Breastfeeding can be a special bonding time for you & your baby, but the feeding process can also be overwhelming. As a nursing mother, you’re constantly in demand, usually with a short duration between feedings.
I still remember the early days when it felt like my chest was a 24/7 feedbag for my newborn. I nursed some of my kids exclusively, some with both nursing & formula, & some exclusively on formula. Regardless of how you choose to feed your baby, being the only person handling feedings can be exhausting.
If you’re a nursing mother, you can pump breast milk into a bottle to allow others to feed your baby…. IF your baby will adapt to it. Some babies grow so accustomed to being fed only by nursing with Mama that when it comes to others trying to feed them, they’re simply not having it.
They want their mother’s body, period, which can be challenging when you need or want someone else to assist with feeding time.
Well, while your hubby might not be able to feed your baby with his big ‘ole useless nipples, a Japanese company has invented the next closest thing: a nursing device for dads & other caregivers known as “The Father’s Nursing Assistant”.
This apparatus boasts bigger boobs than mine… just saying.
Dentsu, an innovative company based in Japan, shared their innovative new concept at the recent South By Southwest trade festival in Texas. The company designed the Father’s Nursing Assistant in order to give fathers the opportunity to actively participate in feeding their nursing infant.
With the advice of pediatricians, Dentsu developed the product to closely resemble the shape and texture of a natural breast, with the milk contained in one “breast” while a silicone bottle nipple protrudes from the other for the infant to latch onto.
And that’s not all, folks- it’s actually even cooler than it looks (which I guess is easy, since the look might take some getting used to).
#wearablewednesday Father’s Nursing Assistant
Posted by Glam Tech USA on Tuesday, March 12, 2019
In addition to providing a familiar feeding environment for a nursing baby, the Father’s Nursing Assistant also has a variety of other advanced abilities:
It has a heating function to keep the milk at an appropriate temperature, a vibration function that can be activated in order to induce sleep in the infant, and a sensor that tracks baby’s feeding patterns… which is sent directly to your smartphone.
After reading this, I only have one question:
Where the hell was this when I was feeding MY babies???
Now granted, the look of the device takes some getting used to. And I know there are dads out there who would be reluctant to wear it, particularly in public. But this apparatus can seriously make a massive dent in the state of postpartum deep exhaustion that many moms, particularly nursing moms, experience for those first few months of their baby’s life.
The device gives anyone in a baby’s life the opportunity to feed a breastfed baby and soothe him or her to sleep easily, which is a win-win for both fellow infant caregivers AND tired baby mamas everywhere.
My primary concern with this product for fellow parents, however, is the potential it has for mom-shaming anyone that doesn’t breastfeed, whether by preference or necessity.
While it definitely seems geared more for a nursing baby, I’d hate to see this product make parents feel that bottle-feeding somehow isn’t “enough”. Babies can be comforted through the act of bottle-feeding with their parent(s) as well. This is a nifty new option, but not the ONLY option.
As far as for myself, I would have been willing to wear pretty much anything that would make those first few months of newborn life slightly less overwhelming. While my husband took a look at this picture & grimaced, I think he’d reconsider real quick if he remembered the newborn days when I wasn’t home & he was trying to calm our baby by wearing one of my tank tops with my scent on it… desperate times call for desperate measures, right??
So what say you- would you be willing to wear the Father’s Nursing Assistant? What about your partner?