How to guide breastfeeding mothers with a mobile app?

Co-creation project with OYS - breastfeeding care pathway

EU-funded co-creation project, InDemand, selected Buddy Healthcare as one of the e-health companies to start developing a digital guidance and advice pass in June 2018. This 6-month project aimed to create a digital guidance solution containing healthcare professionals’ validated content to educate and engage pregnant women and new mothers in breastfeeding. 

OYS produced all the content related to breastfeeding. Buddy Healthcare’s patient engagement mobile app was used as a technological solution to guide, instruct and remind mothers about important breastfeeding matters. Pregnant women and new mothers were created with a care pathway, and they received all the information and instructions via the BuddyCare app. The information and instructions included in the app were automatically scheduled so that it’s easy for users to follow the most essential instructions at a given time. The care pathway was built around pregnancy weeks.

Feedback - 100% of the mothers would recommend the app

Feedback through the app was collected from all users who participated in the trial (N=20). The feedback received was highly encouraging and provided us with some valuable insights for future development needs. We are happy to share some of the highlights below:

• 92% said that the app as a digital guidance tool either highly or somewhat highly supported the information provided earlier during pregnancy
• 92% said the app was either very or somewhat easy to use
• 92% preferred using the app over a paper format of the breastfeeding guidance pass
• 92% rated the app as 4 (ranking scale 1-5)
• 100% would either highly or somewhat highly recommend the app to other pregnant women and mothers

Key learnings from mothers' feedback

The BuddyCare app was used for the first time for breastfeeding guidance purposes, and from the feedback, we can clearly see a demand for a modern mobile guidance app. The users learned to use the BuddyCare app well and found it easy to use. Furthermore, the app's target group was ideal as these people are used to using online services in their daily lives. Delivering validated, high-quality and standardized information about the benefits of breastfeeding through a simple mobile app is a modern and efficient way to educate and engage new mothers.

We thank OYS for this fruitful co-creation project and InDemand's excellent learning experience.

Buddy Healthcare's COO, Peter Hänninen, was responsible for the project. Read more about Peter's project-related interview and thoughts about digitally supported breastfeeding.