App for young parents to get advice on child rearing

Moving to different cities, Manik Madan had serious parenting challenges. Changing pediatricians was one, while he also anxiously watched as the child struggled to acclimate with the new environment.

Madan realised soon that he was not alone. Several young parents faced similar issues and were in search of solutions. The techie cum business analyst came up with the solution most of us are familiar: building an app.

‘Naps and Nibbles’ is turning out to be the platform for young parents seeking non-clinical advice.

“My child had serious issues with sleep. We tried everything possible. Doctors said there’s nothing wrong medically,” Madan said.

Like most tech-savvy parents, he went online seeking solutions, only to find that the advice he got compounded the problem.

“My child was sleeping for just 45 minutes and the advice was worse,” he said.

Madan could see that platforms helping parents exchange ideas and solutions were not authenticated, which made him think of the app. “In ‘Naps and Nibbles’ we’ve doctors on board to speak. It has several audiovisuals on the child rearing issues. Users will also get a chance to interact with the doctor,” he said.

The first few of the videos are free, while users need to pay a subscription to continue accessing them. ‘Naps and Nibbles’ can be downloaded from both the IOS and Android stores.

Co-founder Dr K R Bharath Kumar Reddy pointed out that parents find information on the internet disjointed. “It’s important to understand the basics. Most doctors don’t have time to explain during consultations. On this platform, chosen experts give researched information,” he said.

While the Karnataka Medical Council termed online consultations as unethical in a recent note, Dr Reddy is at pains to insist that the start-up platform would only offer non-clinical advice without prescriptions.

“Suppose a parent has a doubt on whether ragi porridge can be fed to the child, we will tell them whether it’s right and why,” he says.

“If the parent goes beyond and seeks help for common cold, we will not entertain it.”

The app currently has videos on sleep in children and soon, breastfeeding and nutrition will also be uploaded, says Arpitha Bahuguna, chief technology officer.