The UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative recommend that all parents are encouraged to build positive relationships with their infants. As part of this, breastfeeding and skin to skin contact should be encouraged and supported for all. When required, parents should be given the information they need to bottle feed safely and responsively in order to minimise health risks and maximise parent-infant bonding.

Research shows that many pregnant women and parents are looking online for information about pregnancy, parenting and infant feeding. The resources they find vary widely in accuracy and many parents find it difficult to scan through the wealth of information and decide upon reliable sources, which can result in increased anxiety.

Coventry University is leading the development of a new online and mobile resource for parents which will support them to make confident infant feeding choices, and support them with sustained breastfeeding and/or safe and responsive bottle feeding.

The research team is conducting a needs analysis to determine the content, functionality and design of the resource. It is essential that the team can hear from a range of health professionals as well as parents about the kinds of information that the resource should provide. 

If you would like to have your say in the development of the intervention please contact Dr Naomi Bartle at the Centre for Technology Enabled Health Research on 02477655497 or naomi.bartle@coventry.ac.uk

The iFEED study is funded by the Medical Research Council Public Health Intervention Development Scheme (MRC PHIND).