School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, M310, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
Int Breastfeed J. 2009 Oct 26;4:10. doi: 10.1186/1746-4358-4-10.
Milk ejection is essential for a successful lactation, however techniques to measure milk ejection in women are often complex and invasive. Recent research has demonstrated that at milk ejection, milk duct diameter increased in the breast (measured by ultrasound) at the same time as milk flow rate increased (measured using a weigh balance). This study aimed to evaluate a purpose-built continuous weigh balance (Showmilk, Medela AG) to measure changes in milk flow rate from the breast to identify milk ejections during milk expression. In addition, the Showmilk was used to determine if milk ejection occurred simultaneously in both breasts during double pumping.
Increased milk flow rates during single pumping were compared to simultaneous ultrasound measurements of increased milk duct diameters in 14 mothers. In addition, increases in milk flow rate were compared between the left and right breasts of 28 mothers during double pumping for 15 minutes with two separate electric breast pumps attached to two Showmilks to record milk flow rate.
Increased milk flow rates were associated with increased milk duct diameters during single pumping. The mean number of milk ejections was not different between the Showmilk (4.2 +/- 2.0) and ultrasound (4.5 +/- 1.5) techniques. Overall, 67 milk ejections were measured and of these, 48 (72%) were identified by both techniques. The left and right breasts responded synchronously with 95.5% of the flow rate increases corresponding between the breasts. The mean number of milk ejections identified by an increase in milk flow rate during double pumping was 5.1 +/- 1.7 and 5.0 +/- 1.7 for the left and right breasts, respectively. In addition, mothers chose the same expression vacuum for the left (-198 +/- 31 mmHg) and right (193 +/- 33 mmHg) breasts.
The Showmilk can simply and non-invasively record milk ejections by measuring increases in milk flow rate that correspond with increases in milk duct diameter. For the first time measurement of milk flow rate has been used to confirm that milk ejections occur simultaneously in the left and right breasts during double pumping. The use of the Showmilk will facilitate further research into the relationship of milk ejection and milk removal.
乳汁喷射对于成功哺乳至关重要，然而，用于测量女性乳汁喷射的技术通常较为复杂且具侵入性。最近的研究表明，在乳汁喷射时，乳房内的乳腺导管直径会增大（通过超声测量），同时乳汁流速也会增加（通过称重法测量）。本研究旨在评估一款特制的连续称重式吸乳器（Medela AG 的 Showmilk），以测量乳房内乳汁流速的变化，从而在吸乳过程中识别乳汁喷射。此外，还使用 Showmilk 来确定在双泵吸乳过程中，两个乳房是否同时发生乳汁喷射。
在 14 位母亲中，比较了单次吸乳时乳汁流速的增加与同时进行的超声测量到的乳腺导管直径的增加。此外，在 28 位母亲中，比较了双泵吸乳 15 分钟时左右两侧乳房的乳汁流速增加情况，使用两个单独的电动吸乳器连接到两个 Showmilks 上以记录乳汁流速。
在单次吸乳时，乳汁流速的增加与乳腺导管直径的增加相关。使用 Showmilk 和超声两种技术测量到的乳汁喷射次数无差异（Showmilk：4.2 +/- 2.0；超声：4.5 +/- 1.5）。总共测量到 67 次乳汁喷射，其中 48 次（72%）被两种技术同时识别到。左右两侧乳房的反应是同步的，95.5%的流速增加是对应的。双泵吸乳时，通过乳汁流速增加识别到的乳汁喷射次数分别为左侧 5.1 +/- 1.7 次和右侧 5.0 +/- 1.7 次。此外，母亲为左右两侧乳房选择了相同的吸乳负压（左侧 -198 +/- 31 mmHg；右侧 193 +/- 33 mmHg）。
Showmilk 可以通过测量与乳腺导管直径增加相对应的乳汁流速增加，简单、非侵入性地记录乳汁喷射。这是首次使用乳汁流速测量来确认在双泵吸乳过程中，左右两侧乳房的乳汁喷射是同步发生的。使用 Showmilk 将有助于进一步研究乳汁喷射与乳汁移出的关系。
