Handling care: will break if dropped, handle over a padded cover or table.
Content warning: infant feeding, dangers of lack of sanitisation.
It is important that feeding bottles for babies are cleaned well, and this ‘banana’ bottle was an invention that addressed that issue in the early 20th century. The design has a flat base to keep it stable on a surface, and is curved so it fits neatly into an adult’s hand. It has two holes – one for putting in the liquid, which is then sealed, and one for a teat for the baby to suck on. Previous bottles with one hole were hard to sterilise which made them unsafe.
This one is from the 1930s, but we don’t know who used it, or whether it was made in Leeds.