Educate, Engage and Interact with New Mothers with a Digital Breastfeeding Support App

In 2018, Buddy Healthcare was selected by the EU funded co-creation project, InDemand, to start developing digital breastfeeding support to help new mothers and healthcare professionals. Within 6 months, and in collaboration with Oulu University Hospital, the company created a digital breastfeeding support solution to educate and engage pregnant women and new mothers in breastfeeding-related matters. The platform received great feedback; 100 % of the mothers using the app would recommend it to others.

• Pregnant women and new mothers have 24/7 access to healthcare professionals’ validated breastfeeding materials. 
  
  
• The platform delivers materials automatically to the mobile app users based on their pregnancy weeks or hours/ days after birth.
  
  
• The app also includes secure messaging, which enables mothers to communicate easily with healthcare professionals if needed. 
  
  

A pregnant woman downloads a mobile app. The app contains the healthcare professionals' validated breastfeeding-related content and instructions to help the mother easily become familiar with the benefits of breastfeeding and how to get started. The platform delivers materials automatically to the mobile app users based on their pregnancy weeks or days after birth. The mothers' mobile app can be connected to a healthcare professional's dashboard for secure real-time messaging.

Two-way communications between mothers and healthcare professionals

Real-time secure messaging ensures that mothers and healthcare professionals can communicate securely through the platform. Mothers can, for example, submit questions or send photos to the healthcare professionals in real-time. The first two weeks are crucial in breastfeeding. Learning and being able to receive personalized support quickly can make a big difference in new mothers succeeding at breastfeeding.