Dr Juliet Sutton, local GP and Aylesbury Vale & Chiltern CCG Children’s Clinical lead, said: ‘Of course while we’re launching the Baby Buddy app in Central Aylesbury, any mother-to-be or new parent can download it free from the App Store or Google Play.

We are holding a Baby Buddy drop-in session from 2.00pm on Wednesday (21st September 2016) at the Aylesbury Healthy Living Centre (Unit 1 Walton Court Shopping Centre, Hannon Road, Aylesbury HP21 8TJ) where we will be demonstrating the app and encouraging mums to sign up. They will also be able to enter a prize draw to win a Mothercare voucher.

The Baby Buddy app has been created with mums, midwives and doctors so you can be sure the information – both local and national – is reliable, accurate, and is available 24 hours a day. The app sets out to be your personal baby expert who will help guide you through your pregnancy and the first six months of your baby’s life. It has been designed to help you give your baby the best start in life and support your health and wellbeing.‘

As well as providing straightforward advice and information, the app also contains information to support the 25% of UK parents who are under 25. Their children are more at risk of premature birth, poor nutrition and developmental delays which all affect their life chances.

Teenage mothers are known to be less likely to attend antenatal appointments and often do not access health information and support through books, leaflets or internet search engines.

The Buddy has been designed to act as a virtual friend to support families on the emotional, physical and social journey through pregnancy and becoming a new parent and provides useful information through a personal Buddy to improve parents’ confidence, knowledge and skills.

The app has fun features to help parents get the most out of their appointments and interactions with health professionals as well as providing daily information about mothers, their pregnancy and their baby in a bite-sized format.

Commissioned by NHS Aylesbury Vale & NHS Chiltern Clinical Commissioning Group and Buckinghamshire County Council, Baby Buddy is free and is endorsed by the Department of Health and the Royal College of Midwives.

‘It is designed to support all parents, but in particular younger parents, in making positive lifestyle and behavioural changes during pregnancy and post-birth to improve their physical health, mental health and well being and lead to the best possible health outcomes for their child,‘ said Dr Sutton.

There is a web version of the app available for those who don’t have access to a smart phone , the web version can be viewed at https://web.bestbeginnings.org.uk/web/lets-get-started.