When Rosy Mobbs became a mother, breastfeeding felt like the obvious choice – deeply ingrained in her upbringing, supported by science, and championed by her parents, both lactation consultants. But what she quickly discovered was that “natural” didn’t mean easy, with millions of mothers around the world facing pain, exhaustion and a world that still makes breastfeeding harder than it should be. With a background in nursing, health economics and journalism – and a fierce determination to change the system – she set out to create ecobub: a revolutionary nipple shield designed by a mum, for mums, to ease pain and support those crucial early weeks of feeding. Here, Rosy talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the inspiration behind ecobub, the challenges she has overcome, and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
Breastfeeding was the ‘only option’ when I had my kids, as both my parents (a doctor and a psychologist) were lactation consultants and I had trained as a nurse, so was very aware of the benefits. Not only that, but everyone in my huge family breastfed in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The WHO recommends 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding and then combination feeding (with food) until the baby is two. With so much poverty world-wide, it surprises me that only 5% of the world’s babies are breastfed according to the WHO recommendations. Even at 6 months, the rates of breastfeeding are extremely low. Less than 50%.
That’s because there are SO MANY impediments to breastfeeding.
- Lack of support for new mums
- Pain from cracked, bleeding nipples (and other breastfeeding issues such as mastitis, inverted nipples, lack of supply, etc.)
- More than 5% of women are diagnosed with breast cancer, with many of child-bearing age
- There are not enough pumping rooms/breastfeeding rooms in workplaces
- Working from home is not a guaranteed choice for ‘office’ working mums
- Domestic violence is prevalent (spikes after childbirth)
- Parental leave is not always accessible, and in some countries like the United States, it is extremely limited
- Women still earn less than men, compromising time with their babies
- To drive corporate profits, formula businesses manipulate vulnerable mums with aggressive advertising slogans such as ‘fed is best’ and ‘we care about your mental health’
- Limited approval and accommodation of breastfeeding in public
By the time I had my four kids, I had moved away from my nursing career and was working as a banking journalist at the Australian Financial Review, and then as the business editor of the Sunday Telegraph. While some journalists were allowed to work from home, the mums with bubs all worked from the office. Luckily, at the Financial Review, there was a childcare centre next door. So, I would take my first baby to work with me – breastfeed her in a café on the way in (luckily with no disapproval) and express/pump in the toilets. Because there was no other place to do it. At the Sunday Telegraph, I used to tell the boss I was going for a ‘smoko’ but instead ran home, breastfed, and then ran back to the office (which was fortunately very close to home). Smoking back then (and probably still now) was more ‘acceptable’ than breastfeeding, so even though I’m a non-smoker, I was happy there was an excuse for my absence.
There has recently been a lot of media attention around breastfeeding rooms for mums with Alex Merrett, the wife of an Australian footballer, sharing with her thousands of followers, a TikTok video of her expressing breastmilk in the football stadium toilets.
These experiences highlight why so many mums stop breastfeeding early. Reflecting on these issues, I looked through the extraordinary research my parents did around breastfeeding. My mother, Dr Elsie Mobbs, coined the term ‘oral-tactile imprinting’ to describe how a baby imprints on the shape of its mum’s nipple when it first breastfeeds as an evolutionary survival strategy.
Thinking through why it was so difficult to transition between breastfeeding and bottle feeding (and for NICU bubs, bottle/tube feeding back to breast), I got thinking about bottles, dummies and nipple shields. And why the shapes were so different to the natural shape of the mum. Nipple shields are generally large and rigid which means a baby needs to open its mouth extra wide to latch, and then can experience ‘nipple confusion’ when it tries to breastfeed directly from the mother.
As a mum who breastfed each of my children for at least 2 years, it occurred to me that if a nipple shield could be made to morph around the natural shape of a mum, the baby would find it easier to transition between the nipple shield and the natural breast. That’s important because as many as 30% of women experience pain during breastfeeding and many reach for nipple shields to get them through it. The problem is that many babies then imprint onto the ‘cone like’ shield shape, flowing into other breastfeeding issues down the track.
The ecobub nipple shield is a world first when it comes to shape morphing around the natural shape of the mum. It does this with tiny, mesh-like (patent pending) perforations that allow it to morph and adapt around the changing shape of the nipple during a breastfeed. That means when a mum experiences pain from cracked/bleeding nipples during the first six weeks of breastfeeding, she can use an ecobub nipple shield which more closely mimics the shape and natural breastfeeding movements.
Most nipple shields available were created by men and I believe the nuanced personal experience of breastfeeding was essential to understanding how to develop a shape morphing nipple shield.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
After years of research and development, we launched in February this year with a Kickstarter campaign. It was exciting putting it all together and we were incredibly grateful for the support in doing this. Launching a business needs solid foundations and we have been focused on this. It’s a gradual process of building.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
All babies were breastfed for the first 250,000 years of human existence so it is no surprise that rudimentary nipple shields have been discovered among the ruins of ancient civilisations. For centuries, shields were made from materials such as animal skin, wood, wax, glass, lead, rubber and ivory. But in 1980, with the increased interest in the health and environmental benefits of breastfeeding, the first silicone nipple shields were manufactured. The average woman’s nipple is 1.3cm in diameter and 0.9cm high. Shields are generally a lot larger than these measurements and often resemble traffic cones. That is because they work with the nipple and areolar being suctioned into the pre-existing shape of the shield. The ecobub nipple shield works differently with the tiny perforations promoting shape morphing to adapt around the natural shape of the mother, offering a more customised experience.
Offering a solution to a problem is a significant step on a business trajectory and has more long-term viability. It’s not just a fad.
