Investigating Maternal Perspectives of Breastfeeding Support Targeted Towards Fathers in the Milk Man Mobile App Intervention.

Background: The support of her infant's father is one of the most important factors influencing a mother's breastfeeding success, and an increasing number of interventions are targeted towards fathers. Engaging fathers as agents to influence a maternal behavior is potentially problematic, yet few studies report on maternal experiences.

Objective: This study aims to explore mothers' perspectives of their partners' use of Milk Man, a father-focused breastfeeding smartphone app, and the acceptability of this approach.

Measuring User Engagement with a Socially Connected, Gamified Health Promotion Mobile App.

Participant engagement is an important consideration in mHealth interventions and there are no standardised measurements available to guide researchers. This paper describes the engagement index customised for the Milk Man app, a mobile app designed to engage fathers with breastfeeding and parenting information. Participants were recruited from maternity hospitals in Perth, Western Australia.

Impact of a Face-To-Face Versus Smartphone App Versus Combined Breastfeeding Intervention Targeting Fathers: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Despite the recognized health and economic benefits of exclusive breastfeeding, few Australian infants are exclusively breastfed beyond 5 months of age. Social support for breastfeeding, in particular the support of an infant's father, has been identified as a crucial element for successful breastfeeding.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of various father-focused breastfeeding interventions in terms of key infant feeding outcomes.

Gamifying Breastfeeding for Fathers: Process Evaluation of the Milk Man Mobile App.

Background: Mobile technology offers unique opportunities to reach people with health promotion interventions. Breastfeeding is an important public health issue, and fathers are a key support. Milk Man is a father-focused breastfeeding app that sought to engage fathers with information and conversation about breastfeeding, with the goal to impact positively on breastfeeding duration.

Has a national policy guideline influenced the practice of raising the topic of alcohol and breastfeeding by maternal healthcare practitioners?

Globally, the public health recommendation for exclusive breastfeeding to the first 6 months of life is not being achieved by many low- and middle-income countries. Many factors have been determined to affect the early cessation of breastfeeding; however, little attention has been paid to the role of alcohol, an increasingly favoured commodity, particularly in these Westernised nations. Maternal healthcare practitioners play a pivotal role in a woman's breastfeeding journey by providing timely advice that can help support continued breastfeeding.

The provision of alcohol and breastfeeding information by maternal health practitioners in the Australian setting.

Background: In the 2009 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking, a guideline specific to lactating women was included. For the first time the effect of alcohol at this important developmental stage was nationally and internationally acknowledged.

Aims: To determine the degree to which maternal health practitioners adopted an Australian national policy guideline (Guideline 4B) on alcohol and breastfeeding into their everyday health practice and the factors associated with adoption.

How New and Expecting Fathers Engage With an App-Based Online Forum: Qualitative Analysis.

Background: Breastfeeding is important for infants, and fathers are influential in supporting their partner in their decision to breastfeed and how long they breastfeed for. Fathers can feel excluded from traditional antenatal education and support opportunities but highly value social support from peers. Online health forums can be a useful source of social support, yet little is known about how fathers would use a conversation forum embedded in a breastfeeding-focused app.

Designing evaluation plans for health promotion mHealth interventions: a case study of the Milk Man mobile app.

Evaluating complex health promotion interventions that use mobile apps requires comprehensive and adaptive evaluation plans. As mobile usage becomes increasingly sophisticated and personalised, broad evaluation plans are important in determining the impact and efficacy of a mobile health (mHealth) app. Evaluation should consider user feedback and outcome measures, as well as examine elements such as the robustness of the technology, the intervention principles and engagement strategies, and the interaction of the user with the technology.

Theory-Based Design and Development of a Socially Connected, Gamified Mobile App for Men About Breastfeeding (Milk Man).

Background: Despite evidence of the benefits of breastfeeding, <15% of Australian babies are exclusively breastfed to the recommended 6 months. The support of the father is one of the most important factors in breastfeeding success, and targeting breastfeeding interventions to the father has been a successful strategy in previous research. Mobile technology offers unique opportunities to engage and reach populations to enhance health literacy and healthy behavior.

The influence of infant feeding attitudes on breastfeeding duration: evidence from a cohort study in rural Western Australia.

Background: Breast milk is the optimal source of nutrition for infants in the first six months of life. Promoting and protecting breastfeeding is reflected in public health policy across the globe, but breastfeeding rates in both developing and industrialised countries continue to demonstrate that few mothers meet these recommendations. In addition to sociodemographic factors such as age, education and income, modifiable factors such as maternal infant feeding attitudes have been shown to influence breastfeeding duration.

Breastfeeding in Saudi Arabia: a review.

Background: Breastfeeding is viewed as the optimal method of infant feeding that provides many benefits to both the infant and the mother. The monitoring and reporting of breastfeeding indicators are essential for any country to plan and implement effective promotion programs for sustainable breastfeeding. The aim of this review is to examine the available studies and data on breastfeeding in Saudi Arabia, and determine the potential factors that affect breastfeeding practices and duration in this country.

Experiences of expressing and storing colostrum antenatally: A qualitative study of mothers in regional Western Australia.

This qualitative study explored the experiences and breastfeeding outcomes of a group of mothers who expressed colostrum in the antenatal period. In-depth interviews were conducted over the telephone with 12 women who had attended a unique antenatal lactation clinic appointment at 37 weeks' gestation. Seven main response themes were identified.

Alcohol, pregnancy and breastfeeding; a comparison of the 1995 and 2001 National Health Survey data.

Alcohol enters breastmilk by passive diffusion and levels are reflected in maternal blood within 30 to 60 minutes of ingestion. If not timed appropriately, drinking alcohol throughout the period of lactation can negatively impact on lactation performance and the mental development of the infant. The aim of this study was to explore the drinking patterns of pregnant, lactating and other Australian women of child bearing age using the 1995 and 2001 National Health Survey Confidentialised Unit Record Files.

The effect of alcohol intake on breastfeeding duration in Australian women.

Aim: This study investigated the relationships between alcohol consumption and breastfeeding initiation and duration.

Design And Setting: A 12-month longitudinal study was conducted in two public hospitals in Perth, Australia between September 2002 and July 2003.

Intervention: Participating mothers completed a self-administered baseline questionnaire.

Which women stop smoking during pregnancy and the effect on breastfeeding duration.

Background: Cigarette smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and women who quit smoking at this time are able to reduce the risk of low birth weight, preterm labour, spontaneous abortion and perinatal death. This study investigates the socio-demographic characteristics of pregnant women who stop smoking during pregnancy and the association between stopping smoking and breastfeeding duration.

Methods: A 12 month longitudinal study was conducted in two public maternity hospitals in Perth, Australia between mid-September 2002 and mid-July 2003.