PRODUCT NAME:             

Momsense Smart Breastfeeding Meter 

 

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PRODUCT CATEGORY:

Smart Breastfeeding Meter

 

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COMPANY PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:​

• A wearable product featuring patented technology

• Designed to provide nursing mothers with information about the quantity of breast milk consumed by their babies in real time

• An innovative technological solution that provides natural support for the breastfeeding process

• Improves a mother’s natural intuition early on and increases her confidence in the breastfeeding process, leading to a successful and prolonged nursing period

 

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PAED PREFERRED REVIEW:

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The first and obvious question to ask about the Momsense Breastfeeding Meter is: “Is this really necessary?” In my experience, the answer for most mothers would be no. The majority of breastfeeding mothers very capably and effectively breastfeed without needing to know exactly how much breastmilk is being taken each feed. My general advice to patients is that if your baby is feeding well, settling well, and gaining adequate weight, then it doesn’t matter whether your feed volume is 20ml or 200ml, it’s enough for your baby.

 

However, life is not always that straightforward, and certainly breastfeeding is often not straightforward. In the first instance, I do think there is a place for a product such as this, in order to not only know how much breastmilk is being taken each feed, but also to follow volume trends over time. It is absolutely the case that some mothers cannot tell whether they have enough milk for their baby, or who at least frequently worry about that, or who know they don’t have enough and would like reassurance that adding formula/EBM feeds is the right thing to do. There are some mothers who are naturally just curious to know how much their baby is feeding.

 

What’s the flipside? Some might suggest that a product such as this undermines a mother’s own intuition and confidence by encouraging her to look at a monitor, rather than at herself and her baby. That may be the case, and it’s not my position here to explore the emotional aspects to breastfeeding, but I think one should be cautious about selling mothers short, and presuming that devices to assist breastfeeding will interfere with their own natural breastfeeding instincts and skills.

 

So moving beyond the argument around whether breastfeeding devices such as this are necessary or not, and you’re a mother who wants to consider using one, is the Momsense going to be useful to you?

 

How Does it Work?

 

In 2013, after 5 years of research, the designers of the Momsense discovered and patented and acoustic (sound) signal derived from a baby’s swallow. Over the subsequent year, hundreds of mothers were included in testing of the product. This included weighing babies pre- and post-feeds, and developing an algorithm that translated the swallow sound signal into a quantitative volume. Babies of different weights and ages were included in the research phase.

 

I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t fully understand sound wave patterns and the associated technology, but I have seen the data and methods behind the Momsense research and tried the product myself. From what I’ve seen, the volumes are pretty close to being on the money, give or take. My experience has been that the product is In reality, the mothers who will find this product useful are not the ones who want to know whether their baby fed 60ml or 70ml, but rather really can’t figure out how much milk they have, and want to know is it more like 60ml or 120ml each feed. So from that point of view is useful, and may be particularly useful as the day goes on and mothers wonder as to their supply by the end of the day.

 

The Momsense is NOT designed to be used with bottles. The algorithm is based on research on breastfeeding mothers, and the types of swallow sounds made by breastfeeding babies, which presumably are different to bottle fed ones. I have confirmed this with the developers.

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The Key Features

 

• Intuitive to set up

• Simple instructions

• Stylish packaging – looks simple without too many contents in the box

• App Download is free (26.6Mb) [eg vs Nike Running App (133Mb)]

• 24 re-usable stickers – not clear where to buy more if needed, and cost

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