Breast pump users, former users, and others: Do you have a love/hate relationship with your pump? Want to innovate to make pumps and pumping better? Are you in Csmbridge area this weekend? Come and make a difference! The Make the Breast Pump Not Suck Hackathon Creating Innovation in Maternal and Global Health When: Saturday, September 20 & Sunday, September 21, 10am-6pm Where: MIT Media Lab Win! World-class judges will be giving cash prizes to the best ideas Register Now: bit.ly/makethebreastpumpnotsuck Registration is free but space is limited MIT students will work together with parents, medical professionals, designers, policymakers and engineers to radically redesign the breast pump, as well as explore other innovations in maternal and pediatric health to improve the lives of families and children around the globe. Our generous supporters of this event include Vecna Technologies (vecna), Medela (medela) and Naia Health (naiamom). Presented by the MIT Media Lab with organizational support of iKatun (ikatun.org). Pre-Hackathon Movie Screening Join us for a free public screening and discussion of Breastmilk: The Movie (breastmilkthemovie/) on Wednesday, September 10, at 7pm at MIT Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street, Building E15, Lower Level, Cambridge, MA. No RSVP required! Babies welcome. Questions? Check out our website breastpump.media.mit.edu or contact us at [email protected] or 617-501-2441. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why Breastmilk and Breast Pumps Breast pumping is an experience many women dislike, yet it saves the lives of premature babies and permits working women to continue a nursing relationship with their babies. The health benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and baby are numerous, and include reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, female cancers, heart disease, and osteoporosis. Despite the overwhelming data and worldwide endorsement of breastfeeding for the first two years of life, many women do not breastfeed at all or wean after several months. In particular, low-income, working women are rarely able to take extended maternity leave, afford the cost of a pump, or pump breastmilk at their workplace. In emerging economies around the world, women who go back to work wean their babies rather than using a breast pump. The breast pump is the rallying cry for the event because it is a symbol of a technology that could be better integrated into peoples everyday lives in order to save lives, save money, and lead to healthier and happier families. At the same time, our goal is to make space for innovation in family life more broadly, and to support a wide variety of different kinds of projects at the hackathon- and beyond.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 18:38:29 +0000