Are you breastfeeding or planning to breastfeed? Testers are needed to trial the new Start4Life Amazon Alexa breastfeeding assistant

[JustineBMumsnet]

Public Health England (PHE) have asked us to find 20 Mumsnetters to test a new Start4Life Amazon Alexa breastfeeding assistant - designed to help support women who are breastfeeding.

Here’s what PHE has to say: “Breastfeeding is great for mum and baby but it’s something you have to learn together. To help you, and complement the support you receive from healthcare professionals, peer supporters, family or friends, PHE has created a new Start4Life Amazon Alexa Breastfeeding Assistant. All the information provided by the Breastfeeding Assistant is NHS-approved and is based on questions asked by thousands of new mums, and it’s available 24/7. We hope you find the Breastfeeding Assistant helpful and would like to hear about your experience of trying it so we can make it as useful as possible to all breastfeeding mums.”

If selected, you’ll be sent an Amazon Echo Dot to test the assistant for up to two weeks and then be asked to give feedback via a survey. To take part, you’ll need to have a baby under 10 weeks old who you are planning to breastfeed between 15th January and 29th January 2018. All those who give feedback will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher.

If you’re interested, please sign up here.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

[QuickQuickSloe]

Will you accept testers who aren't in England?

[OvertheSargassoSea]

Hello I'm. Bf my ds I'm in England! Would love to try this out ftm x

[NewMum17]

Just out of curiosity, why does the baby need to be under 10 weeks? Tricky target audience.
I would love to try this. I already have amazon echo. Can others try it too?

[BertieBotts]

Sounds intriguing - I'm not eligible but a bit curious/sceptical! How can Alexa help with breastfeeding? Is this just a gimmicky thing which is going to give exactly the same limited, basic information as you'd be able to get from an NHS/S4L web page or leaflet?

It would be useful IMO if they programmed the helpline phone numbers into it and/or allowed you to run a google search for local support group dates and times.

[TooSarcastic]

Really intrigued by this and would love to be a part of it

[Fluteytootey]

I'm breastfeeding an 8 week old at the moment but I guess that counts me out as he'll be just over 10 weeks in January?

[Hesburger]

Hoping to breastfeed again - due mid Jan. What sort of help does Alexa give?

[Hatstand]

So the NHS is sharing patient data with Amazon now?

[Hatstand]

So the NHS is sharing patient data with Amazon now?

[AssassinatedBeauty]

It doesn't seem to be saying that. It reads as though it's using already available NHS advice to provide a verbal response to questions. Not personalised or specific to individual patients.

[Hatstand]

Fair enough, but I'm still sceptical of these kinds of partnerships. What's in it for Amazon other than the opportunity to become enmeshed with our health provision? If tech companies really wanted to help the NHS they'd pay their taxes.
It's also not clear what benefits this will offer over a helpline, automated text messages or a regular paper leaflet.

[NerrSnerr]

It doesn’t read like they’re sharing patient data, just offering answers to frequently answered breastfeeding questions via the Alexa.

I would have loved to try this but my baby is now 8 months so too old!

[AssassinatedBeauty]

It won't be Amazon that are developing this, it'll be PHE and Start4Life using the publicly available Amazon Alexa APIs and toolkits.

[Rarotonga]

Wow, this sounds very exciting. Too late for us as baby is too old but will watch with interest.

[BertieBotts]

FWIW I don't think the motivations are necessarily sinister.

• What's in it for amazon?
  

> It encourages people to use their service Alexa, which obviously they have to buy and which is linked with other amazon services like amazon music and amazon shopping.

• Why would PHE launch this?
  

> Because they want to encourage breastfeeding and this is a pretty low cost and potentially attractive way to do so - very similar to websites or apps but interactive in a different way.

• What benefits will this offer over other formats?
  

> I don't think it necessarily has to be better than all other formats to be useful - it's just another option. For me it would be better than a leaflet because it's immediately accessible and difficult to lose, so it might be more practical to new parents in that way, and less intimidating than calling a helpline to speak to a real person. Automated text messages are pretty outdated as an option these days and tend to cost money whereas a voice-controlled app running via your existing internet connection is of no extra cost.

It sounds to me like a gimmicky/currently trendy alternative to an app, and you wouldn't worry that Apple or Google were getting involved with healthcare if there was an app for this would you? It's just a new format.

[BernardsarenotalwaysSaints]

I'm not eligible (youngest dc is almost 5 month's) I'm sceptical though, I can see how it would work for questions such as "is it normal for my baby to feed constantly" but that's easy enough to google. What it can't do is assess latch, check for tt & so in, which from experience with myself & friends is what we really needed/wanted in the early days when we didn't necessarily want to go out to support groups etc. I really think PHE in conjunction with the NHS need to be training up breastfeeding counsellors that are able to make home visits & really support women with bf during the early weeks.

[littledinaco]

It would be nice if this was open to those with babies over 10 weeks. It’s not just those with newborns who have breastfeeding problems/questions. Things like sleep as baby gets older, starting solids, an older baby being distracted and won’t nurse, nursing strikes, etc. There are so many issues.

By ‘normalising’ breastfeeding for older babies, we will help to improve breastfeeding rates overall. Little things like this that hint at ‘breastfeeding is just for the first couple of months’ all go towards making it not seen as a ‘normal’ way to feed babies, just something we try and do for a short time.

[mammmamia]

You can't always google if you have a baby. This is a hands free way of accessing information through voice activation. It's just another medium to get the information.

[BertieBotts]

They will be seeing if it helps breastfeeeding rates get past the 6 week drop off. That will be why this trial is aimed at such a small group. I expect it will be usable at lots of ages when properly released.

[StoneColdDiva]

I agree. If giant corporations paid their fair whack of taxX the NHS might not be so chronically underfunded.

[123bananas]

Well unless you can say "Alexa breastfeed my baby for me" when it wakes for the zillionth time that night I don't see what it offers that a phone, tablet and internet can't. New mothers struggling with breastfeeding benefit from talking to real help from people not automated devices.

[glitterglitters]

Applied 👌🏼

[chandlersfraud]

This sounds horrendous and I can imagine automated responses pushing me over the edge when I was struggling with a screaming baby when breast feeding wasn't going well.

I also would hope they wouldn't ever use developments like this to justify cutting funding for face to face support.

[BertieBotts]

I've noticed that there's a text version of this which pops up when you go on the MN infant feeding board now.

[flutterby12]

I am still BF my DS who is 13 months. I have an Echo and an Echo Dot and would love to help.