Cover for Lactating Mothers (Simple Product design)

COVER FOR LACTATING MOTHERS

SIMPLE PRODUCT DESIGN BY: DHANASHREE MANOHAR PG 1 PD

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Breast feeding is an act as old as time. It is a very essential and crucial part of a lactating mother’s day. Throughout the day, on an average a baby needs to be fed close to 8 - 10 times. This at times needs to be done when one is out in public, and is the cause of embarrassment for the feeding mothers. In our society where feeding in public is considered a taboo, there arises a need for a proper cover for use, which makes the mother feel secure.

Usually a generic blanket is used as covering while out in public. But this causes certain issues like the blanket slipping off or not getting wrapped properly. Moreover if it gets hot under the blanket, the baby might start getting fussy and kick the blanket off. Moreover using a blanket is very cumbersome for young mothers in the initial months as they are new to feeding at it takes a very long time for the baby to latch on.

Hence there is a need to develop a certain type of cover for lactating mothers which makes them feel confident and secure in public while breastfeeding, so that they can do the same with dignity.

RESEARCH Breastfeeding in public Breastfeeding is as natural as things go, yet in today’s world smoking lounges take preference over nursing rooms in Airport and train terminals. In the Indian society, breast feeding in public is not the norm. In the urban context and among working mothers the practice of breast feeding is slowly fading away.

Physical factors

Why are women uncomfortable breastfeeding in public?

Emotional/ Psychological factors Women are stared at, eve teased, and harassed when they try to feed in public.

The major reason for this is that breasts are viewed as sexual organs. Hence anyone feeding in public is viewed as doing something distasteful or obnoxious.

•In the early months, proper latch on is difficult to achieve in public without proper view of the baby and the nipple.

•Active babies tend to pull or kick at the scarf/dupatta covering them.

Hence fear of exposure.

•There is a difficulty to maintain both the baby and the dupatta/scarf while out in public.

•Baby gets fussy under the cover without proper ventilation.

Problem Background There are many vital issues related to breastfeeding in our society. The World Health Organization recommends that children up to 6 months of age be exclusively breastfed, but currently on an average globally only 39% of babies are breastfed exclusively, even in the first four months of life. There is a lot of scope to empower the new mother from which she will be encouraged to breastfeed with dignity in public as well as at home.

Key facts about breastfeeding

BENEFITS OF BREASTFEEDING. WHY ENCOURAGE IT.

For mothers....

72%

decrease in breast cancer

11% 19%

10%

less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases

less likely to develop hypertension

50%

under protection from rheumatoid arthritis

less likely to develop high colestrol

26%

less likely to develop diabetes

• Every infant and child has the right to good nutrition according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

• Only about 36% of infants 0 to 6 months old are exclusively breastfed.

• Few children receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods; in many countries less than a fourth of infants 6–23 months of age meet the criteria of dietary diversity and feeding frequency that are appropriate for their age.

Stronger Connection with the baby

Increased Confidence

For babies....

If a child is breastfed exclusively for 4 months, there is....

15%

upto 15% reduction in adolscent and adult obesity rates

36% 72%

reduced risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)

reduction in risk of lower respiratory tract infection in the first year

reduction in the risk of acute lymphocytic lukemia

72%

36%

upto a 50% reduction in the incidence of type 1 diabetes

23%

reduction in insidence of middle ear infection

Decreased anxiety

Benefits of breast milk • Breast milk is ideally suited to the baby’s metabolic structure and contains the optimal combination of nutrients.

• Breast milk allows the mother to pass on immunities that she herself has acquired to the baby. For e.g. Diarrhoea preventing Immunoglobulin (IgA), which does not pass through the placental barrier in sufficient amounts during pregnancy, is passed onto the infant through breastfeeding.

• Breastfeeding children receive less of other foods and liquids that could be contaminated with diseases causing agents.

• Breastfeeding also helps the mother in many ways. The pleasure a mother feels during feeding helps shrink the uterus back to its normal shape post birth.

THE STIGMA OF FEEDING IN PUBLIC Breastfeeding in public is an unspoken and furtive taboo in our society. The main issue of public breast feeding is inter-related. The root cause for this is the social strictures that exist in our society. Generally it is observed that feeding in public is an acceptable social practice in the lowest economic strata of society and in rural villages. It is not so in the urban fabric.

In the labour class, lower middle class, middle class and richer sections of society, it is not an accepted social custom. It is generally considered as an improper act. Due to this a mother feels uncomfortable to nurse her young out in public. This makes her either avoids social life, or else quit on breast feeding. This can turn out to be of hindrance in the long run.

