Baby statistics: there is an App for that!

New parents are usually warned that the first few weeks with the baby would be hard, but they don’t realize how hard until the baby arrives. Frequent feeding, diaper changing and constant caring for the newborn leave parents sleep deprived, grumpy and exhausted. Although mobile apps cannot take over these responsibilities, they can certainly lessen the intensity.

‘Feed Baby’ app for tracking baby statistics is available for both Android and iPhone platforms. It makes life easier for those parents who want to know what their baby is going through by offering them tools to track almost every aspect of their baby’s life, such as medications, diaper, feeding, weight, length etc. (Figure 1). In the initial weeks, tracking and getting reminders (Figure 2) about feeds and diapers are especially helpful for parents who are too tired to remember these details. Mothers can track their breastfeeding to ensure they equally nurse both sides (Figure 3). Fathers can change diapers, for example, every 3 h because the app reminds them. Both parents can easily access baby’s information from their respective phones. Other caregivers, such as grandparents and babysitters can also use the app while parents see updates on their phones.

Figure 1 Feed Baby tracker menu (courtesy—Feed Baby).

Figure 2 Alarm setting page (courtesy—Feed Baby).

Figure 3 Breast feeding tracking (courtesy—Feed Baby).

As the baby grows, the use of the app also grows. Parents can start tracking other activities such as when they switched from breastfeeding to pumping to formula, when they started solid foods, and in what quantities. By reflecting on tracked data, parents can draw important conclusions about their baby’s health such as how well the baby is growing, and what vaccinations have been completed. The medication feature can be referenced months later to find out, for example, how many ear infections the baby has had—providing an important data point for pediatricians to understand baby’s health.

In short, ‘Feed Baby’ helps parents track everything about their baby and then review those statistics later (Figure 4). At a glance, parents and pediatricians can see if the baby is sleeping enough, eating enough and following normal development. Parents can also accurately answer routine pediatrician questions, review gaps in care with them and report any changes in baby’s health metrics.

Figure 4 7-day overview of tracked data (courtesy—Feed Baby).

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Penguin Apps for letting her review their app Feed Baby.

Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: The author has no conflicts of interest to declare.