Team FEED

Team FEED aims to create an easy-to-use, low-cost, and sustainable feeding solution for premature infants and their caregivers.

Our Mission

Team FEED aims to create an easy-to-use, low-cost, and sustainable feeding solution for premature infants and their caregivers. Currently, caregivers use syringes to feed infants unable to suckle, presenting risk of aspiration and challenges in handling and cleaning. We work in close collaboration with our community partner, the Holy Family Hospital, in Techiman, Ghana.

Background

In August 2024, our team partnered with Dr. Adjoa Gudugbe at the Holy Family Hospital in Techiman, Ghana. Since entering into our partnership, we have remained in ongoing communication with Dr. Gudugbe, who serves as a local pediatrician and concerns herself with child and neonatal health on a variety of levels, including infant prematurity and feeding practices.

We are one of the younger teams within MHEAL! We are in the process of completing our prototype blueprint by the end of Fall 2026. Prototype creation and testing is next on the docket. Team FEED is looking for driven and proactive members who are passionate about pediatric and global health. Since we are currently a smaller team, we consider ourselves a very tight-knit community, and value and incorporate all of our members’ input into our team dynamics. Our subteams work very closely together in an integrated fashion and collaborate on many common topics.

Any existing technical and business-related skills are valued, but no experience is required to join us. We will be traveling over spring break 2027 to Ghana to connect with our community partner and perform preliminary testing of our feeding design. Over the past couple of months, we have heavily prioritized research, with both a qualitative study and literature review in progress that we hope to wrap up over the next year!

Our current concept takes cues from the familiar shape and feel of a baby bottle, making it comfortable and intuitive to use. It features a squeeze handle for easy control, a one-way valve to prevent backflow, and a spout designed to pour milk smoothly. Find more information on our preliminary design below!

PROJECT OVERVIEW

This past year, we’ve dedicated a lot of time working on a literature review, which incorporates four discrete search strategies centering on cultural feeding practices and feeding solutions in LMICs. We hope to perform thorough research on feeding practices already in existence to accompany our own design, and share these findings with research mentors and beyond.

Additionally, we are also creating a qualitative study to assess experiences of stakeholders with the current feeding solution, which are plastic syringes that have caused patient troubles. This will help us assess the viability, limitations, and benefits as we continue to build our prototype, and highlight further gaps in our current approach.

We’ve created preliminary educational materials to accompany our device and educate Ghanaian caregivers about safe feeding practices for preterm infants.

In regards to our subteams, our business subteam is currently focused on fundraising for our upcoming travel to Ghana, alongside media and communication duties. Our technical subteam is centered on refining and simulating fluid mechanics for the device prototype in modeling software. Additional simulated dimensions and testing will be followed by the creation of a physical prototype for further testing, and we hope to incorporate usability studies and benchmarking both on the local and international levels.