New parents in Leicester can get advice, help and tips from a free phone app being launched in the city .
Baby Buddy is a new interactive mobile phone app designed to support mums during pregnancy and their first six months as new parents.
The aim is to help all parents – and especially young mums – to give their children the best possible start in life, by offering them easy, instant access to information and advice through their phones.
Parents and expectant parents can create a ‘virtual buddy’ through the app to guide them through their first few months, with information provided via their buddy from trusted sources such as healthcare professionals.
The app has been developed by the charity Best Beginnings, which aims to give every child in the UK the best start in life, and has been endorsed by the Department of Health and a number of Royal Colleges and professional organisations.
It is now being launched in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland at an event at Eyres Monsell Children’s Centre, Hillsborough Road.
Deputy city mayor Cllr Rory Palmer, one of Eyres Monsell’s ward councillors and chair of the city’s health and wellbeing board, said: “We know that becoming a parent for the first time can be a daunting experience, and it’s important that new parents – especially young parents – can get access to the support they need, when they need it.
“This app is a great way of providing some of that support because it’s free, accessible and easy to use. Initiatives like this one can help us with our wider-reaching aims to reduce health inequalities in the city, so I’m pleased to be able to welcome the Baby Buddy app to Leicester.”
Users of Baby Buddy can also ask the app questions, get reminders for appointments, find out about local services, set themselves goals, create a record of their pregnancy and their baby’s first months and watch a growing range of film clips in the video library.
The Baby Buddy app has had more than 25,000 downloads since its launch in November 2014 and initial data has shown that 94 per cent of mums under the age of 25 felt the app helped to prepare them for the arrival of their baby.