“My toddler was vomiting in the car. What I invented next went viral”
The toddler vomit problem no one had solved until these Aussie parents came along.
Toddler vomiting in the car is the kind of parenting nightmare you hope will never happen to you. But when Karmyn and Daniel Roberts found themselves facing it, they had three hours of driving ahead of them, a sick 20-month-old and no way for him to hold a bucket.
“We had a long drive home after our camping trip with a sick child and no way to sit in the back and hold a bucket for him,” explains Karmyn.
“With our fingers and toes crossed that we wouldn’t have to clean vomit off our child, out of the car seats and off the carpet mid-trip, we thought, surely other people have this problem? What can we do about it?”
That very messy car ride sparked an idea, a bucket-style bib for little ones who are too young, or unable, to hold one themselves.
Our solution to a gross parenting problem
Karmyn launched Chundee in September 2024, initially selling online and promoting it organically on Instagram and Facebook. The start was slow.
“Things were slow when we first launched. We had no business experience and thought putting up pretty pictures on a website would do the trick. We had one sale on launch night, which was from my sister-in-law,” says Karmyn.
“Despite the slow start, we knew we had created something that solved a very real problem for parents. We just had to figure out how to get it in front of them.”
Then the internet got involved
Six months after launching, Karmyn started posting videos showing exactly how her product worked.
“I started posting videos showing the problem and revealing the solution and those who got it got it. We reached 49.9 million views on one video and had comments from parents thanking me for making such an inclusive product.”
The Chundee is made from soft but durable silicone, is compact and comes with a waterproof storage bag. Its deep, wide catching pocket can hold up to a litre of liquid and has a lip inside the bucket designed to help contain splashback.
It can also catch snacks and crumbs during pram rides or messy meals.
“I had a customer send me a photo of her daughter eating a cheeseburger, she said every time she took a bite she would carefully put the cheeseburger in the bottom of the bucket, finish chewing and then pick it up again, it caught all the crumbs too!”
The product is now used all around the world
Chundee has now been shipped to 30 countries, including to parents of children with disabilities, those going through chemotherapy and children with medical conditions that cause vomiting.
For Karmyn, helping these families feels like a natural extension of her previous work.
“I have always been in the area of helping people, straight out of school I did a traineeship in youth work, went overseas and worked as a live in support worker for people in wheelchairs and worked in the social work space up until I had children,” says Karmyn.
“It just seemed natural creating a product where I could continue to help people but just in a different capacity. Our aim is to make it as easily accessible to those who really need it.”
