Like many first-time parents entering the teething phase, we found ourselves handing our daughter just about anything to see if it would calm her - a wooden spoon, a silicone spatula, a zucchini fresh out of the refrigerator. One day while visiting family, we were raiding their kitchen for something she could chew on, when we came across a silicone bottle stopper.
We handed it over not thinking much.. until it got quiet. We looked over at our daughter, Reese, to find her intently gnawing at the bottle stopper. She pinched the nubs, she folded and grabbed the sides, she chewed on the ribbed cork and passed it between her hands as she inspected it. It kept her busy for longer than any other item had.
Austin, being the dad that he is, of course had a dad joke on deck and started calling it her “whine stopper”. The longer she continued to enjoy it, the more it became obvious that there could be a good idea on our hands: why don’t we create a silicone stopper that’s actually designed for teething babies?
As we explored the children’s product world, we quickly learned how much waste comes from cheaply made toys that break easily or lose their appeal. A staggering 80% of children’s toys end up in landfills, oceans, or incinerators each year, adding up to about 1.5 billion pounds of waste annually.
Unlike a traditional teether, our design combines dual functionality with durable, one-piece construction to transform a short-term necessity into a long-lasting, sentimental keepsake rather than another item destined for the landfill.