Quantification and inventory management of expressed human breast milk
Systems, methods, and devices for milk expression are provided. In one aspect, a system includes an expression apparatus having an interface configured to engage a breast and an actuation assembly operably coupled to the interface. Actuation of the actuation assembly causes the interface to apply vacuum pressure against the breast to express milk from the breast. The system also includes various sensors for quantifying characteristics of the expressed milk, and a unique identifier allows inventory management of the expressed milk.
1. A system for quantifying expressed milk from a human breast, said system comprising:
a breast milk expression device configured to express milk from the breast;
a reservoir fluidly coupled to the breast milk expression device and configured to collect the expressed breast milk;
a sensor unit integrated with the reservoir or the breast milk expression device and configured to quantify one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk; and
a peripheral device in communication with the sensor unit, wherein the peripheral device is configured to obtain a unique identifier for the expressed breast milk and associate the unique identifier with the one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor unit is configured to automatically quantify the one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk during expression of the breast milk.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor unit is configured to sense a change in an amount of milk contained within the reservoir or a flow of milk past the sensor unit to quantify the one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk.
4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a separate sensor unit in communication with the peripheral device, the separate sensor unit configured to quantify one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk after the expressed breast milk has been collected in the reservoir.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk quantified by the sensor unit comprise a volume of the expressed breast milk collected in the reservoir.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk quantified by the sensor unit comprise a composition of the expressed milk, and wherein the sensor unit is configured to quantify a relative amount of one or more compounds present in the expressed breast milk.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the breast milk expression device is configured to generate pump session data comprising a start time of a pump session and an end time of the pump session, and wherein the peripheral device is further configured to associate the unique identifier with the pump session data.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the peripheral device is further configured with instructions to update an inventory of expressed breast milk in response to the association of the unique identifier with the one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the peripheral device is configured to generate an inventory item in the inventory of expressed breast milk corresponding to the unique identifier.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the unique identifier comprises one or more of a human-readable code, a barcode, a Quick Response (QR) code, and a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag.
11. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a label printer for generating a label for the reservoir or a storage reservoir containing the expressed breast milk, wherein the label printer is configured to communicate with the peripheral device and provide the unique identifier to the peripheral device when the label is generated.
12. A method for quantifying expression of breast milk from a human breast, said method comprising:
providing a breast milk expression device for expressing breast milk from a human breast and a reservoir for collecting the expressed breast milk;
quantifying one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk with a sensor unit integrated with the reservoir or the breast milk expression device;
generating pump session data comprising a start time of expression of the breast milk and an end time of the expression;
obtaining a unique identifier for the expressed breast milk;
digitally associating the unique identifier with the pump session data and the one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk; and
updating a pump session log with the unique identifier and the associated pump session data and the one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk, wherein the pump session log is stored on a peripheral device in communication with the breast milk expression device.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein quantifying comprises automatically quantifying the one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk during expression of the breast milk.
14. The method of claim 12 , wherein quantifying comprises quantifying the one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk after the expressed breast milk has been collected in the reservoir.
15. The method of claim 12 , wherein quantifying comprises quantifying a volume of the expressed breast milk collected in the reservoir.
16. The method of claim 12 , wherein quantifying comprises quantifying a relative amount of one or more compounds present in the expressed breast milk.
17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining a volume of the expressed breast milk remaining in the reservoir after at least a portion of the expressed breast milk has been fed to a child.
18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising updating a feed log stored on the peripheral device to add feeding session data comprising a time of feeding and a volume of the expressed breast milk consumed by the child.
19. The method of claim 12 , further comprising sensing a change in an amount of milk contained within the reservoir or a flow of milk past the sensor unit to quantify the one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk.
20. The method of claim 12 , wherein the unique identifier comprises a human-readable code, and wherein obtaining the unique identifier comprises prompting a user to input the human-readable code via an application of the peripheral device.
21. The method of claim 12 , wherein the unique identifier comprises a machine-readable code, and wherein obtaining the unique identifier comprises reading the machine-readable code with a machine configured to recognize the machine-readable code.
22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the machine-readable code comprises a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, and wherein obtaining the unique identifier comprises scanning the RFID tag with an RFID reader in communication with the peripheral device.
23. The method of claim 12 , further comprising updating an inventory of expressed breast milk to add a new inventory item corresponding to the unique identifier.
24. The method of claim 12 , further comprising transferring the expressed milk from the reservoir to another storage reservoir comprising the unique identifier.
25. A system for managing an inventory of expressed breast milk, said system comprising:
an inventory management database storing the inventory of expressed breast milk, the inventory comprising one or more inventory items; and
a computing device configured with instructions to:
receive pump session data from a breast milk expression device, the pump session data comprising a start time of a pump session and an end time of the pump session;
receive user input indicating whether breast milk expressed during the pump session is to be stored, discarded, or fed; and
update the inventory of expressed breast milk in response to receiving the user input indicating that the breast milk expressed during the pump session is to be stored,
wherein updating the inventory of expressed breast milk comprises obtaining a unique identifier for the expressed breast milk expressed during the pump session, and adding or updating an inventory item associated with the unique identifier.