Travel: Breastfeeding is a major issue while travelling. There are no special rooms assigned at airports, bus stands, and railway stations for nursing the baby. Also it is almost impossible to feed while in a train, airplane or bus without getting stared at by the nearby public.

While out in public: A baby needs to be fed as many as 8 to 10 times a day. While breast feeding out in public e.g. in a bus, train etc., the mother gets ogled at by men and other women. This leads to anxiety. There is also a constant fear of the blanket or dupatta falling off resulting in unwanted skin show. There is also a serious issue of eve teasing while feeding.

Working mothers

“

The guilt of being unable to feed the baby whenever she is hungry, physical difficulties associated with full, leaking breasts and the psychological trauma of having to use restrooms to relieve the pressure on the breasts, cause severe stress to the mother and can impact productivity at work.

According to a 2003 study (by M. Sivakami, an assistant professor of the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore) on breastfeeding in India, “In certain segments of the population, such as the educated and urban elite, the duration of breastfeeding is declining.” Indeed, most working mothers in India are often forced to choose between breastfeeding and work, and the decision must be made in the best interest of the whole family.

The World Health Organization recommends that a new-born be breastfed for a minimum of six months and the weaning process can continue up to two years. With Indian laws allowing only 3 months of maternity leave and most workplaces not equipped with facilities to help breastfeeding mothers, many working mothers in India are unable to breastfeed their babies for the duration that they desire.

Generally if a mother’s body is accustomed to feed at an interval of 4 hours, the body produces milk accordingly. This becomes a matter of concern for working mothers. During office hours the need for expressing milk arises. This is a matter of distress for working mothers as there are no specific areas allotted for expressing in the office. This makes them use the washroom for doing the same which is an unacceptable practice as this compromises on the hygiene of the milk. This leads to trauma and the mother feeling stigmatised in society.

Uncomfortable Neutral Comfortable

The aim of the survey was to know the main activity of the user base, i.e. how many women actively continue their professional lives after motherhood, how many took a sabbatical from professional life(unpaid) for a few years, and how many are active home makers or work from home part time.

“

PROBLEMS THAT WORKING AND TRAVELING MOTHERS FACE

The aim of the survey was to find out how many women feel uncomfortable feeding in public places like railway stations, airports, etc., and in trains, busses, at public gatherings etc.Survey was taken of a user base consisting of women from various professions as well as home makes.

Sabbatical Home makers Working

Accuracy will vary accoring to ethnicity and/or demographic, since survey taken among limited user base

Tina Jacob, a trainer at a multinational company, returned to work after 4 months of extended maternity leave and continued to breastfeed her daughter for another 7 months.

She says, “I was working an afternoon shift at the time, so I could breastfeed her in the mornings. Before I left for work, I would express milk and store it in the refrigerator. Since I was unable to feed her regularly, the milk flow reduced and my baby too lost interest by the time she was 11 months old.”

Tina remembers that she would be full and leaking, by evening. “Since there were no separate facilities for lactating women to express breast milk in privacy, I had to do it in the restroom to relieve the pressure on my breasts. It was psychologically difficult to deal with,” she adds.

TARGET USER RESEARCH

Interview 1: Age: 28 years Occupation: Investment manager in HDFC Children: one 4 month old baby girl The major issues which were highlighted during the talks were that it becomes very embarrassing to feed in public due to the scrutiny of the people in the vicinity. Also she is under constant anxiety that the dupatta or the scarf will fall off due the baby’s pulling of kicking actions. Due to this she shies away from breast feeding in public and this has made her switch to formula milk and expressed milk by bottle feed.

She does not prefer the parallel products available in the market as she feels that they are too clumsy or too tacky and eye catching to use. Because of the above stated reasons she has reduced breast feeding.

She was open to trying out a new product and reacted positively to the various concepts presented.

Interview 2: Age: 38 years Occupation: Teacher in NIIT (part time) Children: 13 year old boy and 7 year old girl The mother was a bit sceptic about the issues highlighted. Coming from a richer upper middle class crust of society and having a chauffeured car she did not face the problem for feeding in public to a very high extent. Though she agreed to the technical issues which come up with feeding in public like lack of vision with the baby, and not having a personal space/time for expressing milk while at the office.

A positive feedback was received for the concept development discussion on evolving a new product.

