BREASTFEEDING MILK CONSUMPTION MEASURING DEVICE

• US 20120004603A1
• Filed: 02/17/2010
• Published: 01/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Innova Medical, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Innova Medical, Inc.
• Inventors: Harari, Tzach, Huller-Harari, Liat, Kivity, Shaye
• Granted Patent: US 8,801,658 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 604/74
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1073 Measuring volume, e.g. of limbs
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1075 for measuring dimensions by non-invasive methods, e.g. for determining thickness of tissue layer A61B8/0858 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4312 Breast evaluation or disorder diagnosis A61B5/0091 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6823 Trunk, e.g., chest, back, abdomen, hip
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6831 Straps, bands or harnesses
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 1/06 Milking pumps
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 1/062 Pump accessories
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 1/067 with means for hands-free operation
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/3331 Pressure; Flow
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/3379 Masses, volumes, levels of fluids in reservoirs, flow rates
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/3584 using modem, internet or bluetooth

Abstract

A device and method for measuring an amount of breast milk suckled during a breastfeeding session, the device including a mechanism for determining the change in volume of a breast during the breastfeeding session (before breastfeeding and after breastfeeding), and a calculation unit for calculating therefrom the quantity of milk suckled during the breastfeeding session.

Claims

1. A device for measuring an amount of breast milk suckled during a breastfeeding session, the device comprising:

a mechanism for determining a change in volume of a breast from before the breastfeeding session to after the breastfeeding session, said mechanism including a mechanism for measuring automatically a quantity of fluid in a space around the breast; and

a calculation unit for calculating, from said change in volume, a quantity of breast milk expressed during the breastfeeding session, said calculation unit being coupled to said mechanism for measuring for receiving said measured quantity and automatically calculating said quantity of milk from a change in said measured quantity of fluid before and after the breastfeeding session.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein said mechanism for determining change includes:

a breast interface for placing on a breast, said breast interface defining an internal space;

a fluid pump coupled to said breast interface for removing fluid from and introducing fluid into said space;

a control mechanism coupled to said fluid pump for indicating to said pump to start or stop pumping; and

a mechanism for automatically indicating a quantity of fluid pumped into said space until said pump was stopped.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein said mechanism for determining change includes:

a breast interface for placing on a breast and, said breast interface defining an expandable space;

a fluid pump for removing fluid from and introducing fluid into said space;

a fluid pressure gauge coupled to said space and to said fluid pump for measuring fluid pressure in said space for indicating a initial point and a end point for introduction of fluid to said space by said fluid pump; and

a device for providing automatically an indication of a total volume of fluid introduced to said space.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein said breast interface includes a rigid envelope and an elastic membrane affixed to said rigid envelope, said space being defined between said rigid envelope and said elastic membrane, wherein said breast interface is shaped to fit a breast geometry.

6. The device according to claim 1 wherein said mechanism for determining a change comprises:

a fluid chamber coupled to said space forming a closed system;

a piston sealingly mounted in said chamber for slideable movement therethrough;

a fluid pumping mechanism coupled to a driving chamber for introducing and removing fluid to said driving chamber for driving said piston through said fluid chamber; and

a position encoder for indicating automatically a position of said piston.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein said mechanism for determining a change comprises:

a fluid chamber coupled to said space forming a closed system;

a piston sealingly mounted in said chamber for slideable movement therethrough;

a fluid pumping mechanism coupled to a driving chamber for introducing and removing fluid to said driving chamber at a known rate for driving said piston through said fluid chamber;

a timer and flow-rate meter coupled to said pumping mechanism for measuring a flow-rate of fluid that is introduced to the breast interface and automatically providing an indication of time during which said pumping mechanism was pumping and said measured flow-rate to said calculation unit for calculating change of volume.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein said calculation unit comprises an electronic board including:

a connection interface for connection to a computing device;

a memory chip; and

a micro-controller chip;

wherein said electronic board is coupled to a device Internet server having a processing unit for analyzing breastfeeding milk quantity data.

