JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Multiple studies highlight the prevalence of suboptimal dietary patterns during pregnancy and postpartum period, presenting an opportunity for behaviour change toward healthier habits. Using mHealth apps serves as a potent avenue to deliver nutritional information and support throughout pregnancy and postpartum, providing mothers direct access to valuable, scalable resources while easing the burden on healthcare professionals. This study aimed to map and compare experiences, beliefs and perspectives on healthy eating and dietary app use during pregnancy and postpartum period.

Objective:

This study aimed to map and compare experiences, beliefs and perspectives on healthy eating and dietary app use during pregnancy and postpartum period.

Methods:

In total, 1619 women, recruited via social media, completed an online questionnaire consisting of 32 multiple choice, 2 ranking, 11 rating and 20 open questions covering demographics, eating activities during pregnancy and postpartum, determinants of these activities, and experiences, beliefs and preferences with dietary app use. Questions were specific to pregnancy or postpartum, and responses were compared using chi-square or, ANOVA or t-tests between perinatal phases.

Results:

We obtained data from 842 pregnant and 777 postpartum women. Mean age was 32 ± 4 years, mean self-reported pre-pregnancy BMI was 25 ± 5 kg/m2, and a majority of them was highly educated (75%). Pregnant and postpartum women valued healthy nutrition (8.5 ± 1.2 out of 10). Pregnant women rated their food enjoyment and diet quality during their pregnancy lowest in first trimester, with scores of 6.3 ± 2.5 and 6.3 ± 1.9 out of 10, respectively. Compared to pregnant women, postpartum women had less phase specific nutritional knowledge (48% vs. 65%), less time for food preparation (50% vs. 77%) and eating (73% vs. 97%), but were more eager to learn about phase specific healthy food choices (42% vs. 29%), and felt more capable of food preparation (7.3 ± 2.2 vs. 6.9 ± 2.2). During pregnancy, the main reason for eating was the child's health, while postpartum this was hunger. Key sources of nutrition information were websites (83%), health care professionals (50%), and apps (41%). Phase specific app usage dropped from 91% during pregnancy to 59% postpartum, with many women being unaware of the existence of postpartum apps. Important factors to consider for app use included credibility, ease of use, and being cost-free.

Conclusions:

Our results highlight significant differences in eating-related experiences between pregnant and postpartum women, underscoring the need for tailored dietary support tools for each phase. Physical discomfort during pregnancy and time constraints postpartum were key barriers to healthy eating. While the baby motivated eating during pregnancy, hunger was the main motivator postpartum, indicating potentially deviating food choices. The limited availability of postpartum nutrition resources, such as apps, highlights the need to develop improved digital nutritional counselling solutions.