Patent ID: 9535047
Date: 2017-01-03
CPC Classifications: A61B,A61J,A61M,G01J,G01N

Claim:
1. A method of providing an indication as to the amount of milk remaining in a breast during lactation based on a determined fat content of milk that has been expressed from said breast, wherein the method of determining said fat content comprises measuring, via a sensor, an optical characteristic of milk during expression and by comparing via a control unit, said measured optical characteristic with data representing a corresponding optical characteristic of a sample of milk having a known fat content to determine the fat content of said expressed milk, determining, via said control unit, in real time during lactation an indication of the amount of milk remaining in the breast from the determined fat content of said expressed milk, and supplying a signal representative of the determined fat content of the expressed milk to said control unit, said control unit being operable to automatically control pumping in dependence on said signal.