Digital babies: Tracking breastfeeding and diaper changes on an iPhone

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  Posted by HotCrossBuns Thu Aug 28, 2008 5:40pm PDT

  wow! isn't it harrowing enough to keep up with the breastfeeding and the diapers changes, without having to deal with the extra step of detailing it into the iphone? I hardly know where my phone is half the time, I can't imagine the frustration of having to hunt it down every time the baby ate or poo'd!

  I don't remember being that specifically anal about the timing of the nursing or the diaper changes,either. If the baby cried and it had been around a couple of hours since the last feeding, I stuck a boob in the mouth. If the diaper had poop, it got changed. And the only time I really cared about consistency was if was too watery. What in the world do you need to keep static records on that stuff for? I can't even keep the grocery list up to date, let alone keep up with a poop diary!

  On that note, this application WOULD be handy for a sick kid (or 3!), especially one taking different medicines. Trying to remember dosing times and amounts of the poor kids when you're already running ragged cleaning up puke, diarrhea and keeping track of liquids in (and if/how long it took to come back out, which end, etc) would be rather handy.

  It has its merits, I guess. But I'd have rather spent the $ elsewhere.

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  Posted by Angela Thu Aug 28, 2008 8:53pm PDT

  I'm glad someone said something. The only reason I can think of that someone would need to do this is if they had a sick child, maybe multiples, or a bad case of OCD.

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  Posted by Charlene Prince Birkeland, Shine staff Thu Aug 28, 2008 9:19pm PDT

  Wow. I'm surprised. Most first-time moms I know tracked this stuff for the first month at their pediatrician's recommendation. It's the first question the doc asks at the 6-week check up. (We had to because our first baby was teeny tiny. The second time, we had the hang of it.) Also, in trying to figure out or establish any sort of feeding routine as your baby gets a little older (at the 8-12 week mark with the nursing).

  HCB -- Yes, an app form medicine/dosing times would be cool.

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  Posted by SharonW Fri Aug 29, 2008 7:54am PDT

  I agree with Charlene. Even though I don't remember being quite this anal (I hope!) I know plenty of people who were. Also, moms of twins would likely use this since a lot of them joke about forgetting who they fed last, LOL!

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  Posted by Christa Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:15pm PDT

  I never tracked anything with any of my 4 kids. I breastfed them when they were hungry, and changed them when they were wet/dirty. That is still the routine I have with my 1 year old, feed when hungry, change when dirty, nap when tired. Repeat!

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  Posted by Angela Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:33pm PDT

  Well, I said sick or multiples. My best friend had two premies, and she wasn't told to do that. However, when both of her children came home, she had a lot of home health services in place to help her, so they may have been doing much of this for her. She was quite ill and nearly died giving birth to each of her children, so she needed as much help as each of her babies. All are healthy now though. Second grade and kindergarten this year, with mom working in home health herself. :)

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  Posted by Angela Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:34pm PDT

  She had preaclempsia, btw. (Hope I spelled that right.)

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  Posted by Charlene Prince Birkeland, Shine staff Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:56pm PDT

  I think some new moms are more comfortable than others and feel that "intuition" sooner and so don't jot down the notes or keep track. Whatever works to keep you sane, I guess.

  Angela -- Glad your friend is doing well and her kids are healthy. Preclampsia is a scary thing.

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  Posted by Angela Fri Aug 29, 2008 11:00pm PDT

  Thanks. :)

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  Posted by BenM Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:36am PDT

  As the creator of an alternate baby tracking tool - http://www.trixietracker.com/ - I wanted to chime in. I've heard from many parents who are skeptical of the benefits of recording sleep, diaper and bottle info, but you can discover amazing patterns in your child's schedule if you simply observe for a few days. It's worth trying!

  Our web application, Trixie Tracker, lets parents track sleep, diapers, breastfeeding, pumping, milk inventory, solids and medicine, and get on a good schedule. It's optimized for the iPhone and specifially designed for twins and multiples (because it is hard to keep things straight when there's more than one baby).

  Thanks,

  Ben MacNeill

  Founder, Trixie Tracker

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