SmartBottle: A New Tool for Measuring Infant Feeding Patterns
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.
For more info, contact Dr. Alison Ventura at akventur@calpoly.edu
