Alba Padro (left) and Maria Berruezo (right), co-founders of the maternity healthcare app, LactApp.

After witnessing a high demand for fertility and maternity guidance, two women developed an app that now boasts over 40,000 monthly users and responds to approximately 90,000 questions each week.

Created by two women in Spain, LactApp is changing the game in maternal healthcare by offering peri and post-natal information with the ease of a click and a swipe. Loaded with thousands of responses to common questions, profiles tailored to each baby, a plethora of breastfeeding techniques and more, the goal is to maximize knowledge and ensure safe and effective care for both mother and baby, according to its founders, Alba Padro and Maria Berruezo.

Alba and Maria met years ago at a local breastfeeding group after Maria, who had recently given birth, sought Albas expert help with breastfeeding. Alba, a certified lactation consultant, was popular among new mothers and for years had guided people in person and over the phonesometimes responding to 30 calls in one day. The two women formed a close bond and Maria found Albas knowledge invaluable.

It was then that she told her, Alba, I want to download your brain into my phone and put it in my pocket.

The women embarked on a mission to digitize Albas knowledge and spent over a year writing all the material. In 2016, after trial and error with program development, LactApp was born. A motherhood guide with tips and in-depth support for every stage from pre-pregnancy to post-partum, the app is available for download on iPhone and Android. The Apple watch version launches next week. Unlike a basic internet search, information and responses to inquiries are not general; theyre scientifically supported and tailored to each individual depending on the babys age, weight and health conditions. With most of its 40,000 users millennials, LactApps openness and quick delivery are shifting the discourse in maternal healthcare and what it means to take charge of ones body.

With a $70 billion per year formula industry, sometimes its hard for women to trust old-fashioned breastfeeding, Alba said. The industry and its advertising make women think that formula is superior to their own bodies. This hesitation is reflected in some womens questions, such as Can I even breastfeed? Nevertheless, LactApp is going strong. Alba explains this as the millennial model, where people find their own information before rushing to a doctor.

A mother may submit the question, Is my baby ready to eat solids? LactApp analyzes that particular babys profile and asks targeted questions before delivering a response. The app caters to mothers as well. Women frequently turn to LactApp to ask about fertility and bodily changes that occur during or after their pregnancies, such as, whether they can breastfeed while trying to get pregnant again, breast pain and infection, menstruation following birth and more. Its essentially a one-on-one consultation with a specialist without the hassle of in-person visits or long periods of uncertainty.

I wanted every woman in the world to have the same help I got, Maria said.

The company offers more than responding to written questions, they explained. The apps videos detail the proper way to breastfeed, and mothers can send their own videos to verify if theyre on the right track. The LactApp team may then advise to raise the babys head higher, or turn it more to the side, for instance.

What the mother wants, we help them reach [it], Maria said.

Word of mouth and social medianamely the 80,000 followers on LactApps official Instagram page has drawn users from around the world. In the early development stages, Alba and Maria contributed their own money and obtained a government loan. Last year they received $400,000 from investors along with three grants to further research breast diseases such as lactation mastitis. LactApp has been free for users, but the company is currently testing a monetization strategy that takes payments directly through the app. The dynamic pay model allows users to select an amount to pay if they are satisfied with the virtual service they received.

LactApp is available in English and Spanish and free to download worldwide. With its high participant rate, the company has maximized its resources by generating automatic responses for 95% of its inquiries. The other 5% still requires a LactApp specialist, often a nurse, midwife, doula, lactation specialist or other professional among their team of ten people to assess questions and respond.

It was originally intended for mothers but due to high demand from healthcare professionals, LactApp extended its reach by providing a separate category exclusively for healthcare workers. Today approximately 4,000 healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, midwives and lactation consultants utilize the app to obtain second opinions and gather other maternity tips to share with their patients.

The women wont stop there. Shortly after they launched LactApp, Alba published a book on breastfeeding. Last year the two opened their first clinic in Barcelona. With courses and support in nutrition, midwifery, psychology, pelvic floor exercises and lactation, it serves as a holistic womens center. The company is also affiliated with a university offering postgraduate education in healthcare. The 100-student diploma program in advanced lactation is designed for health professionals and directed by Alba and Maria. It quickly sold out last year and they plan to teach again in the upcoming semester, this time online.

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Why More Than 40,000 People Tune Into This Maternity Healthcare App Each Month - Forbes