EPOCH CRE Stream 4 co-leads, Dr Rachel Laws and Professor Karen Campbell, are joining a newly funded European Union project to trial an innovative approach to address unhealthy weight during pregnancy and in the first year of life.   

‘Bump2Baby and Me’, funded by Horizon 2020, is a world-first study to use an app that links to a real telephone health coach to encourage healthy eating and physical activity for women.  The intervention also provides parents with best practice information and support on infant feeding and active play to give children a healthy start to life.

Dr Laws and Professor Campbell are leading the development and evaluation of the infant component of the app, based on their extensive experience with the early obesity prevention trial of Infant Feeding Active Play and Nutrition (InFANT).

The work conducted by EPOCH collaboration has shown that very early intervention in pregnancy and early infancy were moderately effective in reducing body mass index z scores at 18-24 months of age.  These interventions were commonly delivered face to face, which were less cost-effective and limited intervention reach.  The Bump2Baby and Me trial is important as the innovative approach to use an app combined with telephone health coaching could potentially increase intervention reach and affordability while maintaining effectiveness.

The study will run in maternity hospitals in Ireland, the UK, Spain and Australia.  More information about the study can be found in https://bump2babyandme.org