BabyThrive

Thrivedom

BabyThrive

BabyThrive is a fully-offline mobile gaming app to train young mothers on infant and young child feeding

Buffalo, NY, USA

USA

Nonprofit

In Nigeria, teenage mothers often lack accessible, engaging nutrition education, contributing to alarmingly high malnutrition rates among their children. Nationally, 40% of children are stunted and 27% are underweight, but for children of teenage mothers, the situation is worse: 73.4% are wasted, stunted, or underweight. Undernutrition contributes to nearly half of Nigeria’s almost 900,000 annual child deaths. Compared to adult mothers, teenage mothers are less likely to breastfeed exclusively or provide adequate complementary feeding. Their children’s diets are often monotonous and nutritionally poor, while feeding practices tend to be misinformed. These issues are worsened by limited education, social stigma, and poor access to healthcare. Existing Infant and Young Child Feeding programs rely on over-burdened health workers and underpaid community volunteers who face transportation, remuneration and time challenges - especially in rural/underserved areas. As a result, many young mothers remain unreached. BabyThrive addresses these gaps through a culturally relevant mobile game that provides nutrition education in an engaging format, effective in low literacy contexts. By equipping young mothers with practical skills they can access anytime, anywhere, BabyThrive empowers them to nourish their children appropriately, thus helping to reduce child undernutrition, easing pressure on the healthcare system, and building a healthier generation.

BabyThrive is a culturally relevant, story-driven mobile game designed to improve maternal knowledge of child feeding and reduce child undernutrition in Nigeria. Built for low-literacy, low-resource environments, the game works offline and is available in English and Hausa. Players take on the role of a young mother navigating real-life scenarios - learning, practicing and executing optimal child feeding techniques such as exclusive breastfeeding, proper complementary feeding, hygiene, and care during illness. Through interactive storytelling, voice-acted dialogs, and simple game mechanics like treasure hunts, drag-and-drop tasks, and quizzes, users gain practical skills in an engaging, memorable way. To reinforce learning, the game includes: • In-app quizzes with in-game rewards to boost motivation. • A recipe bank of numerous affordable, local meals. Mothers are encouraged to prepare meals and upload photos, which researchers can evaluate. • A Child Growth Monitor using WHO algorithms to track children’s height and weight. BabyThrive incorporates six proven behavior change techniques (shaping knowledge, natural consequences, comparison of behavior, repetition and substitution, reward and threat, feedback and monitoring) for lasting impact. Accessible, gamified, and backed by evidence-based design, BabyThrive bridges the gap between Nigerian teenage mothers and essential child nutrition education - empowering healthier homes, leveraging technology.

BabyThrive serves teenage mothers in Nigeria, a group at high risk of raising undernourished children. Over 40% of Nigerian girls aged 15–19 have begun childbearing. These young mothers are often poor, have limited education, and lack essential knowledge about child feeding, putting their children at three times greater risk of malnutrition and early death compared to those of older mothers. Despite these challenges, mobile phone ownership is widespread, even in underserved areas. BabyThrive leverages this access to deliver an affordable, gamified learning tool that teaches breastfeeding techniques, complementary feeding practices, and suggests local, nutritious recipes through an engaging mobile app. By improving mothers' child feeding knowledge, self-efficacy and behaviors, BabyThrive directly supports children under 2 years of age, by ensuring they receive more nutritious diets and optimal care, reducing stunting and wasting, and supporting strong physical and cognitive development during the critical first 1,000 days of life. Reminders and recipes reduce the mental burden of caregiving for young mothers already facing immense responsibility. In the long term, BabyThrive aims to break the cycle of malnutrition and poverty, enabling mothers to raise healthier children who grow into productive adults. The platform can be adapted for use in other low-resource countries, extending its impact beyond Nigeria.