If you’ve ever browsed the baby aisle and noticed just how much gear exists for a newborn compared to how little exists for the person actually growing, birthing and feeding that newborn, you’re not imagining things. Prams, bottles, monitors, sensors – there’s an entire industry built around babies. Mums, on the other hand, have historically been left to simply push through the pain, exhaustion and discomfort that so often comes with breastfeeding and postpartum recovery.
Australian femtech brand Lacevo is hoping to close that gap with Lacevo Empower – a new wearable red and near-infrared light therapy device designed to shine a light on a part of postpartum care that has long overlooked the mother’s own wellbeing.
Why Breast Care Is Having a Wellness Moment
For years, conversations around postpartum recovery have centred heavily on the baby – from feeding schedules and sleep routines to developmental milestones – while society has often treated the physical experience of motherhood as something women should simply endure.
Lacevo founder Sally Grice noticed this imbalance firsthand, building the brand around the idea that mothers deserve the same level of innovation and care as their babies. After entering the category with its wearable breast pump – the only wearable breast pump endorsed by the Australian Breastfeeding Association – Lacevo is now turning its attention to a broader conversation around breast health and comfort.
Lacevo Empower represents that next step: a move away from seeing breast discomfort, soreness and recovery as inevitable parts of motherhood, and towards treating them as areas where technology and wellness can play a role.
So, What Exactly Is Red Light Therapy Doing Here?
The beauty and wellness worlds have been embracing red light therapy for years, from skincare treatments designed to support collagen production to devices promising a more high-tech approach to self-care. Empower applies similar technology to postpartum breast care, using 96 LEDs to deliver two wavelengths of light: 660 nanometre red light, which works closer to the skin’s surface, and 850 nanometre near-infrared light, which reaches deeper into tissue.
Together, the wavelengths work to soothe breast and nipple discomfort, support healthy lactation, assist the skin’s natural healing process and ease hormonal breast tenderness.
The device features three settings – Relief, Repair and Renew – with adjustable intensity levels and 10 to 20-minute sessions recommended three to five times per week. It’s non-invasive, drug-free and TGA approved, giving breastfeeding women a simple way to incorporate it into their postpartum routine.
A Device Actually Designed for Real Life
The biggest challenge with any wellness device is whether it fits into everyday life — especially for new mothers who rarely have a spare moment.
Empower’s design takes that reality into account. The light therapy pads follow the natural contours of the body and adapt to different breast shapes and sizes. Mothers can wear the hands-free device while resting, moving around the house or discreetly tucked under clothing, while the small controller clips onto clothing, hangs around the neck or fits easily into a pocket.
Essentially, it’s designed for those small pockets of time when a mother might actually be able to focus on herself.
Breast Health Doesn’t End When Breastfeeding Does
While Empower was created with breastfeeding mothers in mind, the conversation around breast care extends well beyond the postpartum period.
The device also supports women experiencing hormonal breast discomfort, recovering from breast surgery or managing scar healing – a reminder that women should prioritise breast health at every stage of life, not just during motherhood.
A Shift Towards Mother-First Wellness
There’s a wider conversation happening across beauty and wellness right now: women are looking for products that don’t just help them look better, but genuinely support how they feel and function.
Empower taps into that shift by focusing on an area that has traditionally received far less attention than it deserves. Because while we celebrate motherhood as transformative, we too often overlook the physical realities women navigate along the way
A wearable device designed around breast comfort, recovery and wellbeing might seem overdue. And perhaps that’s exactly why it feels like a meaningful step forward.
Where to Find It
Lacevo has partnered exclusively with Baby Bunting – Australia’s largest specialty baby retailer – to bring Empower to Australian women. The device is available from Lacevo directly, as well as online and in selected Baby Bunting stores, priced at $399.
