MEDELA HOLDING AG

The invention relates to a pumping device for feeding liquid feed to a patient, which can be used and assembled economically. The pumping device has a pumping cartridge and a drive unit. The pumping cartridge provides a pumping chamber and a pumping channel and valve inlet and outlet locations. The drive unit comprises actuators for pumping and opening and closing the valves at the valve inlet and outlet locations and can releasably be connected with the pumping cartridge. While the pumping cartridge is a disposable part, the driving unit is provided for multiple uses for supplying batch of liquid feed to the patient.

The present invention relates to a method for operating a feeding system for feeding a patient with a liquid feed, which liquid feed is stored in a reservoir, which reservoir is fluidically connected to a tube which has an inlet end for receiving the liquid feed from the reservoir and an outlet end for dispensing the liquid feed toward the patient and is adapted to convey said liquid feed contained in the reservoir to the patient. In order to reduce the volume of feed contained in the feeding system to be discharged after stopping the pumping device, the present invention provides a method and a feeding system allowing a purging phase ordered by the controller assigned to the pumping device, in which the supply of liquid from the reservoir is stopped and a purging fluid drives liquid feed contained in the tube toward the outlet end and wherein the controller stops the introduction of the purging fluid at the end of the purging phase.

The present invention relates to a functional bra ( 1 ), in particular a maternity and/or nursing bra, comprising a front section ( 10 ) shaped to cover at least a portion of a chest area of a wearer, including a pair of cup portions ( 5 ) shaped to accommodate respective ones of breasts of the wearer, and a back section ( 6 ) shaped to cover at least a portion of a back of the wearer. In order to ensure breathability without compromising support, at least one of the cup portions ( 5 ) and the back section ( 6 ) is formed from knit fabric with different knit structures representing zones of different breathability such as at least a cool zone ( 3 ) and a support zone ( 2 ), wherein the cool zone ( 3 ) is adapted to cover a sweat-sensitive area on skin of a wearer, and has a different knit structure than the support zone ( 2 ) with a higher breathability.

The present invention relates to a breast pump including a breast shield adapted to at least in part receive a breast of a lactating user, an aggregate for generating a cyclic suction profile according to vacuum curves for expressing milk from the breast, a milk container providing a reservoir for the expressed milk, a controller for controlling the aggregate.

This disclosure generally relates to a capacitive sensor for determining a fluid level in a milk container. In one embodiment, the capacitive sensor may be attached to a milk container of a breast pump device. The breast pump may include a breast shield adapted to at least in part receive a breast of a lactating user, an aggregate for generating suction for expressing milk from the breast, a milk container ( 4 ) providing a reservoir ( 26 ) for the expressed milk, a capacitive sensor ( 8 ) adapted to generate a signal indicative of the filling level within the reservoir ( 26 ) and a controller ( 12 ) for controlling the aggregate ( 14 ) and processing the signal of the capacitive sensor ( 8 ), wherein the capacitive sensor ( 8 ) includes at least two capacitive sensor elements ( 44, 46 ) having a different sensitivity to a change of the filling level and a similar sensitivity to a conductive object touching the milk container ( 4 ).

A breast pump shaped at least in part to fit inside a bra with an outer shell and a breast shield element including a nipple tunnel adapted to receive a nipple of the lactating mother, which breast pump provides sufficient space within the outer shell for arranging the functional components of the breast pump within the outer shell while meeting the anatomical circumstances posed by the user of the breast pump. The outer shell of the breast pump projects a frontal orthographic plane that is shaped like an oval, which oval is defined by a convex boundary encircling three circles, a first top circle, a first bottom circle and a second bottom circle, wherein a radius (RB) of the of the first bottom circle and a radius (RB) of the second bottom circle are equal and the ratio of a radius (RT) of the first top circle to the radius (RB) of the first or the second bottom circles is between 0.3 and 0.8.

A method for managing breast milk expression including providing an expected milk yield over time; expressing milk and measuring the expressed milk yield at a given time; comparing the measured milk yield at the given time with the expected milk yield at the given time and generating an alarm if the measured milk yield is lower than the expected yield.

A system and method for storing, fortifying, tracking, and administering breastmilk to an infant in a neonatal intensive care unit in an automated or semi-automated manner that minimizes manual tasks of NICU caregivers and provides interactive information to guide NICU caregivers though fortification and administration of breastmilk to the intended infant in a manner consistent with feed orders.

An apparatus comprising a baby bottle ( 2 ) and a bottle top attachment ( 4 ) coupled to the baby bottle ( 2 ) and having a connector ( 6 ) for a breast pump. The apparatus is characterized in that the bottle top attachment ( 4 ) includes a measuring head ( 8 ) with a reservoir ( 10 ) for breast milk and in that the measuring head ( 8 ) includes a sensor unit that is associated with the volume of the reservoir ( 10 ) and that enables determining a parameter of the milk expressed into the baby bottle.

A nursing band providing better comfort for the user and comprising a lower cuff adapted to encircle the chest of a breast feeding mother below the bust and an upper cuff adapted to encircle the chest of the breast feeding mother above the bust and an intermediate section extending between the lower cuff and the upper cuff, wherein the lower cuff, the upper cuff and the intermediate section have anisotropic properties, wherein the anisotropic properties of the intermediate section differ from the anisotropic properties of at least one of the lower cuff and the upper cuff.