News
TensCare launches breast pump offering greater comfort to ease difficulties of breastfeeding
the UK has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world with eight out of ten women stopping before they want to.
TensCare, Europe’s largest provider of TENS machines worldwide has extended its maternity and parental range by launching a new range of breast pumps.
The new TensCare Nouri breast pump range offers an invaluable aid to stimulate milk production for initial difficulties of breastfeeding. It also aims to provide new mums with extra support during the first months of motherhood.
The device is available in three different models and is the latest addition to TenCare’s range of TENS maternity products. The range includes a manual breast pump that can be used on the go and an electric breast pump designed with a host of innovative features that make breast pumping quicker and easier. It also features a dual breast pump that allows users to express milk from both breasts simultaneously.
The range has been developed to support mums from childbirth and through their maternity journey. The Nouri Pump provides a manual breast pump equipped with a range of features including an ergonomic handle with a soft coating for easy grip and less hand fatigue. The soft silicone and special finish of the bell also ensure delicate contact on the skin.
The pump has three different modes that offer users eight different suction forces, ensuring pumping is comfortable and effective. It works as an automatic dual breast pump allowing women to express milk from both breasts at the same time. The Nouri Duo has a rechargeable battery and integrated light system so that it can be used day and night. It features adjustable modes, suction forces and pumping frequencies that ensure comfortable and quick pumping.
Lisa Slavova, sales director at TensCare said: “Our Nouri range is designed to complement our current product range of maternity TENS devices. We have been in the business for many years and have worked with mums during the most important times of their lives – childbirth.
We believe we are trusted and positioned to continue our care and are delighted to launch our new range of breast pumps, providing extra support to mums during their maternity journey and offering a quality product that can help make breastfeeding more effective and comfortable.”
Breastfeeding figures
However, the UK has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world with eight out of ten women stopping before they want to. This is due to problems such as inability to latch and discomfort which cause women to stop. Breast milk is an ideal food for newborns and infants as it provides all the nutrients needed for healthy development. It can also provide benefits for mums who breastfeed such as a reduced risk of breast or ovarian cancers.
Lisa adds: “We worked with mums during the development process to ensure our new Nouri range offers everything mums are looking for in a breast pump and more, making it easier than ever to focus on their baby while they effortlessly, quickly, and quietly express milk.”
TensCare has many years of experience in providing a modern, safe drug-free solution for labour pain and is the largest TENS provider for mums to be in the world. The company’s TENS maternity unit is approved by the NHS and has an excellent reputation for helping to alleviate childbirth pain and eliminate the anxiety that comes with labour.
Apple announced menopause and perimenopause tracking for its Health app at WWDC 2026, with symptom logging and cycle alerts for some users.
The update expands the app’s cycle tracking beyond fertility and menstrual periods.
If logged cycle patterns suggest a user may be experiencing perimenopause, the app will send a notification prompting a conversation with a doctor.
However, this perimenopause-specific cycle deviation notification is only for users aged 40 and over and is not intended to replace a doctor’s diagnosis or treatment.
Stacey Ford, Apple’s vice-president of OS management, said users will also be able to log menopause and perimenopause symptoms in the Health app.
Educational content will also be available to help users learn more about these life stages and understand changes in their bodies.
Every year, about 2 million women enter perimenopause, the stage before menopause when levels of the hormone oestrogen decline.
According to a February 2025 survey involving 4,432 participants aged over 30, more than half of women aged 30 to 35 experienced moderate or severe perimenopause symptoms.
The findings suggest perimenopause does not affect only older adults.
About 6,000 women in the US enter menopause every day, according to the Society for Women’s Health Research.
Given the number of women affected by perimenopause and menopause, the update broadens the Health app’s scope.
The app launched in 2019, meaning it has gone seven years without these women’s health tracking features, which could help users better understand their bodies and prepare for informed conversations with doctors.
A £50m maternity consortium will bring together UK clinicians, researchers and communities to tackle the most critical gaps in maternal care.
Funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research has established the NIHR Inequalities Challenge: Maternity Disparities Consortium under the leadership of the University of Birmingham and Newcastle University.
Higher education bodies, NHS organisations, community groups and voluntary organisations from across the UK will work together through the programme.
The NIHR has committed £50m over five years to support research led by clinicians, researchers and communities across the consortium.
Professor Joht Singh Chandan, consortium co-lead for research at the University of Birmingham, said: “National attention on maternity safety and equity has never been greater, but ambition must now be matched by evidence and implementation.
“Through this consortium, we will work across the UK to understand what works, for whom and in what contexts, and to ensure that research leads to practical changes in care for the women, babies and families who need them most.”
The launch comes at a pivotal moment for UK maternity care, with growing national attention on improving safety, equity and women’s experiences of care.
The government’s renewed Women’s Health Strategy highlights the need to improve care before and between pregnancies for underserved communities.
Against that backdrop, the consortium will generate the evidence, interventions and research capacity needed to help turn national ambition into practical improvements for women, babies and families.
University of Birmingham is leading work to improve maternity care pathways across the antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal periods.
Antenatal care covers pregnancy before labour, while intrapartum care refers to care during labour and birth.