Interview 3: Age: 25 years Occupation: Care taker and maid Children: 2 year old boy On discussion, the mother certified the issues that crop up with feeding in public. While travelling in a bus, it is impossible to avoid the stares of the public. Hence at the time of feeding, she used to turn towards the window and ask her husband to hold the dupatta/scarf in front of her hence forming a makeshift curtain which gave her privacy. She felt stigmatised to feed in public and shied away from the practice.

Interview 4: Age: 45 years Occupation: Practicing Chartered Accountant Children: 18 year old girl and 13 year old boy There was a need to obtain an experienced and seasoned view point for an experienced mother. She agreed to all the above mentioned issues discussed. In terms of being a full time working mother she shared her experiences of being a young mother. Working full time meant that the baby was left at home with a caretaker. Hence the amounts of breastfeeds went down drastically when she re-joined the office. Trying mixed feeds (i.e. breast milk and formula/solid supplementary food) she observed a change in the health of the baby during her first time. Keeping in mind this experience she made sure to continue breast feeding up till the 5th month after birth. This highlights the importance of breastfeeding on the health of the baby.

Interview 5: Age: 35 years Occupation: Practicing Pathologist Children: 5 year old boy Got a very positive response on discussion of the topic. She agreed to all the issues put up for discussion. Adding that carrying a dupatta around and being conscious while feeding was a hindrance. The baby kicked off the dupatta when he was in a playful mood. When covering the baby’s face with a dupatta while feeding makes the baby feel hot. Due to this the baby becomes fussy and starts crying. She also highlighted the point that it is very important to have good vision while breast feeding. In the initial days for technical reasons as both the mother and child are new to feeding, vision is very important. Later on once the baby and mother are accustomed to feeding technique; vision plays an important role in the bonding process between the two. During the 20 30 minutes that the baby takes to feed, he does not continuously feed. At times he might fall asleep. Or at times he looks around, probably gives the mother a smile and then starts feeding again. Due to this the emotional bond between mother and child becomes strong which is very important for the psychological and behavioural development of the baby later in life. This also helps the baby imprint in the early stages of life. Also it was pointed out that vision leads to the mother feeling love and pleasure on seeing her infant feeding. This in turn releases the hormones oxytocin and prolactin in the mother’s blood stream which stimulates milk production in the breasts. Hence it a beneficial cycle for both.

Interview 6: Age: 28 years Occupation: Home maker Children: 2 year old boy just taken off breast feeding The mother agreed to all the issues highlighted during the interview. Her hometown being Baroda in Gujarat, she often had to travel from pune to Baroda which is an overnight journey. During this she faced many problems when feeding her baby. At times both the hands are occupied in holding the baby, and in times of hitting a pothole or a sudden brake, due to inertia one tends to move forward. This causes a problem where in the mother is thrown in a dilemma whether as to protect her baby, or herself or to make sure that the dupatta/scarf stays in place.

PARALLEL PRODUCTS

Generic products

Generally women use a scarf or if they are wearing a sari or a salwar kameeze they tend to use the dupatta of the dress itself to hide the baby.

Bebe Au lat

The issues with a dupatta/blanket/scarf are: • When covered with a blanket/dupatta due to the body heat generated, the baby might get hot and uncomfortable underneath.

• This leads to the baby getting fussy and stop feeding.

• As the baby grows up, he/she tends to kick the blanket off or pulls it down. Hence there is a constant fear in the mother’s mind of the dupatta/blanket falling off. Also she needs to keep on adjusting the dupatta every time.

• New mothers are not experienced enough for feeding. For them and the baby, it takes times to latch on. This becomes difficult and frustrating when she can’t see the baby’s head as the view is blocked by the dupatta.

An apron like cover with a stiff neck is available in international as well as Indian markets.

The issues with this product are: • Indian mothers do not wish to buy this as they find it to be too tacky and eye catching. Even if someone hasn’t noticed at first that the mother is feeding her baby, after wearing this it catches the eye of the observer. Also it becomes an extra material to carry with her in the baby bag wherever she goes.

Who would want to wear a bib in public?

WORD ATTRIBUTES AND MIND MAPPING

Morale Booster

Easier Public Life

Dignity

Self Image Enhancer

Self Esteem

Lactation cover

Honour

Confidence

Self Worth

Fulfilment of Dreams

Happiness

Self Respect

Freedom Smoother Everyday Life

Smoother Transport

IDEATION

01

The major issue that arises during travel is that the product needs to be compact enough for easy carrying. Hence the concept was developed such that the product could be incorporated as a part of the baby bag itself.

The idea was to make it clipable onto the inner surface of the bag.

The product would consist of a roll of light woven fabric like cotton.