26. The system of claim 25 , wherein the computing device is further configured with instructions to receive milk attribute data from a sensing unit integrated with the reservoir or the breast milk expression device, the milk attribute data comprising one or more attributes of the expressed breast milk, and wherein updating the inventory of expressed breast milk further comprises digitally coupling the unique identifier with the milk attribute data.
27. The system of claim 25 , wherein the computing device is further configured with instructions to sort the one or more inventory items in the inventory in order of first-to-feed to last-to-feed.
28. The system of claim 25 , wherein the computing device is further configured with instructions to display the inventory to a user.
29. The system of claim 25 , wherein the computing device is further configured with instructions to locally store the inventory management database.
30. The system of claim 25 , further comprising a server in communication with the computing device, the server configured to remotely store the inventory management database.
31. The system of claim 25 , wherein the unique identifier comprises a Quick Response (QR) code, and wherein the computing device is further configured to recognize the QR code.
32. The system of claim 25 , wherein the unique identifier comprises a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, and wherein the system further comprises an RFID reader in communication with the computing device, the RFID reader configured to recognize the RFID tag and provide identifier information to the computing device.
33. The system of claim 25 , further comprising a reservoir organizer configured to store a plurality of reservoirs in a stacked configuration, wherein the organizer comprises a top opening configured to receive the plurality of reservoirs one at a time and a bottom opening configured to allow withdrawal of a reservoir disposed at the bottom of a stack of the plurality of reservoirs, thereby facilitating a first-in, first-out system of organization.
34. The system of claim 33 , wherein the reservoir organizer further comprises an integrated RFID reader configured to scan an RFID tag disposed on a storage reservoir as the storage reservoir enters or exits the reservoir organizer, wherein the RFID reader communicates detected scans to the computing device.
35. The system of claim 33 , wherein the reservoir organizer further comprises an integrated weight sensor configured to measure a weight of the stack of the plurality of reservoirs, wherein the weight sensor communicates detected changes in the weight of the stack to the computing device.
36. A method for managing an inventory of expressed breast milk, said method comprising:
receiving pump session data from a breast milk expression device, the pump session data comprising a start time of a pump session and an end time of the pump session;
receiving user input indicating whether the breast milk expressed during the pump session is to be stored, discarded, or fed; and
updating the inventory of expressed breast milk in response to receiving the user input indicating that the breast milk expressed during the pump session is to be stored;
wherein updating the inventory of expressed breast milk comprises obtaining a unique identifier for the expressed breast milk expressed during the pump session, and adding or updating an inventory item associated with the unique identifier.
37. The method of claim 36 , further comprising receiving milk attribute data from a sensing unit integrated with the reservoir or the breast milk expression device, the milk attribute data comprising one or more attributes of breast milk expressed during the pump session.
38. The method of claim 37 , wherein updating the inventory of expressed breast milk further comprises digitally coupling the unique identifier with the milk attribute data.
39. The method of claim 36 , further comprising receiving a unique identifier associated with an inventory item to be updated or removed from the inventory of expressed breast milk, and identifying the inventory item associated with the unique identifier.
40. The method of claim 36 , further comprising displaying, via an inventory management application of the computing device, a list of inventory items in the inventory, and prompting a user to select the inventory item to update or remove from the list of inventory items.
41. The method of claim 40 , further comprising sorting the list of inventory items in order of first-to-feed to last-to-feed.
42. The method of claim 41 , wherein sorting comprises sorting in order of date of expression of the expressed breast milk, wherein an inventory item corresponding to expressed breast milk with an oldest date of expression is determined to be the first-to-feed, and an inventory item corresponding to expressed breast milk with a newest date of expression is determined to be the last-to-feed.
43. The method of claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises providing, via the inventory management application of the computing device, a visual display of a plurality of reservoirs corresponding to a plurality of inventory items in the inventory, the visual display identifying the first-to-feed inventory item.
44. The method of claim 40 , further comprising indicating an inventory item as expired if a difference between a current date and a date of expression of the expressed breast milk corresponding to the inventory item exceeds a predetermined expiry threshold.
45. The method of claim 40 , wherein removing the inventory item comprises removing the inventory item from the inventory in response to a determination that there is no remaining milk in the reservoir.
46. The method of claim 40 , wherein updating the inventory item comprises updating information associated with the inventory item in response to a determination that there is remaining milk in the reservoir.
47. The method of claim 46 , wherein updating information associated with the inventory item comprises updating a volume of the expressed breast milk contained in the reservoir.
48. The method of claim 46 , wherein updating information associated with the inventory item comprises updating a storage location of the reservoir.
49. The method of claim 36 , wherein the inventory is locally stored on the computing device.
50. The method of claim 36 , wherein the inventory is remotely stored on a server in communication with the computing device.
51. The method of claim 36 , wherein the unique identifier comprises a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, and wherein the method further comprises scanning the RFID tag with an RFID reader in communication with the computing device.