Kaboutjie SA Mommy Blogs by Lynne Huysamen
After endless times of Calpol spilled all over me, I set out to create a product that will make giving medicine easier. Medapti, adapter for baby syringes will be launching in the next few months and is available for pre-order now.
My name is Dora, and I am a mum of two. I came up with the idea when I struggled to give medicine to my children when they were babies. One was on reflux medication for months and I was always worried about hurting his gums with the hard plastic syringe. My second baby refused to take the medicine altogether. He would clamp his mouth, pull away, cry uncontrollably and the medicine would normally end up all over him, me or the floor. My main worries were that he didn’t swallow enough dose or that while trying to administer his medication, the medicine would shoot straight down his throat and make him choke, which happened a few times and was really scary. Every time I looked at my baby’s upset face, I just couldn’t believe that there wasn’t a product to help me.
There are various products trying to solve the problem of giving medicine to babies but some are too messy or difficult to use, some are not suitable for babies that don’t like dummies, some direct the medicine straight down the throat or are simply ineffective. Frustrated, I decided to create one. I started drawing the designs, got the Play-Doh, scissors, and paper out, and started on my journey. I set out to create a simple product to make giving medicine to babies easier.
Medapti offers the following benefits:
- Simple – It just slips onto the end of the flat-end oral syringe
- Direct – Helps direct medicine to baby’s cheek, not the centre of baby’s mouth
- Position – Helps keep the syringe in baby’s mouth
- Soft – Soft and gentle on baby’s mouth and gums
- One hand use – You only need one hand to dispense medicine, leaving your other arm free to hold your baby
- Less mess – MEDAPTI reduces spills and leaks, leaving you and your little one mess-free
Medapti is made with a medical grade, non-toxic and BPA-free material.
Fast forward to now, MEDAPTI has gone from my home-made dream to a patented product, gathering interest from many parents, health professionals and children’s hospitals, including Great Ormond Street Hospital. It has also been featured widely in the British and international media. MEDAPTI was also chosen as one of the four finalists in the BPA Concept & Innovation Awards 2019 competition.
The journey to get to this point has been a challenge to say the least. Due to Covid-19 as well as design changes that I decided to make in order to make the product as safe as possible, production has been in standstill since January but things have finally started moving along in August. The tooling is now finished and the first production run should start in the next few weeks.
Having been accepted on the NatWest Back Her Business Programme, I am now crowdfunding to enable me to take Medapti to the next level. So far, I have managed to get 102 backers, which is incredible, but I need more support. If I get to 25% (I am on 20% at the moment) NatWest will add another £5000 to support my project.
Here is the link to my crowdfunding page: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/medapti
You can not only pre-order Medapti but also choose either rewards, including a super cosy coatigan designed by my sister (a perfect Christmas gift!), inspirational t-shirts or “Mystery Launch Party” VIP tickets.
I really need this campaign to be successful so I can pay for the rest of the production costs, including packaging and shipping, as well as other important costs like insurance and intellectual property.
Since I started working on Medapti seven years ago, I have been through some trials and tribulations to say the least. It hasn’t been an easy journey, especially while still working and looking after two kids, but I haven’t given up because I believe in my product and I really think it will help many people. It has also been an incredible journey where I met amazing people, learnt an unbelievable amount of new things and showed my kids that it’s important to dream big, get yourself out of your comfort zone as well as fail but pick yourself up, learn from it and carry on working towards your dream.
Dorota Dyk (Dora)
What a great idea.
I often out medicine in milk but some you can’t do that.
This is brilliant
I totally agree with you Jami, this is a brilliant mompreneur invention! My daughter was in the hospital for a week when she was 6 months old and from then until she was 2 years old she was often sick and I had to give her so much medicine. It was so distressing for both of us. I would have loved something like this!
Wow this is so easy and no spilling…
Awsome idea Mom
Such a brilliant invention. My son was one of those babies who refused to take medicine and to this day he will only accept homoeopathic cough mixture. I really could have done with Medapti when he was little. Mom Inventors rock!!
Thanks so much, Lynne for publishing this post for Dora. It will be so awesome if we can help her reach her target on Crowdfunder by helping other Moms who are struggling with this challenge.
It is a pleasure Lauren 🙂 And yes it is a fantastic product. So sad it was not around when my daughter was a baby. I struggled so much with giving her meds. It always landed up with meds everywhere and both of us in tears.
I add the medicine to my baby’s bottle milk – works like a charm 🙂
Sounds so easy!
Wow this is a super invention. I know the feeling of having medicine all over everything and not in my child’s mouth so well! It’s so frustrating. My eldest now at least agrees to calpol but won’t have anything else 🙈 her brother just will not even open his mouth. Giving medicine is such a hassle at the moment. Can’t wait for this to be available.