One end of the roll would be free to be pulled in order to cover, while the other part would be wound tightly onto a fibre rod. The rod would then be dispensing the fabric. The idea was inspired from the workings of cling wrap foils.

Then when it was needed, the mother would just pull the fabric out and over herself and the baby, thus effectively covering both of the up. She would then proceed with feeding, feeling safe and secure.

IDEATION

02

The idea in this concept was to make a kind of apron, with an underwire neckline, which would help the mother see the baby, while others cant. Hence it would help the mom feel secure while feeding.

IDEATION

03

IDEATION

04

The concept of this product was to develop a necklace such that it will come apart when needed, pulling the dupatta or scarf along with it. The mother will need to used the dupatta/scarf that she would wear to work along with this product.

IDEATION

05 In this concept, the idea was to develop a necklace which would be slpit into half at the centre.

Before leaving the house, the mother will affix the scarf/dupatta to the border of the lower flange of the necklace. When the baby needs nourishment, the mother will have to pull the lower flange, by which the product will spilt apart and the bottom half of the necklace will protrude in the front like shown in the image. this will work on the principle of tension which is created in the bottom half of the neck piece.

IDEATION

07

The idea was to create the collar using a bistable plastic, like the snap bracelette. The ends would collapse and roll inside, making the product compact and easy to carry.

IDEATION

06

The idea in this concept was to make the collar with a stable and firm material. The dupatta or scarf will hold in the front, forming an opening at the top, which will facilitate the mother to view the baby while feeding.

The collar will stay firm around the neck, holding the dupatta taut in the front.

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

To hold the dupatta at a point, various methods of hold were tried out. Instead of adding an extra part to the product and making its manufacturing more complex, some design intervention tried in the main body will be beneficial.

Hence a cut out like that in an olive oil bottle would be prefrable, which would be cut right into the body of the main product. The teeth would hold the dupatta or the scarf securely at the front, ithout tearing into the fabric. The front end would be thinner, hence the teeth would be flexible

For the final concept, ease in porability was the main issue kept in mind. Hence it was decided to keep the product as small as possible. Making the whole cover would have been counter productive. Hence the collar ideation was taken forward. It is generally observed that the average mother always has a dupatta or a scarf around when travelling with a new born baby. Hence using the scarf or the conventional dupatta as cover, a collar was designed to fit around the neck and give the front of the dupatta proper hold and secure it.

The issue was to make the collar as compact as possible, so as to facilitate ease in carrying. Giving the end a pin joint and allowing it to bend 180deg would help make the product compact.

VALIDATION

Fixing of the dupatta/ scarf at the cut out joint at the front. The teeth hold the fabic securely, without damaging it.

Side view shows the extent of the elevation and the dupatta extension, which would form the window on the top.

A view taken from the top to show the window created, which would help the mother and child maintain eye contact.

USER REVIEWS

user 1: Age: 27 years Occupation: Home maker Children: one 6 month old baby boy

Interview 2: Age: 25 years Occupation: Care taker at MITID hostel Children: 8 month old girl

The user gave a positive response to the product in terms of concept development and idea. In terms of successful validation, it was difficult to achieve since at 6 months the baby was quite active, and since the product was introduced at this developed stage, he seemed distracted by it and started playing with it.

Hence the observation was noted that the product will work better for babies introduced to it since the begginning.

The mother found the product quite useful during a recent trip. Since her daughter was quite passive and accommodating as compared to the first user, the product could be validated to a certain extent. In terms of use, the learning curve was a bit difficult to achieve for the mother. It was observed that the product could be a bit more intuitive.

user 3: Age: 24 years Occupation: Home maker and new mother Children: a one month old baby

Interview 4: Age: 27 years Occupation: Shopkeeper (Part time) Children: 3 month old girl

The mother liked the idea and concept of the product, and she could use it very easily at home. She found it to be very easy to use and felt that it gave her more confidence during feeding when guests were around.

The user gave a positive response in terms of the product. It was easy and comfortable to use.

user 5: Age: 28 years Occupation: Part time lecturer Children: a four month old girl

Interview 6: Age: 26 years Occupation: Home maker Children: 2 month old twins

The mother liked the concept of the product. It was easy and comfortable to use. A feedback was given that it could be even more compact, hence facilitating easier carrying during travel either long distance, or from home to office.

The user gave a positive response in terms of the product. It was easy and comfortable to use. The suggestion was given to make the design a bit more bigger, hence to accommodate twins in a cirumstance that both might need to feed at the same time.

THANKYOU