LactiLens tackles a lack of equitable and accessible postpartum care available in rural or low-income areas for mothers and newborns, namely maternal mastitis, stress, and newborn medication transfer.
LactiLens is a smart breast pad and companion app system offering detection for three key postpartum issues: breast mastitis, physiological stress, and antibiotic transfer. Each LactiLens pad looks and feels like a standard disposable/compostable nursing pad, but adds a thin additional microfluidic diagnostic layer. The LactiLen pad has a perforated inner contact layer that makes contact with the breast for milk transfer, followed by an absorbent bio-based fluff pulp core that captures bulk milk and keeps the skin dry. The LactiLens product adds a hydrophilic paper-based microfluidic channel that branches off the core, wicking a small sample away from the absorbent material and to a multiplex lateral flow module with three zones or markers that give insight into different manifestations or effects of the three issues mentioned above. For example, the mastitis pad measures 3 neutrophil-associated enzymes and chemokines that rise in inflamed mammary tissue. The medication exposure pad measures the presence of three different antibiotic classes commonly prescribed postpartum. The stress pad measures cortisol and two immune mediators that correlate with chronic maternal stress. This is followed by a fluid-impermeable outer backing that maintains dryness against clothing. The top right corner of this outer layer incorporates a small viewing window to see the test and control lines. This allows for diagnostics without changing the user experience from a normal nursing pad. While the viewing window allows for parents to see immediate, baseline results, the LactiLens companion app, designed primarily using images and visuals, analyzes test results along with breast milk color, logs side-specific results over time, and provides basic, tailored guidance for next steps. In the process, no sample handling or transfers are required by the user. Its simple usage process makes it ideal for inclusion in non-profit initiatives for disadvantaged or new mothers, as well as in postpartum kits after discharge.
