The Kiinde Kozii's innovative design uses circulating warm water to heat breastmilk, formula or baby food.
We’re really excited about the new Kiinde Kozii, a bottle warmer created by MIT engineers and inspired by fatherhood! We had the opportunity to interview the creators of Kozii to get the inside scoop on this wonderful new product.
What inspired you to create Kozii?
The inspiration for Kozii was Kailas’ experience as a new parent. He and his wife (a medical doctor) decided it was important that their daughter be breastfed for the first year of her life, per the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines. When Denali (his daughter) was born, his wife was finishing her 4th year of medical school and starting residency. To accomplish their goal, it was important for Kailas to warm refrigerated and frozen breast milk to feed Denali when his wife was working long shifts. One night at 3am, while staring into a bowl of tap water that was slowly thawing his screaming daughter’s meal, he thought that there must be a better way. He mentioned the problem to John one day and they started brainstorming. One thing led to another and two years later, here it is!
What is the Kiinde Kozii and what makes it different than other bottle warmers?
Kozii is the safest, fastest, and easiest way to prepare breast milk and formula for serving to your little one. It’s the first warmer specifically designed to follow CDC guidelines for safely thawing and warming breast milk, without sacrificing speed or ease of use.
Kozii uses a circulating bath of warm (not hot!) water to safely and quickly warm breastmilk, formula or food in any container. The water bath is thermostatically regulated to the temperature of warm tap water (around 50 C). Studies have shown that antibodies in breast milk begin to denature at 53 C. Since the water in Kozii is flowing, the warming speed is comparable to steam, while the temperature is much lower and safer. This increase in heat transfer at a low temperature is similar to how a convection oven works – flowing air (or water) means faster heat transfer, which allows a lower, safer temperature without sacrificing warming speed!
Our patent pending SAFEHeat technology ensures that heating stops completely when the time is up, by draining the water out of the warming chamber into the onboard reservoir. This is key to making sure you don’t overheat bottles when you get distracted by a crying baby as you’re trying to get their meal ready!
The timer is an easy, intuitive, reliable interface (surprisingly a luxury in the world of bottle warmers!), and the onboard reservoir means you don’t have a run to the sink to measure or add water with each use. This feature came directly from experience with 3am feedings!
John and Kailas are MIT engineers who invented the Kiinde Kozii bottle warmer.
What is your background and how do you know each other? How did you decide to collaborate on this project?
We’re both nerds! We met each other as freshmen in college at MIT making electric go-karts. We lived in the same dorm, had similar interests and friends and got to know each other in various classes (John helped Kailas pass French class). We both share a passion for innovation and creativity, and we love robotics and making cool stuff. Our first invention we turned into a company was a wearable robotic medical device that helps paralyzed people move again (the company is called Myomo). In addition to starting Myomo, we designed and built humanoid robots on the side with what would become our second company, Xitome Design. When inspiration struck for Kozii, we were both thrilled to tackle the project. The real treat came when, about a year later, we discovered how much we love working with the people and products in this space, and we think we are here to stay for a while! The fountain of ideas is flowing freely. Stay tuned….
How long did the process take, from design to production? Any speed bumps along the way?
From inspiration to production, the Kozii took about two years. We went through dozens of drastically different designs before settling on what we found to be the best. We are very fussy and obsessed with quality, so we may have taken longer than most to prove out the very best concept! We have enough early prototypes to start a small museum! Once we finished the design, we began the challenging process of figuring out how to get it manufactured. Balancing cost and quality is always a challenge. It was important for us to try to have the product assembled in the USA. It took almost a year of going back and forth with various suppliers and manufacturers around the world and in our back yard to come up with a super product at the right price: more fussing over details and enforcing uncompromising quality standards (to the dismay of some would-be suppliers!).
How did the Kiinde Kozii get its name?
It’s the kindest, coziest (and catchiest) name for a warmer that gives you pleasant meals and peace of mind!
Want to see it in action? Check out our video demo of the Kiinde Kozii below.
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