Claire Mitchell was travelling with her young baby when she suddenly realised she had forgotten to pack a spare sterilised bottle.

“I complained to my husband that it was unbelievable someone hadn’t invented anything that made it possible to feed baby milk to your child straight from the carton,” Claire recalled.

From that Eureka moment in the car with a hungry baby came Chillipeeps, a product that has turned heads in one of the biggest industries in the UK.

After realising there was a gap in the market Claire, a care home manager, discovered her first step was to patent her idea.

The next stage involved creating a prototype and after reading about Harrogate designer Richard Hall in the press she approached him with her product.

“I was impressed by the amount of work she’d already done, she was very clued up,” said Richard, managing director of PDM Ltd, based on Victoria Avenue.

“We were really excited about the product right from the start because the baby product market is huge.

“I’ve got three children and anyone who has experienced sterilising bottles and how much equipment you have to take with you when you travel will appreciate the convenience of a product like this.”

The Chillipeeps range of a teat, spout and pourer, includes a teat in a pod that is pre-sterilised ready for first use and can be directly attached to a ready-made baby formula milk carton. Easy to attach, use, seal in-situ, remove, clean, resterilised ready for the next use.

Claire and her husband Rob had been married for 23 years when their daughter Mimi, now two, arrived unexpectedly into their lives.

She is now Claire’s motivation for carrying forward her initial concept for a product that makes parents’ lives easier.

“It’s all been very exciting,” said Claire. “I’ve never done anything like this before and I have had so much interest from retailers since winning the award.

“I’d love other people to realise they can do it and dreams really can come true.”