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SmartBottle: A New Tool for Measuring Infant Feeding Patterns

Jun 17, 2025


The SmartBottle: A New Tool for Measuring Infant Feeding Patterns

San Luis Obispo, CA — June 2025

The Healthy Kids Lab team, in collaboration with researchers across campus, has developed and validated an innovative new device — the SmartBottle — designed to automatically and accurately measure how much infants consume during bottle feeding. Although still in its early stages of development and testing, this tool aims to help researchers and caregivers track feeding patterns during a critical window of infant growth and development. The results of our recent proof-of-concept study were published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Why It Matters

Infant feeding data is vital for understanding weight gain and long-term health outcomes. However, current methods such as food diaries or weighed bottle records are time-consuming, prone to human error, and disruptive to families' routines. Caregiver self-reports often miss the mark due to poor recall or inaccurate estimates.

Enter the SmartBottle: a small, flexible sleeve that fits around standard infant bottles and uses embedded sensors to measure bottle angle and weight changes in real time. It stores feeding data automatically — no buttons, notebooks, or apps required.

What Our Study Found

In a controlled lab setting, SmartBottle demonstrated high accuracy, matching scale-based measurements to within 0.01 grams on average. The device performed equally well with small and large bottles, as well as both narrow and wide neck designs.

"SmartBottle has the potential to improve how we collect infant feeding data — making it more reliable, more accessible, and less intrusive for families," said Dr. Alison Ventura, senior author of the study, professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Public Health, and Director of the Healthy Kids Lab at Cal Poly

Looking Ahead

The research team is planning further studies in home settings to evaluate usability and performance in real-world feeding contexts. With promising applications in research, clinical practice, and mobile health, SmartBottle may soon be helping parents and pediatricians alike gain better insight into early feeding patterns.

This research was supported by the William and Linda Frost Fund in Cal Poly’s Bailey College of Science and Mathematics.


Read the full article: Blach, E., Ryder, M. M., Brewster, R., de la Fuente, J., Hawkins, B. G., & Ventura, A. K. (2025). The Accuracy of a SmartBottle Device for Objective Assessment of Changes in Bottle Weight During Infant Feeding. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Diet

For more info, contact Dr. Alison Ventura at akventur@calpoly.edu
 

 

Healthy Kids Lab Shines at 2025 BCSM Student Research Conference

May 23, 2025


The students of the Healthy Kids Lab brought big smiles and even bigger data to the 2025 Bailey College of Science and Mathematics Student Research Conference this month! With colorful posters and confident presentations, our young scientists shared their latest findings from three of the lab’s current studies: iBaby Study, Project EMBRACE, and the Infant INTAKE+ Study.

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