Penn State Eberly College alumna turns feeding struggles into startup success

MALVERN, Pa. — When Julianne Gardner’s second child refused to take a bottle, she tried everything — consulting medical professionals, reaching out to family and friends, and scouring the internet for solutions. Nothing seemed to work.

Gardner, who has a background in managing clinical trials and is a graduate of the Penn State Eberly College of Science, decided to dig into some research around bottle refusal. She found studies showing how a mother’s scent can comfort and soothe infants. She decided to test out this theory and wrapped one of her worn shirts around the bottle. To her surprise, her baby drank from it.

That discovery sparked the idea for Bottimals, a startup that creates bottle-loveys — stuffed animals that wrap around baby bottles and include a removable heart pad mothers can wear against their skin to absorb their scent. The patent-pending bottle-lovey is intended to help ease the transition from breastfeeding to bottle feeding for infants.

“It’s a widespread problem affecting not just my son,” Gardner said. “Bottle refusal can really disrupt family life. I was lucky I worked from home, but I know moms who had to quit their jobs because of it. That affects a family’s livelihood and creates a vicious cycle of stress. I wanted to figure out how to help other families solve this problem.”

Gardner said her biology degree from Penn State gave her the foundation she needed to pursue both her professional and entrepreneurial journey.

“I recall taking Professor [now Verne M. Willaman Dean] Tracy Langkilde’s biology course and loving it,” she said. “It was during that class that I had some of my first exposures to reading scientific papers, reviewing tables and graphs, and learning how to interpret them. I remember having an active hands-on approach in the lab that directly translated to my last 13 years working in clinical trial research, managing studies in areas like autoimmune disease and medical devices. That scientific background prepared me for a career in the pharmaceutical industry and ultimately gave me the skills I draw on now as an entrepreneur.”

While working on the first bottle-lovey prototype, Gardner reconnected with longtime family friend and fellow Penn State alumna Jill Cinalli, who had recently become a mother herself.

“Julianne and I grew up together,” said Cinalli, a Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications alum. “When I went back to work after having my son, I thought he was doing well with the bottle. But the first week my mom tried to feed him while I was at work, he screamed and refused. I was at a loss. There are so many different bottles and recommendations out there. But nothing in the market that really focuses on mom’s scent. That’s what makes Bottimals unique.”

To test the idea, Gardner ran a beta trial in fall 2024 with moms from a Facebook group. The response was overwhelmingly positive.

Encouraged, she entered the LionCage Pitch Competition at the Great Valley LaunchBox powered by Penn State with her latest prototype, where she won first place in the Penn State alumni category.

“It was amazing,” Gardner said. “So many people, especially dads, came up to me saying, ‘I could never feed my baby.’ Hearing their stories and excitement about the product was really validating.”

Gardner has since stayed closely connected with the Great Valley LaunchBox team, tapping into its mentorship and networking opportunities. She’s also shared her entrepreneurial journey as a panelist on a women entrepreneurs panel.

“One of the things I’m most grateful for is the LaunchBox’s ability to connect me to other professionals in the industry,” she said. “They introduced me to my patent attorney, who’s also a Penn State grad, and countless mentors. For a new entrepreneur, having access to that kind of network has been incredible.”

In June, Bottimals officially launched its first bottle-lovey product for purchase online. Gardner says early customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and that she and Cinalli are already planning what’s next.

“We’re seeing such great responses with this first animal,” Cinalli said. “We’re already thinking about expanding to different animals and colors. The fact that it’s been so well-received, and that we’re already dreaming of the next phase, is really exciting.”

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