AI is set to transform many healthcare experiences, but what about breastfeeding? Could AI be used to dramatically improve the breastfeeding support experience and reduce the costs of lactation support? The team at Breastfeeding Help@Home explores the potential development of an Alexa Answer Bot to provide 24/7 at-home access to lactation support at extremely low cost.

1. Breastfeeding
An Alexa Answer Bot
Ask Alexa questions about breastfeeding and get immediate voice
answers composed by breastfeeding experts.

2. Problems With Current
Breastfeeding Care
• Continued low rates of 6+ month
exclusive breastfeeding
• Hospitals struggle with resources to
provide adequate support for
breastfeeding moms after discharge
• Lack of access to breastfeeding help in
the community
• Easily accessible information on the
internet and social media is seldom
evidenced based
© United States Breastfeeding
Committee

3. Example 1 ‘Breastfeeding’ Dialog
User: “Alexa, open
Breastfeeding.”
Alexa: “Breastfeeding. You
can pose a question or hear
about key topics. What
would you like to do?”
User: “Ask a question.”
Alexa: “Ok, what is your
question?”
User: “How do I take the
baby off the breast?”
Alexa: “ It is best not to pull
the baby off of the breast
without first releasing the
latch. This is so that you do
not damage the nipple or
startle the baby. To release the
latch place your pinky finger in
the side of the babies mouth,
next to your nipple, and break
the seal of the babies lips.”

4. Example 2 ‘Breastfeeding’ Dialog
User: “Alexa, open
Breastfeeding.”
Alexa: “Breastfeeding. You
can pose a question or hear
about key topics. What
would you like to do?”
User: “Ask a question.”
Alexa: “Ok, what is your
question?”
User: “Can I put sugar on
my breast to make my baby
want to breastfeed?”
Alexa: “I don’t think I have
been asked that before. I
will contact an expert to get
the answer. I will follow up
shortly with a response.”

5. Three Ways ‘Breastfeeding’ can Answer
Questions:
1. Immediate answer according to ‘Breastfeeding’ answer
database
The Alexa skill uses word recognition to answer the question that is asked. Answers
are based on evidenced based literature for tele-health breastfeeding help.
2. Human assist answer bot
An intelligent voice bot that can answer questions based on assistance from human
experts when ‘Breastfeeding’ is presented with a question it does not understand.
3. One-to-one private messaging
HIPPA compliant voice messaging between users and breastfeeding experts to
answer complex multi-turn questions that require back-and-forth dialog.

6. New technologies
make this kind of
service possible
for the first time.
Natural language recognition
& processing
Artificial General Intelligence
Crowdsourcing & Mobile
© United States Breastfeeding
Committee

7. Future Feature
Development
• Photos & Video
• Call in via
telephone
• Video-conferencing
• Storage of patient
data for
customization
© United States Breastfeeding
Committee

8. The ‘Breastfeeding’ Team
Ryan Cameron
Emily Sylvester, MS, RD, LDN, CLC
Dr. Eric Ledermann, MD
Andrew Romaner
James Schultz
Steve Tingiris

9. Discussion Questions
• Who is selected to train the artificial
intelligence (AI) with their answers?
• Start up capital?
• Pilot sites for beta version?
• Target populations with greatest
need?
• Barriers to adoption?
• What are the possible applications for
AI and breastfeeding help?
i.e. mother-baby units, OBGYN,
community programs

10. Contact Us
• Breastfeeding experts please contact:
Emily@breastfeedinghelpathome.com
• Business partners please contact:
Andrew@breastfeedinghelpathome.com