White Lake Resident Enters 'Get on the Shelf' Contest

White Lake resident Loretta Bradfield has entered "Get on the Shelf" contest and said she hopes to garner enough support to win the grand prize, an opportunity to create her invention and sell it online and at local Walmart stores.

Bradfield's invention is a hands-free pressurized baby bottle that completely evacuates air from the bottle, virtually eliminating having to burp your baby.

"Our bottle makes it so baby never gets any air in her tummy," Bradfield said. "We did this by using a spring to first push out the air and, at the same time, give just enough pressure to feed the baby without anyone holding it. This is the only pressurized bottle out there and, to me, the best quality is that it helps with safety in the car seat. If she is crying you can simply give her the bottle to stop the crying and not have the distraction."

Bradfield said she came up with the concept when her daughter was taking a long time to feed with a bottle, "I wanted to be able to read a book to her or something while she was eating, but I didn't have a free hand."

"My friend Daniel Ryan, who is an engineer, came over and I told him we should make an improved bottle," she said. "We spent the whole day designing the first idea. I think it took a month to revamp the design, and two months to piece together a prototype."

According to Walmart, the Get on the Shelf Contest is an online contest where businesses and individuals are invited to submit products that are not sold by Walmart. When voting opens on Wednesday, March 7, the public will be able to vote for their favorites.

There will be three winners, based on voting, who will get a shot at selling their product on Walmart.com, along with free marketing support.

"The grand prize winning product could be carried by Walmart's physical stores too," the site states. "Winners also could get guidance on scaling up production to meet Walmart demand. All contestants will get some free visibility, and who knows where that could lead."

To vote for Bradfield, visit http://www.getontheshelf.com Online voting will take place in March and April. The winners of the competition will be announced at the end of April.