I, a childless person, was recently talking to a friend who has become a defacto stepmom to three young children, thanks to her boyfriend’s previous marriage. “I’m doing an interview for the Forbes column,” I said, “with this weird product. It’s a tube you put up your child’s no—.”
“Oh, the snot sucker,” she says. “Yeah, we have like two in every bathroom.”
Ah. Well.
The world of weird baby products can be hard to comprehend for non-parents, from a baby butt fan to prevent diaper rash to a baby lasso intended to hold your child’s feet while changing his or her diaper. But one I would likely never have thought of is the NoseFrida — a.k.a. the snot sucker — from baby and child wellness brand Fridababy. It’s a tube used by parents when their babies, who aren't yet able to blow their own noses, are congested. The NoseFrida is inserted into the baby’s nostrils while the parent sucks on the other end of the tube to pull out mucus. The mucus is caught in the washable filter, keeping germs away from the parent’s mouth.
The NoseFrida, or snot sucker, with it's simple, easy-to-understand packaging
Credit: FridaBaby, LLC.
The NoseFrida is an invention imported from Sweden and adapted for a U.S. audience. Miami-based Chelsea Hirschhorn, Fridababy’s current CEO and “re-founder,” bought the company from a neighbor who was importing the snot sucker directly from Sweden and selling it locally. The neighbor was keen to sell the business — though Hirschhorn wasn’t keen to take it on.
“My neighbor hinted she wanted someone to take over,” says Hirschhorn. “But I didn’t have any kids yet and it didn’t occur to me. My husband kicked me under the table and said ‘I think she wants you to entertain it.’” At the time, Hirschhorn was working for a major Miami sports team, managing their revenue department. Eventually, though, she was convinced to take over the business, and in 2014, she officially became the CEO of Fridababy, LLC.
Fridababy CEO Chelsea Hirschhorn
Credit: Fridababy, LLC.
For Hirschhorn, the first step was obvious: distribution. “We’re committed to the product being in every place a parent would go,” says Hirschhorn. She was able to get into local stores less than two weeks after buying the company but realized that in order to get into major retailers, she needed to have additional products. It wasn’t worth a retailer’s time to contract with companies that only produced one item. So Hirschhorn's team got to work. She jokes that bootstrapping through additional product development “took more time than my first child did,” but they quickly worked on adding more inventory to the business. Their second marketed product was the Windi Gaspasser, which they bill as a “backdoor solution to gassy babies.” Now, most products retain the “Frida” moniker, as frida means ‘peaceful' or ‘free from’ in Swedish.
