Do we really need an app to tell us when to breastfeed? Adelaide researchers take a closer look

With more than 100 breastfeeding apps now on the market, Adelaide researchers have taken a closer look to find out how useful they really are – and when they should be avoided.

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A snowballing of breastfeeding apps available for download has sparked a warning from Adelaide researchers for new mums to carefully consider how they use the mobile phone technology.

With more than 100 apps now on the market, researchers from Flinders University and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) have been studying the effectiveness of the infant feeding apps.

Paediatric nutrition expert Jacqueline Miller says many of the apps have been developed outside of Australia and while some are worthwhile, others should be avoided or used with care.

Dr Miller, who has a role at both Flinders and SAHMRI, says she has no issues with apps that simply track when a baby feeds, or how long it feeds for.

However she warns against apps that send push notifications, telling a mum when a baby should be woken up, or fed again.

“One of the real benefits of breastfeeding is it is baby led, it encourages responsive-type parenting and we know this natural, responsive way of feeding babies is best for long-term breastfeeding,” Dr Miller said.

“What we really want is for mum and bub to tune in to each other, sometimes a baby will have long sleeps and then bunch in a whole heap of feeds together to catch up, they don’t necessarily wake up every four hours on the dot.”

Dr Miller says the inaccuracy of information provided on some apps is a concern with not all apps following the guidelines set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) or Australia’s NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council).

NHMRCguidelines recommend exclusive breastfeeding for about the first six months.

Dr Miller also advises against apps that quantify the amount of milk a baby has had to drink.

“(These) are simply using an algorithm that tells you what an average baby would have taken in and what we know about breastfeeding infants is they are not average, they vary enormously.

“We want a baby to use its initiative and to stop when it has had enough.”

However, she says interviews with those who using the apps highlight some benefits for some mums, including taking some of the guesswork out of first-time parenting.

“They are increasingly giving mums a modern way of tracking aspects of baby care, including feeding regularly, sleep, growth and nappy changes”, Dr Miller said.

“Information stored in the app can provide a useful history to discuss with health care providers who can then provide much more individualised advice, particularly with breastfeeding.”

Dr Miller advises parents to check advice given on the apps with their health care provider and to use reputable local health sites such as the Child and Youth Network (CYH) website.

It is tipped the booming global mobile health app market will grow to be worth more than $40 billion by the year’s end, and be used for everything from intervention and behaviour change to disease or condition self-management, data monitoring and e-information provision.

Dr Miller said it would be helpful to have a rating system for available apps.

Originally published as Do we really need an app to tell us when to breastfeed? Adelaide researchers take a closer look