Two new dads saw how their wives struggled with breastfeeding – and invented a wearable breast pump

They were mechanical engineering students who met at the Nanyang Technological University in 2009 and remained close friends after graduating. In 2019, they both coincidentally became fathers around the same time, and supported their wives through their breastfeeding journeys.

Fast forward four years: Justin Tan, 36, and Charles Lim, 35, were inspired by their experiences to design the Snuugo wearable breast pump, which launched in December 2023.

Derived from combining the words “snug” and “go”, the Snuugo wearable breast pump is designed to fit snugly, weighs 290g – just slightly more than an iPhone 15 Pro Max – and can be worn under a nursing bra and used on the go.

That means a breastfeeding mum can go about her day without taking time out to express her breast milk. She might even be able to pump at her office desk.

TWO DADS’ EXPERIENCE WITH BREAST PUMPING

That’s how I found myself on a Thursday morning discussing breastfeeding and pumping with two men I had just met. Both are dads to two kids – Tan’s are aged four and one, and Lim’s are aged four and two.

We talked about cracked nipples, sleep deprivation, leaking breasts and pumping in uncomfortable places like a storeroom. It was a familiar but strange conversation. I have had this discussion with many fellow mums, never a dad.

“Breastfeeding and pumping are physically demanding and emotionally challenging, especially for a new mum,” said Lim. “But I don’t think breastfeeding should just be a mum’s job.”

During their wives’ breastfeeding journey, the two dads supported the women by staying up with them into the wee hours to offer emotional support, wash breast pumps, store the breast milk and keep their wives hydrated.

What they did not expect was for breastfeeding and pumping to be so challenging, said Tan, who gave his wife Ziying massages for clogged milk ducts.

The Lims also struggled with blocked ducts. “About three months into pumping, my wife Wanxin had cracked nipples and there was blood in the milk. The breast pump suction was incorrect and the flanges didn’t fit properly. I felt so helpless because I couldn’t do anything except buy the balms that she needed.

“That was the point when I thought, I need to do something about [these pumping issues],” said Lim, as Wanxin had already tried three different pumps at that point.

Things got harder when the women went back to work after their maternity leave. “We couldn’t help that much anymore because a lot of the pumping takes place at work,” said Tan, whose wife is a marketing executive.

“When I texted Ziying at work, I realised she was in the storeroom pumping because there was no nursing room in her office,” he added. It was also very hot in the office storeroom and she had to buy a portable fan for her pumping sessions.

“I thought it was quite depressing,” said Tan.

These pumping struggles became such a big part of the two couples’ lives that they discussed it during their babies’ playdates. The two dads started a critique of breast pumps and discussed how they would have made them differently.

Their ideas made so much sense that the duo decided to co-design a breast pump together. That was how Tan, who was previously a process and project engineer in the automotive industry and Lim, a product designer in an engineering firm, ended up co-founding their breast pump brand Snuugo. 

DESIGNING FOR THEIR WIVES

The men started by studying existing breast pumps and identifying issues with what was available in the market, based on their own experiences. They asked their wives, other mums and dads among their friends for input, and engaged a branding and marketing agency to identify gaps in the market.

Based on this, they brainstormed designs, and began sketching and creating 3D models, which they asked their friends and wives to test-drive.

Not wanting other women to have to pump in the office storeroom like Ziying, Tan wanted to develop a wearable breast pump that mothers could wear under their nursing bra and pump anywhere or on-to-go.

It had to be a built-in pump without tubes connecting it to a main machine, but at the same time, it had to be lightweight, compact, discreet and quiet, so that it would not be disruptive.

That way, mothers can pump at their desk, during a meeting, while shopping or driving. The pump automatically stops when the bottle is full or when the time you set is up, so you don’t have to be afraid it will overflow, said Tan.

Lim’s wife Wanxin wanted more customisable settings as she found the increase in pumping intensity in some breast pumps too wide. So he created 28 customisable settings: Seven different intensities for stimulation, a massage-like function to trigger the let-down reflex and get breast milk flowing, seven different intensities to express milk, and three different suction speeds for each intensity.

All this is controlled via the Snuugo mobile app. The breast pump itself has only two buttons: An “on” button and a “start/pause” button.

This app also automatically logs how much milk is expressed, as well as the corresponding date and time, so that tired mums don’t have to manually write it down. They can also add notes to the log so they can better track which milk-boosting supplements or foods work or which foods adversely affected the taste of their breast milk.

“When Wanxin ate mala and pumped her breast milk, our baby rejected it. This feature helps to keep track of such things,” said Lim.

Lim explained that other smart wearable breast pumps in the market designed in the United States and United Kingdom have larger flanges of 24mm, 27mm and 28mm. The flange is the funnel that fits directly over the nipple, areola and breast. Because Asian women tend to have smaller nipples, Snuugo offers smaller flange sizes of 20mm and 24mm for more effective pumping.

Additionally, the container itself is designed with a small opening to reduce spillage when pouring the breast milk out into a storage bag.

“When I was trying to help Ziying pour the milk in the wee hours of the morning, I was sleepy and dropped the bottle. Because the normal bottle opening is big, everything spilled out. It’s just so sad, and I also got scolded, of course,” Tan laughed.

“With a small opening, even if you drop the bottle, only a little will be wasted. Most of the milk will still be there.”

Recalling the couple’s breastfeeding journey, Tan said: “It’s a new age now. I think fathers are involved a lot in whatever possible way. I try to support Ziying in everything. If two of us try to do it together, it might help make things better,” he said.

Lim added that he never thought he would be able to help this way. “[When I was an engineering student], I never imagined I would be designing a product that directly helped my loved ones one day, much less a breast pump. But now, I feel relieved that if we have a third child, this would help Wanxin,” he said.