I remember how nervous I was when I brought my first child home from the hospital. How would I know she was eating enough? Was she growing the way she was supposed to? How would I know if something was wrong?
Back in 1998 I had to wing it. But these days, technology provides all kinds of help. Recently I was able to check out the Similac Baby Journal iPhone App. I was really impressed with it’s content and ease of use.
First, you can use the app to track your baby’s feedings. Mark down when you started feeding, when you stopped feeding, and how much baby drank. And even though the app is from Similac, it gives you the option to choose to track breastfeeding or bottle feeding.
Worried about your baby’s elimination habits? No problem! You can also track diaper changes with the Similac Baby Journal. Looking back to my baby days, I think this would be extremely helpful when introducing solid foods. Without getting too disgusting, the app lets you track urination and bowel movements, right down to the color.
Finally, track your baby’s sleep habits with the sleep timer. When did your baby fall asleep? Did you lay him down while he was still awake? What time of day did he sleep?
Besides tracking eating, sleeping, and elimination habits, you can also track baby’s growth, including weight, length, and head circumference. View the trends on a graph to make sure your baby is growing on track.
Is all of this necessary? Maybe, maybe not. I know as a first time parent, a tool like this would have helped with my peace of mind. Also, when I had to take my second child in for early intervention testing, having all of this information at my fingertips would have helped those performing the evaluation. Believe me, they asked a lot of questions about his early habits! And if you are truly worried about your baby, you can email the info from the Similac Baby Journal App straight to your doctor!
Beyond new moms, I see another group of people who could benefit from the Similac Baby Journal App: foster parents of babies. As we prepare to become foster parents, I’m increasingly aware of how difficult it must be to take in a baby that you might know nothing about and then try to take care of that baby’s needs.
I think the Similac Baby Journal App would help foster parents of an unfamiliar baby figure out baby’s routine quickly. The app also provides a good record of the care baby was given. I know I’ll be using it in the future!
*Disclosure: Compensation for my time writing this post provided by Collective Bias.
That’s about the neatest thing I’ve seen in a long while. You can just whip your phone out and show your dr what they need to know. I always had to write it all down to remember to tell the dr how many diapers and how often/long they nursed etc.. Makes me want another one, lol.
Visiting from the blog walk (last week) and couldn’t remember if I got to the last couple of blogs. I’m following you!
Have a great week/weekend!