SAN MATEO, Calif. — Nestled in the San Mateo Highlands, Shea Kelly is raising two fast-growing babies. One is her 26-month-old daughter, Marissa, the focal point of Kelly’s life since her adoption in January 2006. The other is Chez Shea Baby LLC, her baby-products company responsible for what she hopes is the next big thing in baby bibs, DaBib.

With sales growing in the United States and as far away as the United Kingdom and Australia, DaBib’s innovative design is catching on with relieved parents. Kelly already has several famous clients, who received the new bibs at star-studded events like the Emmy Awards last September, where she spent $3,000 for a booth.

“This provides an elegant solution to parents,” the bubbly Massachusetts native said of her creation. “It’s hard to imagine a more common activity than feeding your kid, and why hasn’t somebody bothered to just make it right?”

Her first product has earned an iParenting Media Award, a product-evaluation-and-testing designation provided by iParenting.com, a Disney Internet Group media property. She was selected last August out of thousands of applicants in the feeding category. She officially launched the brand in October.

Kelly, 46, said she came up with DaBib out of necessity. She found that traditional scoop-neck bibs left her daughter’s clothes stained and wet after every feeding. She wanted to spend less money on new clothing and less time laundering dirty clothes.

“My big thing initially was that I wanted something that would cover the neck. It’s the simplest little thing, but most bibs are either ineffective, uncomfortable, or both,” said Kelly, who previously spent 20 years in the field of human relations.

Kelly’s solution to that problem is her patent-pending “Scrunch Neckline,” which is meant to thwart messes around the collar. She also wanted to improve upon the material of typical bibs with her two styles: Hugs and Giggles.

The Hugs bib is good for infants, Kelly said, because the micro-fiber terry-cloth front absorbs the liquid food and dribble that inevitably accompany the first year of life, while the waterproof backing keeps liquids off the child’s clothing.

Giggles is suitable for toddlers who are experimenting with real food, since it is made entirely from a waterproof polyester fabric that wipes clean easily, an advance from the hard plastic bibs of the past.

Both bib styles machine wash without shrinkage and have a crumb-catching pocket, which is hidden on the back of the bib and then folds forward to catch anything that falls from the child’s mouth. The design keeps food from getting caught in the pocket’s seams.

Kelly also wanted to improve the shape of bibs, so she made a curved design that fits any baby and covers their shoulders. And to save parents the money spent on bigger bib sizes every few months as babies grow, a single DaBib can fit an infant to a 2-year-old.

Kelly is also working on the second product from Chez Shea Baby: DaBurp, a new style of burping blanket that is curved to fit a parent’s shoulder more comfortably.

Kelly tested her prototype bibs with the help of nearby parents and two day-care centers, including Lil’ Babes day-care and preschool in Redwood City, Calif., which is owned by Michelle Shamuel.

Shamuel said she uses DaBib on all the children at her facility, including Kelly’s daughter Marissa, a regular at Lil’ Babes and a notorious dribbler.

“It works perfect for me,” she said. “I like the neck for babies who drool a lot ... and (the crumb-catching pocket) catches food like crazy.”