have to supplement, they can do so directly at the breast. Low milk can occur due to multiple reasons. It can happen from infrequent emptying of the breast or insufficient breast tissue, as well as breast surgery (among many other issues). Regardless of the reason, the Bridge helps mom give extra nutrition while providing extra stimulation to promote milk production.
Baby doesn’t latch: this usually occurs when bottles are introduced early in the breastfeeding process. The Bridge teaches the baby to latch to the breast.
Doctor recommended supplementation: if baby loses >10% of weight after birth or has jaundice, frequently supplementation is recommended by medical staff. This is usually done via bottle, interrupting the breastfeeding relationship. The Bridge gives you the opportunity to give milk to the baby without taking them away from the breast. You also know exactly how much the baby is taking and are promoting milk production in the process.
Pain: if mom is supplementing due to pain, the Bridge will provide a barrier as the nipple is healing. If pain is not improving readily, mom should see a lactation consultant.
Our Solution: The Bridge
We believe that our product, Bridge™, is the solution to improving breastfeeding rates. It is a simple-to-use system that helps babies latch to the breast and stay latched by motivating with them with instant milk (reward system). Further, it helps the mother continue to build a milk supply by increasing breast stimulation. Finally, it helps avoid nipple confusion between the breast and bottle.
Other solutions in the marketplace are either difficult to use, require assistance in operating, or are priced too high. Our proprietary manufacturing method makes the Bridge™ easy-to-use while being affordable.
Team behind the Bridge:
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Kate Spivak is the inventor of The Bridge and the founder of Laally, a Certified Women's Business Enterprise (WBE) in New Jersey. Kate is a Physician Assistant (PA) and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and above all, she is a mom to two beautiful children. She helps moms resolve breastfeeding issues on a daily basis and seeing their struggles inspired her to create the Bridge.
Kate received her Bachelor and Master degrees from Wagner College.
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Max Spivak is a former consultant at McKinsey & Company where he worked primarily on strategy development in healthcare. Before McKinsey, Max led operations and finances at Quick Rx, a privately-held chain of retail pharmacies. He also has experience as a floor trader on the American Exchange and as a Human Capital consultant at Deloitte. Currently, Max also advises medical practices and sits on the Young Leadership Council of Brooklyn Hospital.
Max has a B.S., M.S., and M.B.A. from Cornell University.
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Aaron Bronshtein is an innovative, creative and passionate mechanical engineer with extensive skills and experience in technical sales, development of scientific laboratory equipment, and product design. He has designed several medical devices over his career and continues to passionately help healthcare product start-up companies.
Aaron graduated from the Wentworth Institute of Technology.
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How your contributions help:
Over the past year we successfully launched and tested our beta version of the Bridge, patented the design, attended trade shows and sold through our initial inventory of product. We self-funded all these efforts. Currently, we are able to produce 1,000 pieces per mold. In order to scale production to make the product cheaper and to be able to add much needed options like bigger syringes, gravity bags, and different sizes of the Bridge, we need to invest into new molds and more R&D. We also need to invest in an education and marketing campaign that helps parents learn about breastfeeding and how the Bridge can help if they encounter issues.
What lactation professionals and customers are saying:
- https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/pages/aap-reaffirms-breastfeeding-guidelines.aspx
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4861949/
