When raising a baby, many partners try to divide the labor equally. This gets tricky when one considers breastfeeding. Fathers are simply unable to nurse. Two new inventions are looking to change this and promote chestfeeding and breastfeeding dads instead.
One of these is a device called the Father’s Nursing Assistant and is manufactured by Dentsu, a Japanese tech company. The other is a chestfeeding kit that helps dads create their own milk supply through hormone medication. Both are not yet on the market but represent interesting developments and a preview of things to come.
The Father’s Nursing Assistant was presented at the 2019 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. It is a wearable device that allows dads to feed babies just like their partners would. It promotes bonding and skin-to-skin contact.
The device looks like two fake breasts. The baby can only nurse from one side as the other contains the nipple system. It also has a high tech component that tracks the baby’s nursing, sending the data to a smartphone app.
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The device was created using advice from pediatricians and babysitters. It is shaped to resemble breasts because babies feel them when feeding. It is a soothing experience for them.
In the UK, Marie-Claire Springham, a design student, created a chestfeeding kit. It is designed to help dads induce lactation so they can feed their babies. Springham entered her invention in the Meaning Centred Design Awards in 2018 and won the Grand Trophy prize.
The dad-to-be will take progestin when he discovers the good news of having a baby on the way. Six weeks before the due date, he will switch to taking domperidone, which will help begin milk production. Beyond hormones, the kit also includes a pump and a compression vest.
Springham wants to have her product on the market within five years. She first got the idea for it because she felt for dads being left out of the breastfeeding experience. “I was looking at postnatal depression and I learnt so much, particularly that it occurs in men and the main cause of that is the feeling of being left out,” she stated.
“I read a lot of heartfelt accounts, the dad comes home all ready to be Super Dad and the baby’s not interested because the baby’s attracted to the smell of breast milk and that’s what mum smells like,” she added. She created her invention to bridge this gap. She wanted dads to feel just as involved.
Springham did face some backlash for her invention. Conservative commentator Piers Morgan was very against it. Others such as Julie Jenson Bennett, the jury chair of the Meaning Centred Design Awards, believe it is an important step forward. “It challenges the fundamental meanings of male and female, father and mother, parent and child,” she explained. “At a time when we increasingly use hormones, medication and technology to change the life options available to us, Marie-Claire’s design concept goes right to the heart of our taboos.”
Dads have been MacGyvering their own breastfeeding solutions for years. In the future, these products will make this easier for anyone who wants to use them. For now, a non-nursing parent can work to support the nursing parent by doing extra chores and making sure the nursing parent eats and drinks well.
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