Momsense is a revolutionary product, an app that takes the guesswork out of this whole situation. Image: bule/Pixabay.
Moms can get a better understanding of their babies’ nursing habits.
If you have ever breastfed or are planning to breastfeed, you know that it can sometimes come with a big ol’ question mark next to it.
With bottle-feeding, you are able to fill the bottle with a very specific amount of formula or breast milk and are able to physically see how much Baby is taking at each feeding.
With breastfeeding, that isn’t quite as easy.
We know that they are eating, but we aren’t able to tell exactly how much — until now.
Momsense is a revolutionary product, an app that takes the guesswork out of this whole situation. I was completely floored when I was first presented with this bit of technology and set out to learn as much as I could about it.
So I sat down with the company’s CEO, Dr. Osnat Emanuel, and picked her brain about this must-have product.
AC: This is such an amazing device, and will really take the mystery out of breastfeeding! Can you tell us a bit more about how it works?
OE: The Smart Breastfeeding Meter consists of a user-friendly smartphone app and earphone set containing an embedded baby safe sensor for mothers to listen to their baby’s swallowing sounds. Together, these features measure how much milk the baby is consuming while nursing. The app also tracks and reports the nursing patterns over time, records the baby’s swallowing sounds to share with loved ones, and even gives helpful breastfeeding tips.
Developed by technology experts, Momsense performs a complex analysis that calculates the quantity of milk consumed. It identifies a baby’s effective swallowing sounds in real time, via a unique audio signal, which can distinguish between the effective swallowing sounds and other baby sounds. As such, the algorithm is a result of data comprised of hundreds of nursing events that were documented in the Momsense laboratory.
The computed quantities of milk consumed were compared with recorded changes in babies’ weights directly after feeding (the medical standard today to calculate the amount of milk consumed). As a result, Momsense was able to compute an optimal assessment of the quantity of milk the baby consumed, thus acting as a valuable resource to help breastfeeding mothers.
AC: With this being such a revolutionary new tool for moms, do you expect to see it recommended by pediatricians and hospitals? Is it already?
OE: The Smart Breastfeeding Meter was developed by a team of lactation consultants and medical doctors such as myself. While lactation consultants are one of our targets, our primary focus for this product is new mothers.
Momsense is intended to be a supporting tool to measure the breast milk a baby is consuming during the breastfeeding process, which ultimately benefits breastfeeding mothers.
AC: How are you able to tell that the nursing sensor is comfortable for Baby?
OE: Momsense tested the Smart Breastfeeding Meter with hundreds of nursing mothers, which was documented in the Momsense laboratory.
Babies involved in this process were different ages and sizes. The sticker on the sensor is hypoallergenic and made with a very gentle material developed by 3M, a manufacturing company.
AC: Does every feeding need to be recorded? What happens to the data if one is missed?
OE: No, it’s OK to miss feedings. The Smart Breastfeeding Meter does not track the total amount of breast milk consumed each day because Momsense does not pressure moms to feed their babies a certain amount — every baby is different and has different nutrition requirements.
The Smart Breastfeeding Meter measures each feeding session independently in real time and stores measurements in a timeline so patterns can be determined, and moms can get a better understanding of their babies’ nursing habits.
What do you think? Will you be adding Momsense to your baby registry?
