The challenge was on to create a better, modern breast pump that will encourage new mothers to breast feed for as long as possible. Several teams submitted their proposals for new pumps that they hope will one day replace the current design which is bulky, difficult to use, expensive, and make mother's feel like cattle being milked.
The design used by current breast pumps in the market was patented in the 1920's and has remained virtually unchanged in almost a century.
Pumps today are not intuitive. If a young, inexperienced mother is not properly instructed on how to use a pump to express milk properly, the process may be difficult, embarrassing, and even painful and discouraging.
So what does it take to invent a new, better breast pump that "doesn't suck?" No less 150 parents, engineers, health care providers, lactation specialists, designers, and educators coming together at MIT Media Lab for two days of non-stop brainstorming, collaboration, deconstructing, and re-inventing.
On Sept. 20 to 21, this battalion convened at the MIT Media Lab in a hackathon that was aptly named, "Make the Breast Pump Not Suck."
According to Catherine D'Ignazio, one of the event's organizers, the technology behind breast pumping has lagged behind compared to other industries. The hackathon was envisioned to help spark ideas to help change that.
"Our larger goal is to help fuel a culture of innovation in the space of maternal and neonatal health, a space that typically lags behind other fields in technological innovation," she said.
Breast pump manufacturers were also part of the hackathon to help innovate the current design and make a better pump more affordable for low-income families, to make parts more sanitary and easy-to-clean, and rechargeable batteries more efficient.
An innovation called Mighty Mom grabbed the top prize of $3,000 sponsored by Vecna Technologies, and travel expenses for two team members to Silicon Valley to pitch their idea for development to investors.
Team Batman was behind the concept of a breast pumping utility belt that will allow mothers to pump discreetly and comfortably even when they are on-the-go, back at work, or busy taking care of other children. They envision it to be a hands-free solution to pumping that will also keep a record on your smart phone of all the data you need like, feeding times, volume of milk expressed, if the batteries need to be recharged, and other useful information.
Other winners include Helping Hands which is a compression bra that help manually express milk without needing to do so by hand; Second Nature, a pump that uses massage a compression to simulate how an infant would suckle; and Compress Express, a project that has been ongoing for two years to create a pump that enables comfortable and natural milk expression with compression technology.
Although the first Hackathon is officially over, ideas are still welcome all year round, all in a shared effort to make breast feeding and breast pumping easier, affordable, and comfortable for all mothers.
