A new phone app developed by The Kids Research Institute Australia researcher Dr Roslyn Giglia is helping mothers change the way they approach alcohol and breastfeeding.
Committed to ensuring the latest research gets into the hands of those who need it most, Dr Roslyn Giglia reworked her findings on alcohol usage, protecting breastfeeding and keeping babies safe into an easy-to-use free phone app that has changed the habits of mothers in Australia and New Zealand.
Developed in partnership with the Australian Breastfeeding Association and Reach Health Promotion Innovations, and supported by funding from Healthway, the Feedsafe app helps to determine when breastmilk is alcohol-free and limits interference with let-down and milk supply.
Released in 2014, its popularity exceeded all expectations and it was the second most downloaded free health and fitness app in Australia for three days.
The app has now been downloaded around 100,000 times and has an average use of 928 times per day.
While NHMRC guidelines advise that not drinking alcohol when breastfeeding is the safest option, the app uses further guideline advice – based on Dr Giglia’s research – to assist those women who do choose to drink occasionally to do so in the safest way possible.
“I wanted to provide a harm minimisation message,” she said. “So that if you are going to drink – and some mothers are, as that is the culture we live in – here is a really safe way that protects your breastfeeding and your baby.”
See www.feedsafe.net for more information.
What's next?
Finalising a survey of 240 health practitioners to determine if they are using NHMRC guidelines to advise breastfeeding mothers on harm minimisation.
