Upcoming mobile app to help anxious new parents, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
Singapore

Upcoming mobile app to help anxious new parents

This article is more than 12 months old

Parents with newborn children will be able to refer to a local mobile application for help next year.

Called Home But Not Alone, the free app is being developed here to provide information on post-natal care to new parents who may be stressed out while caring for their newborn.

The app covers topics ranging from breastfeeding to bathing a baby and delivers the information through documents, videos and audio clips. It also answers questions by parents and addresses myths regarding the care of babies.

Home But Not Alone is being made by a research team of six hospital midwives, clinicians and researchers from the National University of Singapore's Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and the National University Hospital.

The Home But Not Alone beta app was piloted over six months from December 2015 to May last year. Some 126 people, or 63 couples, received educational support through the app during the trial. These couples were then compared against 62 couples who were in a control group.

Parents in the control group received routine maternity care provided by the hospital.

Parents were surveyed after four weeks of having access to the beta app and most of them became more confident in taking care of their babies.

Mr Zhang Han, 34, an assistant manager who has a one-year-old baby girl, said: "It's good because you are no longer just looking at Google for information but you have professional information." -THE STRAITS TIMES

babyparentinghospital