Useful Applications for Expecting & New Parents

In my previous post I shared some of my baby must-haves for use in and outside of the home. I couldn't end off my list of must-haves without mentioning some of my favourite applications. Yes, the ones for your phone! Here are my most used applications throughout my pregnancy, during labour and even now. (The last app that I've listed below is my all time fav. Read until the end!)

Pregnancy: The Bump - Pregnancy Countdown 

As an expectant mother I loved being able to track baby's growth throughout my pregnancy. Every week I would countdown until baby's arrival and read about how she was developing in the womb. The Bump - Pregnancy Countdown offers 3D visualizations. The interactive view was a neat way to see how baby was developing each week. In addition to baby's development, The Bump also gives you a visual of how mom's body changes from week-to-week in preparation for baby.

(Left: How big is baby?, Right: Interactive view of baby's growth and mom's body changes)

Labour: Contraction Timer & Counter 

Contraction timers are likely all built the same so any application will do. I was armed and ready with my Contraction Timer & Counter app a month before my expected due date. I wanted to be ready to start tracking my contractions as soon as I started experiencing them. 

(Contraction timer)

Beyond: Huckleberry 

When we first found out we were pregnant, our friends recommended the Huckleberry app to us. We have been using it every day since baby was born. This is a fantastic app for parents who want to track the daily activities of their newborn - down to the minute. I love being able to have the app open on different devices. My husband and I can track baby's activities simultaneously. We log everything from feedings to naps and night time sleep, diaper changes and growth. The data gets populated on a chart which helps us calculate how long baby sleeps, how much she's eating, etc. This is by far our most used app and for good reason. It's useful, user friendly and the best part... it's free!

What's the big deal?

Why is it so important that we track baby's activities? I've been asked this before. Why keep track of all baby's activities in full detail? It definitely helps to know when you should be feeding the baby next or whether your baby has had a healthy number of soiled diapers each day. There have been several instances where I opened the app during a doctor's appointment because let's face it, I have mom brain and my ability to remember things has seriously gone downhill (sad, but true). This app has played a role in allowing us to keep a relatively consistent routine for baby as well as sleep train her from an early age (more on that in another post).

(Left: Huckleberry homescreen, Right: Seven day calendar view of baby's activities)

Activity Tracking
I've included some screenshots below to show you how the app track's baby's activities over a 30 day period. For reference:

• Sleep:
• Light blue: Daytime sleep
• Dark blue: Night time sleep
• Feeding: 
• Orange: Breastfeeding
• Pink: Bottle
• Magenta: Solids
  
  
• Diapers:  
• Yellow: Pee
• Brown: Poop
• Pumping: 
• Purple

It's amazing to see how much your baby's activities change as they grow. The screenshot on the left shows baby's activities during her first week of life. In contrast, the shot on the right details her activities at five months old. You may notice somewhat of a pattern in her activities at five months as we have been using Huckleberry to help her develop and maintain a routine. Her wake windows and night time sleep have lengthened dramatically, while her feeding sessions are no longer as frequent. We love using this app to adjust her nap times or feeding sessions to match our desired routine for her.

 (Left: Baby's activities during her first week of life, Right: Baby's activities at 5 months old)

Logging Mealtimes 

When baby was first born I had this app opened almost all the time. Tracking feeds has always been important to us and I found it to be particularly useful for breastfeeding sessions. I wanted to be able to time her feeds so I had an idea of how much she was eating. As new parents, we quickly learned that ensuring our baby was well fed was one of our top priorities (and continues to be). Huckleberry has a timer built into the app which tracks breastfeeding sessions. It even helps track which side baby fed from last just in case you have trouble keeping track - one less thing to remember (your mom brain will thank you). The app also has the capability of tracking bottle feeds as well as solids.

(Left: Breastfeeding timer, Right: Bottle feeding tracker)

Tally it up

Huckleberry provides summaries of your baby's activities over a seven, 14 and 30 day period (see the below image on the left). These summaries allow me to better plan out my days or figure out how best to introduce solids or cut out a nap, for instance. I don't use this feature too frequently, but I do review it from time to time. I find the following details particularly useful: 

• Average # of feedings per day 
• Average amount of daily sleep
• Average # of soiled diapers per day 
• Average amount pumped per day
  
  

Sweetspot

Another great feature that the app offers is "Sweetspot" (see the image below on the right). Sweetspot is triggered once you have logged approximately two to three weeks of your baby's activities. With sufficient data, Huckleberry will begin to provide parents with recommended wake and sleep times based on your baby's age and activity patterns.

(Left: 30 day sleep summary, Right: Sweetspot)

These applications might not be for everyone, but I did want to take the time to share about them because they have been a great help to us. Thanks everyone for taking the time to read. Is there any specific content you would like to read about?

Until next time,
E.