How digital health can strengthen breastfeeding support
Philips Avent and the Human Milk Institute explore how digital health can help improve breastfeeding support by connecting families, care systems and communities.
Aug 31, 2026 | 1 minute read
Breastfeeding is one of the most well-established ways to improve the health of moms and babies. But many moms stop breastfeeding earlier than they planned. There are a lot of things that can affect breastfeeding, not just a mom’s choice. These include access to care, support from others, support at work, public policies and cultural beliefs.
At the 2026 Human Milk Institute Symposium, Philips helped organize a deep dive session with researchers, clinicians, public health experts, lactation professionals and industry leaders. Together, they explored how digital health can strengthen breastfeeding support. The session led to a new white paper, Strengthening the breastfeeding ecosystem: How digital health infrastructure can close the gap between biology, care, and culture. It looks at how digital tools can help fill gaps in breastfeeding support, not by replacing human care, but by connecting families, providers, communities, and health systems in new ways.
Most breastfeeding challenges happen outside scheduled healthcare visits. They often happen at home, during moments when parents feel tired, unsure or alone and when they don’t have easy access to support. Parents often find it difficult to understand their baby’s feeding behavior, struggle to know when to ask for help in case of a problem and have trouble navigating the fragmented care systems. Trusted feeding information can help[1], alongside access to healthcare professionals. Digital health can make support available beyond traditional healthcare visits. Apps, telelactation services, remote monitoring, connected devices, AI-enabled guidance tools, and digital care pathways can help bridge gaps between parents and providers and help parents access information and support when they need it. But technology alone is not enough. The white paper identifies that successful breastfeeding support requires alignment across three interconnected levels: Digital tools can play a stronger role when they connect support across these three areas instead of working as seperate solutions.
This white paper is offered as an invitation to the field: to move beyond isolated interventions and toward more connected, human‑centered ecosystems that better align biology, care, and culture in support of families.
From separate solutions to connected ecosystems
A more connected approach to digital health can standalone technologies and tools as part of a wider, integrated support system. Instead of providing support only at certain points in the breastfeeding journey, digital health could help make support more continuous. Digital platforms can connect parents with trusted information, facilitate communication with healthcare professionals, identify emerging challenges earlier, support navigation of available resources, and help coordinate interventions across clinical and community settings.
This could include telelactation and remote breastfeeding support, digital triage and care navigation tools that help families find the right support, connected maternal and infant health technologies that improve communication between home and healthcare settings, and public health partnerships that provide trusted information through digital platforms parents already use.
How Pregnancy+ app connects families with Michigan public health resources
A featured example in the collaboration between Philips Avent and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Through the Pregnancy+ app, Michigan-specific maternal health information and resources were integrated directly into the app experience with targeted content, resource navigation, and localized support pathways. This shows how digital platforms can help public health organizations reach families outside traditional healthcare settings and connect them with existing community resources. Similar approaches could help strengthen breastfeeding support by improving awareness, access, and coordination across existing services.
Why partnerships matter
Improving breastfeeding support requires collaboration across research, healthcare, public health and industry. Each brings different knowledge and experience. Together, they can better understand parents’ needs, build scientific evidence and develop and scale solutions that can reach and support families in everyday life. The collaboration between Philips Avent and the Human Milk Institute brings these different areas of expertise together. By working across sectors, there is an opportunity to strengthen the health of moms and babies, with a focus on evidence, equal access and results that can be measured.
Our goal at the Human Milk Institute is to tear down siloes and bring together people with different but synergistic skills and perspectives to create real-world, human-centered solutions.
Looking ahead: building more connected breastfeeding support
As digital health becomes a larger part of maternal and infant care, the opportunity is not simply to create more technology. It is to create better connections between families, healthcare professionals, communities and health systems. Digital tools alone cannot solve breastfeeding challenges. But when scientific evidence, human support, public health services, and well-designed technology work together, they may help address gaps in support and make care more connected.
References [1] https://www.usa.philips.com/c-m-mo/articles-breastfeeding/advice-for-breastfeeding [2] Based on an online satisfaction survey conducted globally with 10,109 users of mother & child care brands and products in 2023.
