The Birth of Latchi: A Journey of Love, Necessity, and Innovation

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The birth of our firstborn son was not only one of the most important days in our lives that we will always cherish but also a day that sparked a fire in the freight train to the bottle industry!

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Hello, my name is Ted Jones, the dad here. In September of 2023, my wife and I had the opportunity to bring such an amazing little wonder into this world! Our time in the hospital was a whirlwind of emotions, as it is for most first-time parents. The unknowns of everything, the "what do we do with this?" and "How can so much come out of something so small?" moments filled our days. The hospital trip wasn’t the planned experience we were hoping for, with a semi-emergency C-section. The visit was long and short all at the same time. Figuring out the routines that worked for our little man, what worked for us, and just so many diapers. Lots of times on phones, scrolling, looking at baby items, new trends, and honestly just trying to figure out how we will be the best parents to the little one who had just entered our world hours prior.

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The hospital can be a challenging place where it's hard to be on top of everything. You have your birthing plan, questions to be answered, and of course, nurses checking in every few minutes. It's an overwhelming place. I would say that despite everything not going as planned, we were incredibly lucky with the staff we had on deck.

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With an unplanned C-section comes an unplanned extended stay in the hospital. Alongside this comes the hardest few days/weeks where you need to help more than ever because the mother of your child is in the biggest healing point of her life. You are there to help her do everything for that baby: feeding, changing, and emotional support. You need to do anything for the person who just gave you the best gift of your life.

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I had changed so many diapers and swaddled the little one so much that by the time day 3 or 4 came around—honestly, I can’t remember when they let us leave—it was brutal but beautiful all at the same time. Side note for dads/partners/friends staying in the hospital: bring a camping sleeping pad and a nice pillow. Pretty much all you will personally need.

This was all the kindling to the blaze that is to come!

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We watched as our little one went from a minute old to an hour, to a day, to a few days. We covered all the information once, twice, and three times to make sure we didn’t miss any notes. We like to be prepared and trust me, it doesn't matter if you miss a few—you are never prepared enough anyhow.

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The three most important notes are the essentials to life itself: eat, sleep, and poop. By day three, we had covered these so much that by the time we got home, we actually could do it all while we were sleeping, which is great because you need to. For us, those three came so naturally that they were easy. The little man latched within 2 minutes of getting back from surgery, momma’s milk came flushing out, and he could not get enough. I honestly think in order, the baby's first love is momma, then the nipple, and then dad. In that order, for sure! We were insanely lucky for him to know how to latch immediately and make that important connection, as I know it is not the case for everyone. Knowing those three essential things, and they allow you to leave with this little person in a car seat, is crazy.

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We got home, and everything needed to be done for Momma. Rightfully, she was in so much pain and drained from the little man's hunger. I would change him, hand him off for feeding, then take him back and swaddle him for sleep. We became a well-oiled machine eating, sleeping, and pooping! Two months in, that well-oiled machine began to speak. Momma was drained and really needed some sort of break from the little dude. Everything we tried would not work; all he wanted was his first two true loves, momma and the nipple. We tried everything under the sun from different pacifiers to different bottles, but nothing was even close to similar. It became my fatherly duty to, one, help my wife and, two, find a bottle that the little one would take from even me. As a dad, you see all these crazy trends of dads wearing fake boobs, holding an iPad in front of their face with their partner's face on it. Let me tell you, I am not one of those dads about to put a fake boob on. I kept searching and searching, and I couldn’t find a bottle he would latch to. Then I remembered an ad on Instagram while I was in the hospital for braces, which is funny you will hear further along in the story. The ad was about 3D scanning your teeth for braces. Just like that, a holy crap lightbulb popped up in my head: I could 3D scan my wife's breast and make a custom baby bottle that would be such a close replica he wouldn’t fight.

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The building began. First, let me just say my wife is a trooper for letting me do all of this. In a week, I managed to build a 3D model using the scan we had captured in our kitchen, and I turned it into prototype 001. I printed it in a blue rubber filament, placed it on the bottle, and put it up to the little man. He latched and began to feed. This was such an amazing moment. From going through all the different bottles and everything to getting him to feed on something other than momma, it was breathtaking. It worked. It freaking worked. That’s all I could think to myself. I have invented a few things prior, but in reality, this was that idea where I sat back and said, "This is it."

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This is the product I need to bring to market. Week two came and went with more research. I looked up everything I could about breastfeeding and bottle feeding, the benefits of one over the other, and the negative effects of bottle feeding. I am a firm believer that breastfeeding your baby is the most important part of the child's development. From everything I have read and everything I have witnessed myself, you need to try and not miss out on it. I began to adjust our prototypes and really combined all the best research I had collected and made it into one product.

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This is a product that I truly believe can help so many people, babies, and loved ones. It is a product I can stand behind and change the game! This product was designed by a dad for the sole purpose of helping the mother of his child have a small break and for his baby to get the best kick start to life he possibly could. For the dads out there, this product is also for you! I was in awe of the connection our little man had with my wife. As I stated above, I truly believe their first love is mother, then nipple, and then dad. And with that comes a small disconnect that the father feels. You want to be there to help, you want to provide, you want to see the small milk smirk after they are done, you want them to be close. This is for you to help out another way and connect with your baby on a new level!

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Latchi will become a staple in the baby bottle industry.