Nina Berry alerted me to this article, from a West Australian paper, on a
new pump being 'road-tested' by the Hartmann group.  The manufacturer is not
given, but since Hartmann's research until now has been funded by Medela, I
expect this is a new Medela 'breakthrough'. 
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=2&ContentID=103908
From the article: 
"Perth researchers are using worldfirst technology to help unravel the cause
of a dilemma faced by many new mothers — why they cannot breastfeed their baby.
  
King Edward Memorial Hospital’s breastfeeding centre is road-testing a $1
million breast pump which uses ultrasound and video images to monitor
exactly what happens when a baby breastfeeds, including changes to its heart
rate and breathing.
  
They hope this will help them better understand how milk is produced and
flows, known as the let-down, so they can see if they can improve advice for
women who are having breastfeeding problems, including instructions on how
to position the baby....

... “For the first time we will have simultaneous data on infant feeding,
including milk flow, the baby’s respiration rate and heart rate and an
assessment of the baby’s attachment to the breast by ultrasound and video
imaging,” he said. “The major advantage of this breast pump is that all
measurements will be precisely synchronised so that cause and effect
analysis can be carried out.” "

Nearly twenty years ago I heard a Danish midwife give a talk in which she
claimed that obstetricians' lack of interest in the postpartum period would
turn to eager attention the moment someone invented a machine that could be
hooked up to the breasts and measure production in ml per minute.  She died
not long after that, but I fear her prophecy is about to be fulfilled.

Here is the part that sets my teeth on edge:  Hartmann added that the
information gleaned from their work could be used to 'monitor' women with
breastfeeding problems, and could be used to design 'more efficient domestic
pumps'.  

While there is a small group of women for whom the information from the use
of such a pump will be helpful, the vast majority of mothers who encounter
problems breastfeeding need only very simple measures requiring nothing more
than some practical help from a knowledgeable, caring person with time to be
there for them.

After seeing how Medela already markets its products to mothers and to us, I
dread the day when this pump's features are implemented in a model intended
for individual purchase.  'Now, at last, you can learn just how long your
baby needs to stay at the breast to get fed, and avoid letting it use you as
a pacifier!'  Perhaps we can even expect pocket-sized handbooks to carry
around at work, like the ones for interpreting CTG traces, with norms for
how fast a mother should produce a requisite volume and which volume should
satisfy the baby, so we can diagnose as deviant the ones who don't keep to
the curves, and intervene.  

The point is, without a human being who understands the entire phenomenon of
breastfeeding, including its myriad social aspects, all the equipment in the
world will not help, no matter how exact the data produced are.  We have
suffered immeasurably in birth care because of the mistaken idea that the
things we can measure are more important than the things we cannot.  I would
hate to see us go down the same dead-end path in breastfeeding.  Harumph.

Rachel Myr
Feeling exceptionally curmudgeony today in Kristiansand, Norway

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