24. The device according to claim 1, wherein said calculation unit comprises an electronic board including a micro-controller coupled to a pressure gage and to a pumping mechanism, in order to compute automatically an amount of milk removed from a breast.

25. The device according to claim 3, further comprising an incorporated breast pump including a breast pump cup and a breast milk/air separator coupled to said pumping mechanism.

26. The device according to claim 1, wherein said mechanism for determining a change comprises:

a fluid chamber coupled to said space forming a closed system;

a piston sealingly mounted in said chamber for slideable movement therethrough;

and a device selected from the group including a manual pump, an electric pump, an electric pull/push mechanism, a manual lever, for moving said sealed piston in said chamber.

27. The device according to claim 1, wherein said breast interface that is attached to the body includes no electric component.

28. The device according to claim 1, further including means for performing a self-calibration process by means of:

measuring the said space before every breastfeeding; and

evacuating the air from the said space before introducing air and measuring the volume of the said space.

2. (canceled)

8. (canceled)

9. (canceled)

11. (canceled)

12. A method for measuring an amount of breast milk expressed during a breastfeeding session, the method comprising:

determining a change in volume of a breast from before the breastfeeding session to after the breastfeeding session by means of a mechanism for measuring automatically a quantity of fluid in a space around the breast; and

calculating, from said change in volume, a quantity of milk suckled from the breast during the breastfeeding session, by means of a calculation unit coupled to said mechanism for measuring for receiving said measured quantity and automatically calculating said quantity of milk from a change in said measured quantity of fluid before and after the breastfeeding session.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein said step of determining includes:

providing a breast interface for placing on a breast, said breast interface defining an internal space;

coupling a fluid pump to said breast interference for removing fluid from and introducing fluid into said space;

coupling a control mechanism to said fluid pump for starting and stopping said pump; and

providing an indication of a quantity of fluid pumped into said space until said pump was stopped.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein said step of determining includes:

placing a breast interface defining an internal space on said breast before the breastfeeding session;

removing fluid from said space until a predefined pressure is reached;

introducing fluid into said space until a predefined pressure is reached;

placing said breast interface on the breast after the breastfeeding session;

removing fluid from said space until a predefined pressure is reached;

introducing fluid into said space until said predefined pressure is reached;

automatically calculating a change in quantity of fluid introduced into said space until said pressure was reached before breastfeeding and after breastfeeding; and

automatically calculating from said change in quantity said quantity of milk.

15. The method according to claim 13,

further comprising coupling a timer and flow-rate meter to said fluid pump for measuring a flow-rate of fluid that is introduced to the breast interface and providing an indication of time during which said fluid pump was pumping;

and

wherein said step of providing an indication includes providing an indication of time elapsed until said fluid pump was stopped; and

calculating the change of volume.

18. The method according to claim 12, further comprising coupling said fluid pump to a calculation unit for performing said calculations, said calculation unit including an electronic board in said calculation unit, said electronic board including a connection interface for connection to a computing device.

20. The method according to claim 18, comprising:

providing a memory chip and a micro-controller chip on said electronic board;

uploading breastfeeding data from said memory chip to a data file in the computing device;

coupling said computing device to a device Internet server having a processing unit;

uploading said breastfeeding data from said data file to said device Internet server; and

analyzing said breastfeeding data in said device Internet server.

21. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

coupling a breast milk/air separator to said pumping mechanism; and

coupling a breast pump cup to said breast milk/air separator, to permit selective performing as a breast milk pump or measuring a quantity of breast milk expressed during the breastfeeding session.

22. The method according to claim 12, further comprising using at least one compensation factor when calculating said quantity of breast milk expressed during the breastfeeding session.

23. The method according to claim 13, further comprising delivering fluid to said space via several points to ensure that all the space is filled with fluid so as to conform to the shape of the breast.

16. (canceled)

17. (canceled)

19. (canceled)