The consortium will examine how women and families can be better supported before pregnancy and between pregnancies.
This includes improving access to advice and care that can help people prepare for pregnancy, manage existing health conditions and reduce risks before they build up.
Other research will focus on improving care during pregnancy, birth and the early weeks after birth.
This will include work on major causes of poor maternal health, such as high blood pressure, diabetes in pregnancy, obesity, perinatal mental health and complications during recovery after birth.
Professor Judith Rankin OBE, consortium co-lead for research and capacity development at Newcastle University, said: “This funding represents a critical opportunity to make the step change we need to improve outcomes for women and their babies.
“Alongside the research, the Consortium will be investing in tomorrow’s research leaders today to ensure we have the capacity to deliver on improving pregnancy outcomes, access to, and experience of, care.”
Peers have called for law reform after two House of Lords debates on fertility treatment, surrogacy, embryo research and declining birthrates.
The first debate was put forward by crossbench peer Baroness Ruth Deech, who previously chaired the UK’s fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
She discussed proposals from the HFEA to reform the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, along with proposals from the Scottish Law Commission and the Law Commission of England and Wales to reform the Surrogacy Arrangements Act.
She called for parliamentary scrutiny of possible changes to regulatory powers, consent rules, donor information and future scientific developments.
Baroness Deech said: “Parliament should plan by setting up a Select Committee to examine the HFEA’s proposals to expand regulatory powers, simplify consent rules, modernise donor information provisions and create a flexible framework for future scientific developments.”
Former fertility professionals were among those contributing to the debate.
Professor Lord Robert Winston, a Labour peer who founded the IVF service at Hammersmith Hospital in London, said: “Infertility is not a disease; it is actually a symptom of something wrong.”
Professor Baroness Geeta Nargund, a Labour peer, current HFEA member and former medical director of CREATE Fertility, disagreed.
She said: “Infertility is a disease, as stated by the World Health Organisation.”
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Caroline Pidgeon highlighted regional differences in access to NHS-funded fertility treatment.
She cited figures from the Progress Educational Trust’s NHS Fertility Funding Tracker showing that only two of England’s 42 integrated care boards comply with the recently updated fertility guideline published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Integrated care boards are local NHS organisations responsible for planning and funding healthcare services in their areas.
Baroness Pidgeon said many boards were offering only a partial IVF cycle rather than a full cycle as defined by NICE.
A full IVF cycle generally includes ovarian stimulation, egg collection and the transfer of all suitable fresh and frozen embryos created during treatment.
Crossbench peer Professor Baroness Clare Gerada, a former president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: “The proportion of NHS-funded IVF cycles has fallen to just under 30 per cent, the lowest level since 2008.”
She added that, in relation to IVF, “the NHS system has collapsed”.
Liberal Democrat peer Lord Monroe Palmer said it was “very ironic that it is difficult for many patients to access publicly funded fertility treatment in the very country where IVF was originally pioneered”.
Conservative peer Edward Howard, Earl of Effingham, also raised concerns about the NICE fertility guideline.
He said: “Access remains highly variable across England, because ICBs are not required to implement that guidance.”
He described the situation as “a clear gap between guidance and enforceable entitlement”.
Baroness Deech called for “automatic record sharing between clinics and the NHS central records system”.
Baroness Nargund supported this and linked the ambition to the Single Patient Record in the government’s Ten-Year Health Plan for England and the Health Bill currently before Parliament.
Baroness Pidgeon said such ambitions were at odds with the exceptional degree of medical secrecy that currently applies to IVF.
She also pointed to “a clear desire for the HFEA to be able to permit patients to give generic consent for the use of their embryos in research”.
Patients cannot currently give broad consent for unspecified future research involving their embryos.
Responding for the government, Labour peer Baroness Judith Blake said “immediate legislative reform” was not possible because “the legislative programme for this Parliamentary session is very full”.
Baroness Deech replied: “It might well take some years, but the Government really needs to set up that Select Committee and do the legislative scrutiny right now.”
A second debate on related issues followed immediately afterwards.
Baroness Nargund asked the government “what assessment they have made of the UK’s declining birthrates in an ageing population”.
She also said: “We still have a postcode lottery for IVF provision, with nearly 70 per cent of ICBs funding only one cycle of treatment.”
Responding for the government, Labour peer Lord Philip Wilson said: “The Government are committed to improving fair and equitable access to fertility services, recognising the significant emotional and health impacts of infertility.”
Menopause2 weeks agoPerimenopause misinformation ‘putting women at risk’
Diagnosis3 weeks agoNHS urged to update website following renaming of PCOS
Insight4 weeks agoPCOS renamed after decade-long campaign to end ‘cyst’ misconception
Menopause2 weeks agoWomen still being failed when they reach menopause, experts say
Entrepreneur2 weeks agoWomen’s Health Innovation Summit opens submissions for 2026 Innovation Showcase
Diagnosis4 weeks agoArtera receives FDA Clearance for breast cancer platform
Fertility4 weeks agoAI could transform ovarian care through personalisation, study finds
News2 weeks agoThree menopause innovators shortlisted for Femtech World Award
2 Comments