Eastchester mother invents Bare Air-free bottle to help babies with reflux and gas

EASTCHESTER, Westchester County (WABC) -- Sometimes necessity is the mother of invention and that proved to be true for one local mother whose baby was having trouble feeding.

That struggle pushed her to invent a new baby bottle that is now helping a lot of babies and flying off store shelves.

"Prior to this bottle she used to spit up a lot. Once we switched to this, that's kind of stopped. So, that's a good thing," said Brian, a dad.

Julia Leonardo is a happier baby these days. Her bottle is designed to limit the amount of air that gets in and ultimately gets swallowed.

The Bare Air-free bottle is their neighbor's creation.

"I designed the whole thing at my kitchen table," said Priska Diaz, the inventor.

Diaz was inspired by her son's reflux and gas issues.

Carlton struggled to feed, so Diaz immediately tapped into her background in design.

"The little time I had when he went to sleep I was sketching and trying to find out how it would work," Diaz said.

The result is a bottle that's based on the idea of a syringe.

Once the milk is in the bottle, the parent pushes up a plug to expel the air.

The baby's suction moves the plug along, preventing air from entering.

"It's called air free because it doesn't allow air inside. You can expel the air out of the bottle before feeding the baby, so the milk is 100% milk and not mixed with air," Diaz said.

She also offers two nipples, one of which very much mimics the latch on a mother's breast.

She launched in February and the line is already in 185 stores nationwide.

"Babies R Us has been placing orders every two weeks so it' really crazy we sold $1 million in retail sales," Diaz said.

Diaz was able to leave behind her career in design packaging and her husband Dana King is a partner in the business. More products are on the horizon.

"It's amazing how much though went into making the prototype and the bottle. How can you not support a local mom who's making things better and easier for parents?" King said.

And she's making life more comfortable for their babies.

"I'm personally very happy my bottle is helping," Diaz said.

If you'd like to learn more please visit: http://www.bittylab.com/ and http://www.toysrus.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=84161996