Back to results
US 8,282,596 B2Granted
Breastpump with letdown feature
AssigneeMedela Holding AG
InventorsAndy Greter, Richard S. Weston, Brian H. Silver, Michael Larsson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Breastpumps and methods for use in extracting breastmilk, which can be used to generate, among other things, both a letdown or stimulation phase and a milk expression phase, are disclosed.
Claims12
A method for breast pumping comprising:
- providing a breastshield having a portion within which a woman's breast is received for the expression of milk;
- providing a source of pressure in communication with said breastshield which is operated by a controller;
- programming said controller with a pre-set sequence to operate said source of pressure to produce at least a milk letdown sequence of rapid cycles per minute that is specifically designed to yield a milk ejection reflex (letdown) prior to milk expression and a slower milk expression sequence from said letdown sequence;
- operating said breastpump first according to said milk letdown sequence, and then
- operating said breastpump according to said milk expression sequence.
2 more elements
A method for breast pumping comprising:
- providing a breastshield having a portion within which a woman's breast is received for the expression of milk;
- providing a source of vacuum in communication with the breastshield which is operated by hand;
- providing a first mechanism manipulated by hand that is specifically dedicated and designed for manually operating said source of vacuum in a first vacuum cycle mode to produce a milk ejection reflex (letdown) sequence of rapid cycles per minute;
- and then
- manually operating said source of vacuum using another mechanism different from said first mechanism according to a second vacuum cycle mode, different from and slower than said first mode, for a milk expression sequence.
2 more elements
A method for breast pumping comprising:
- providing a breastshield having a portion within which a woman's breast is received for the expression of milk;
- providing a source of vacuum in communication with the breastshield which is operated by hand;
- providing a first mechanism manipulated by hand that is specifically dedicated and designed for manually operating said source of vacuum in a first vacuum cycle mode to produce a milk ejection reflex (letdown) sequence of rapid cycles per minute;
- and then
- manually operating said source of vacuum using another mechanism different from said first mechanism according to a second vacuum cycle mode, different from and slower than said first mode, for a milk expression sequence;
- wherein said milk expression sequence is at a level of pressure greater than said letdown sequence;
- and
- wherein said levels of pressure are relative levels of vacuum, such that said level of vacuum for said expression sequence is a greater vacuum level than said level of vacuum for said letdown sequence.
5 more elements
A method for breast pumping comprising:
- providing a breastshield having a portion within which at least part of a woman's breast is received for the expression of milk;
- providing a source of pressure that is electrically-driven in communication with the breastshield;
- operating said source of pressure according to a pre-set sequence constituting rapid cycles per minute in a manner that is specifically implemented so as to produce a milk ejection reflex (letdown) prior to milk expression, and then
- operating said source of pressure according to a slower sequence of fewer cycles per minute than said letdown sequenced in a manner that is specifically implemented so as to provide general milk expression;
- wherein said milk expression sequence is at a level of pressure greater than said letdown sequence;
- and
- wherein said levels of pressure are relative levels of vacuum, such that said level of vacuum for said expression sequence is a greater vacuum level than said level of vacuum for said letdown sequence.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.