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How VR may take the drudgery out of pumping breast milk — and help ease new mothers’ stress

Some research suggests small environmental changes can drive physiological responses while pumping breast mlik.

“Look down,” Pinar Yanardag tells me.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer scientist was sitting with me not long ago in a large, bustling room in Cambridge, Mass. But the view in my virtual reality headset was of a dimly lit nursery with baby photos on the walls. I heard peaceful music playing.

When I looked down, I was startled to see an animated baby nursing at my left breast.

The virtual reality scene was a neat trick — but it’s also at the heart of a technology Yanardag hopes could one day transform the postpartum experience. The first step is what she calls “,” an both more enjoyably and more effectively.

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