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Feed Safe NZ app

An app that provides information about alcohol and breastfeeding. It contains official recommendations from the NZ Ministry of Health.

Feed Safe NZ	By WellSouth Primary Health Network
	Features Personalised calculations Education and information Get the app from (external link) (external link) (external link)
Country of origin	New Zealand
Clinical review	Read a clinical review of this app.
Cost	Free

What does the app do?

While the app acknowledges that drinking alcohol while breastfeeding should be avoided, it provides information about breastfeeding and occasional alcohol use, to enable the user to make safe decisions. It uses your height and weight and alcohol intake to estimate when your breastmilk should be free of alcohol. The timer function can alert you when this time has been reached. It also has answers to frequently asked questions around alcohol and breastfeeding such as how does alcohol affect breastmilk. It has been made available by WellSouth Primary Health Network. For a complete app description go to the website(external link), Google Play(external link) or iTunes(external link) and for a complete app review, see Reviews.

PROS	CONS
✔ Developed by an academic and various health associations. ✔ The calculation method appears to be based on sound research. It has been adapted from two research studies on alcohol clearance from breast milk. The clearance principles are similar to other studies quoted in the lactmed database. ✔ Statements are based on the New Zealand Ministry of Health guidelines where available, and they use New Zealand standard drinks measurements. ✔ Many disclaimers advising that alcohol clearance depends on more factors than weight and height, and so the app only provides an estimation. ✔ The information section has a lot of very good advice and includes some myth quashing.	✘ The information section discusses the effect of food intake on alcohol levels, but the user is not able to input food intake into the calculation section. Food intake reduces and delays the time of peak alcohol levels in breast milk. ✘ Incomplete information about the harmful effects of alcohol on breastfeeding infants. For example, it doesn’t mention the negative effects on sleep. ✘ No alcohol abuse screening. ✘ No advice around breastfeeding problems. ✘ You can only input standard drinks not what you actually drank. It also only lets you input integers. It is cumbersome to have to reference the standard drink information, which is hidden in the information section in an external PDF file. ✘ Not been updated since 2016 at the time of review.

PROS

CONS

✔ Developed by an academic and various health associations.

✔ The calculation method appears to be based on sound research. It has been adapted from two research studies on alcohol clearance from breast milk. The clearance principles are similar to other studies quoted in the lactmed database.

✔ Statements are based on the New Zealand Ministry of Health guidelines where available, and they use New Zealand standard drinks measurements.

✔ Many disclaimers advising that alcohol clearance depends on more factors than weight and height, and so the app only provides an estimation.

✔ The information section has a lot of very good advice and includes some myth quashing.

✘ The information section discusses the effect of food intake on alcohol levels, but the user is not able to input food intake into the calculation section. Food intake reduces and delays the time of peak alcohol levels in breast milk.

✘ Incomplete information about the harmful effects of alcohol on breastfeeding infants. For example, it doesn’t mention the negative effects on sleep.

✘ No alcohol abuse screening.

✘ No advice around breastfeeding problems.

✘ You can only input standard drinks not what you actually drank. It also only lets you input integers. It is cumbersome to have to reference the standard drink information, which is hidden in the information section in an external PDF file.

✘ Not been updated since 2016 at the time of review.

Privacy and security

No personal information is collected.

Review details

September 2016, Version 1.01, Android
February 2019, Android

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Feed Safe(external link)

Feed Safe NZ app

What does the app do?

Privacy and security

Review details

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