Pilot Testing of Baby Feed: The Web Application for Healthcare Professionals and Parents to Improve Infant Diets

OBJECTIVES: To pilot test the “Baby Feed” web application as a tool to easily evaluate infant diets and provide immediate feedback among healthcare professionals and parents during well-child visits. METHODS: A pilot test was conducted to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, satisfaction, and usability of the Baby Feed web application among two healthcare professionals from Borinquen Medical Centers and 25 of their patients (parents of infants). First, parents logged in and completed the online Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) for infants. As a part of the well-child visit, the healthcare professional reviewed the infant FFQ results in the Clinician Portal and discussed with parents the most relevant results. Parents also had access to the results and nutrition recommendations in the Parent Portal, presented in a friendly and graphic way to follow easily at home. Next, we sent text messages and reminded parents to use Baby Feed. After 2 weeks, parents completed a user experience survey with a 5-point Likert scale and open-ended questions. RESULTS: A total of 23 parents completed the study. All were mothers, with a mean age of 30 years. Most were Hispanic (92%), with a high school education or more (80%), participants of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program (88%), and had an average of 2 children. The average age of the infants was 6 months (range 4 to 12 months) and 56% were boys. Binomial tests indicated that most mothers (>95%; P < 0.001) agreed that Baby Feed was very quick and easy to use, learn, and find the information needed. They also felt comfortable using Baby Feed and liked the layout, icons, font, and display. Most (>91%; P < 0.001) liked Baby Feed, agreed it provided all the information needed, would use it again, and rated it as 4 or 5 stars. Most (>87%; P < 0.001) used Baby Feed one or more times per week. Parents suggested improving the visuals (more icons, colors, and pictures), accessibility (to see the web pages better on their phones), infant FFQ (improve how to calculate serving sizes and highlight missing fields), and others (to add recipes and more nutritional content by age). CONCLUSIONS: In this pilot test, Baby Feed seemed to be a useful tool for healthcare professionals and parents during well-child visits to easily evaluate infant diets, provide immediate feedback, and help prevent early childhood obesity. FUNDING SOURCES: Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood.