SOLÁN DE CABRAS PRESENTS SOMUM

We launched an application especially designed to enable future mothers to stay properly hydrated during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Somum uses functionality based on new technologies that work with mobile devices and smart bracelets.

Pregnancy is one of the most important stages in the life of most women. The physical changes that take place in a woman’s body make it essential to increase attention to certain aspects. One of the most important ones is hydration.

At Solán de Cabras, we are aware of this situation, and so we presented Somum, a new application for smartphones that works with a smart bracelet (wearable technology) to control daily hydration levels during pregnancy and breastfeeding in a personalised way and in real time.

It also includes tips on health and nutrition, measures the calories burned and number of steps walked, as well as alerts about controlling weight and other aids for monitoring changes throughout the process.

To calculate the recommended daily fluid intake, Somum uses certain factors determined by medical experts, as well as physical characteristics, specific hydration needs during pregnancy (and breastfeeding), including information about the environment such as the outdoor temperature. All of this information is linked to the daily activity of the future mother, which is collected using a smart bracelet.

But, why is hydration important during pregnancy? During this period, there are a series of physiological changes that increase fluid needs; these include increased cardiac output and sodium and fluid retention (in general, women retain an average of 6.5 litres in a normal pregnancy).

These changes help the foetus to grow properly and, to a certain extent, protect the mother from risks during delivery, such as haemorrhages.

Among other benefits, drinking water during pregnancy increases plasma volume, helps to maintain the amount of amniotic fluid, and prevents constipation and urinary infections in the mother. And, it helps prevent the risk of dehydration in women who experience vomiting related to morning sickness (typical of between 50% and 90% of pregnant women).

Moreover, Somum also accompanies women during breastfeeding, as 90% of breast milk is water. In addition, the newborn needs proportionally more water than in earlier developmental stages, which increases the mother’s sensation of thirst.

Main functionality:

• Monitoring and recommendations: Somum links wearable technology that functions as a monitoring system with an application for smartphones that turns all of the information received into hydration recommendations for the expectant mother. The application offers personalised information about the amount of water to be consumed daily, as well as the calories burned and the number of steps walked (movement).
  It also monitors the Body Mass Index (BMI), and if the limits recommended by medical experts are exceeded, recommends seeing a doctor to ensure that the weight gain is under control.
• Targets: To encourage and help wearers meet hydration goals during pregnancy, and to achieve other objectives for a healthy pregnancy, the application includes a series of targets for the user, which can be consulted in a section of the app, with a notification being sent out each time one of them is met.
• Tips: Each day the application supplies a tip created by medical experts specifically for that particular point in the pregnancy. These tips are organised weekly to accompany and help the future mother during the entire period of pregnancy and breastfeeding. Additionally, these can be consulted and shared in a specific section, classified by the content type
• History: In order to see and monitor the daily evolution of hydration, movement and calorie-burning, the app has a section that shows the data as a graph visually and compared to all the days the app has been in use.
• Activities: The Activities section is intended to keep track of all of the wearer’s exercise activities that do not require movement measurable by the bracelet. Aerobics, dance, elliptical machine, Pilates, yoga… all rated by health professionals as activities suitable during pregnancy.

The bracelet can be purchased exclusively from the Solán de Cabras e-commerce site: tienda.solandecabras.es