MEDELA
Freestyle™ Wearable Breast Pump
User convenience in
wearable breast cups
IDC was excited to support the development of Medela's first wearable electric breast pump, designing the milk collection cups in the new device that sit neatly within the bra.
Medela's first hands-free, wearable breast pump
With several competitors already selling wearable breast pumps, Medela was keen to introduce a superior new product that exceeded the design of these existing products. This meant developing a product that offered clear advantages in weight, size, user convenience and performance. The collection cups also needed to be compatible with several electric pumps in Medela’s product line.
As Medela’s smallest hands-free double electric breast pump, the collection cups sit neatly within a bra enabling mothers to continue an active lifestyle while expressing milk.
Understanding the needs of mothers and carrying out a technical review
To understand the needs of mothers using breast pumps and potential design opportunities, IDC undertook comprehensive user research. Participants from a wide range of demographic backgrounds and different geographic locations were interviewed to get a broad understanding of needs.
As well as this, a detailed technical review was undertaken to assess relevant patents and competitor products. The team conducted basic testing on anatomical models to understand the pros and cons of different designs. A close working relationship with the client also ensured a full understanding of pumping solutions and technical challenges. The user research identified over 20 pain points and new needs. This, along with the technical review, was translated into 10 key design goals which formed the basis of the new design.
Reducing part count and improving convenience
One of the biggest issues identified was the fiddly nature of the collection cups when being taken apart to be washed, dried and reassembled. Competitor products had between 5 and 7 different components forming each collection cup, often requiring assembly many times a day. This was time consuming for users.
Reducing the components became a top priority in designing the new cups. We created a new design which used only three components. This was a great achievement as we were essentially integrating the nine vital features of the collection cup: breast shield, milk outlet, nipple channel, one-way valve, cup sealing, membrane and a disassembly tab. This offered a huge advantage to breastfeeding mothers in terms of convenience.
As a product designed to be hands-free for busy mothers to get on with tasks, the collection cups needed to be small, discreet and comfortably worn inside a bra. Achieving the perfect shape for the collection cup was another key part of the development. Anthropometric data and geometry guidelines for the body shapes of breastfeeding mothers was analysed to direct ergonomic shapes for design.
Prototypes of potential cup shapes were created and further user testing was conducted to check how they performed when being worn in bras. The results of this research helped refine the design and a curved ‘avocado’ cup shape was chosen for the final product which helped reduce the pressure on breasts when milk was collected. The team also designed the connection between the collection cups and the breast pump to appear as natural as possible.
Materials & Manufacturing
Polypropylene was chosen as the material for the collection cups. As well as being an FDA approved material, it offered the benefit of heat resistance for sterilisation, and was soft and warm to touch, as well as economical.
In order to reduce the components effectively in the design, the collection cups used an advanced ‘twin-shot’ injection moulding process where polypropylene was injected into the mould in two stages. As well as this, slides within slides were incorporated to enable two side action angles within the same movement. This also helped to reduce the number of components and improve pumping effectiveness.
The curved shape of the collection cups presented an additional challenge to the design in terms of sealing. The team was able to resolve this by over moulding a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) in the sealing area. With fewer components to manufacture, the design was able to successfully reduce production costs, once the tooling was in place. With regulatory requirements an important part of the design process, the team complied with both FDA 510K and IEC 62366 standards for human factors engineering, completing preliminary needs research, mid-phase formative research and user risk analysis.
[The Medela Freestyle™ makes hands-free pumping effortless and discreet. The design is well thought out and specifically focused on the needs of the user.”
]
Medela’s new breast pump has received excellent feedback from mothers and regularly has a top spot in breast pump reviews. IDC is delighted to have supported Medela in producing a product which successfully meets the needs of mothers with a busy lifestyle. The class leading design has also been recognised by international design juries and has received an iF Design Award and a Red Dot Design Award.
Our involvement in the Freestyle™ Breast Cups:
- User research
- Competitor insight
- Industrial design
- Full CAD design for manufacture
- User testing
- Ergonomics
- Prototyping
- Tolerance stack analysis
- Performance testing
- 510K medical documentation
- Materials specification
- Tooling management
- Verification testing
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