Wednesday. January 27. 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 3
Sadie Sawyer, Olathe senior, kneels behind her invention called BottleBuddy. The invention won Second prize at the 1999 National Student Design Competition, which took place from Jan. 10 through Jan. 13, 1999 in Chicago. Sawyer won a $2,000 cash award at the competition. Photo by Augustus Anthony Piazza/KANSAN
Baby bottle hits big time after student wins contest
By Dan Curry Kansan staff writer
People want Sadie Sawyer's baby bottle.
Four firms have contacted Sawyer since the Oatle senior placed second with her Bottle-Buddy prototype in a national design competition in Chicago two weeks ago.
"I was a little bit high for a week," said Sawyer, who won $2.000 for her design.
Several firms have made offers to buy the product after Sawyer obtains a patent. Three of the firms are from China, and one is from the United States.
The BottleBuddy can mix and heat powdered formula to the baby-ready temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sawyer said the bottle fit into a base that activated the mixing and heating elements. This allows a caregiver holding a baby to operate the device using only one hand.
Sawyer said she was inspired by the nuisances she faced as a baby sitter for a newborn last summer.
The baby's conventional bottle made it hard to get the mixture right.
"With the powder formula, if
you don't shake it up enough, it can form little solid particles that plug up the tip," she said, referring to the bottle.
And if the bottle gets shaken too hard, air bubbles form in the milk, and the baby gets gas, she said.
Heating the bottle also proved vexing.
"The baby was particular about the temperature," Sawyer said.
She said that without the Bottle Buddy, there were three methods of heating formula but all had drawbacks.
One way was to pour hot tap water into the bottle, but this process was discouraged because of the mineral deposits inside the water, she said.
Caregivers also could microwave the bottle, but the formula heats unevenly and hot spots could form that might scald the baby's mouth.
The third option, placing the bottle inside boiling water, was messy and time-consuming, she said.
The BottleBuddy solves all of these problems by heating and mixing the milk simultaneously.
Becky Sullivan, Lawrence resident who oversees the care of 18 babies in the infant room at Stepping Stones Inc., 1100 Wakarusa Drive, said bottle preparation could be time-consuming.
She said the BottleBuddy sounded like a good idea and might be useful.
Sawyer worked on the Bottle-Buddy for three months in an industrial design class.
She said she was uncertain whether her invention would make her rich.
It costs about $600 to get a one-year patent, and that's without hiring a lawyer, she said.
To protect her idea, she took careful notes and dated each drawing of the concept's evolution.
She said she had the final design officially notarized as her own. However, a company could change three or four facets of her bottle and sell it as its own.
"it's part of the risk of being a student," she said.
Sawyer competed against 244 other students at the National Student Design Competition, which was sponsored by the National Housewares Manufacturers Association.
The University of Kansas entered 19 designs.
Mark Krasne, Clarendon Hills, Ill., senior, earned an honorable mention in the contest for his design of The Cookie Creator, a device that slices rolls of cookie dough.
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