BTDT MoMs: did you find baby tracking apps helpful?

xtina78 · May 2014

Started looking into various apps like total baby and baby connect for tracking feedings etc - and I was wondering if other moms found them helpful or burdensome or burdensome but worth it? TIA for your input.

zazu13 · May 2014

I tried baby connect but it was really cumbersome and I didnt keep up with it. Paper and pencil would have been better, but I am lazy. Now at 11 weeks old im just keeping track mentally and they are getting more into a rhythm eating around 5, 8 , 12, 3, 5, 7 o'clock and sometimes once more between 7 and 5:00. Sleeping 5-7 hours at night. I did keep them eating together for a while but now I just follow their lead which has proven to be close to them same anyway. I change before every feeding and only in between if I see an onvious need.

SamanthaJoD · May 2014

I also tried Baby Connect and the only thing I use it for these days is to keep track of how much milk I'm pumping (I'm an exclusive pumper). For me it was a total pain to remember to log diaper changes, feedings, naps, etc. I mean, that data would be interesting to have, but it's not worth the effort for me. Someone super organized and on top of things might have a better time with it.

SmallCityLiving · May 2014

I use sprout only to track feedings and it has been great and really easy. As I'm trying to find a pattern to get them on a schedule it has been essential to know when they eat MOTN. I find I forget so much about what happens during this time so it's good to be able to look back. I also feed on demand during the day and not necessarily at the same time so it's nice to know at a quick glance when each baby last ate.

I don't track diapers or anything else in there. However I do record height and weight info at the dr hoping I will put it all in a baby book sometime!

basil2 · May 2014

Tried it, but after a day or so realized it just isn't for me. I wanted to keep track of who had fed on which side, but I was struggling to enter anything- I wound up just switching sides on a daily basis which has worked much better.

Mrs.Guz · May 2014

I used total baby and it was incredibly helpful, especially those early days. I highly recommend it. It made drs appt a little easier because I jut had to refer to the app to get information.

ETA: I just tracked feedings.

Jenn06L80 · May 2014

I tried baby connect but it wasn't for me. I haven't tracked anything and my girls are almost 8 weeks.

The only thing I do is one up both up for feedings and diaper changes at the same time. My girls almost always sleep and eat at the exact same time so that has been nice.

PurpleIris30 · May 2014

I track eating and sleeping on ibaby. For me it was helpful to keep track of how long it had been since they had nursed because I was having a hard time remembering. As they got older, I started tracking sleeping and it was really helpful to see how many hours they were sleeping per day and also to see their naps in graph form to identify nap patterns when they were starting to emerge.

carrotcake06 · May 2014

I used a nursing app I had from my when my oldest was a newb. It wasn't great but I really only wanted to track feeding time and side. For that it served it's purpose.

I tracked for 3 or 4 months until their pattern emerged.

Gibson824 · May 2014

We used Total Baby and it was great. When the twins arrived the doctors were having us do tracking on paper to make sure they were eating enough (they dropped 10% really quickly and spent 36 hours in the NICU). Then we started using it since my husband and I would split overnight feedings. It was a great tool to have when tracking poopy diapers because my daughter wouldn't have them and we were able to call the pediatrician when it had been too long for her. It was worth the $5 to us.

jeephappygirl · May 2014

The first few weeks we used a white board. Had a column for each baby and wrote down what time they ate also if it was more or less than a normal amount. Also had a spot to check wet & dirty diapers. It was very helpful as I was in a daze and didn't always know who did what and when. Also if DH was taking over it was easy for both of us to see.

I EP and I wanted to track how much I'm making. So I did get baby connect. I use that religiously for my pumping and a week before doc appts I will try to track babies so I can give doc accurate info. My DS is not a good pooper so sometimes I will track his diapers just to make sure he is going enough. It's nice to see it all on the there . If I didn't pump I wouldn't still be using it at 6 mo.

ballygirl · May 2014

I use baby connect and have found it to be really helpful. We probably won't need it much longer because my girls are FINALLY starting to get into a regular schedule, but it was 6 months before I was able to reliably get my girls on any kind of a schedule. One-up-both-up did not work for us until recently because my girls were such horrid sleepers, and even though we tried keeping the feedings at the same time, that was more difficult than we expected as well. One girl was just a fussy eater and won't eat more than 3-4 oz at a time without spitting up and then gets hungry 2 hours later, the other girl is not satisfied unless she gets 5 ounces and is usually good for 3-4 hours.

We also have several caretakers. We have a nanny, a mother's helper and DH and I, so its important to know who was fed last or when they woke up, especially if I was not the one taking care of them. Babyconnect lets you register several caretakers so anyone can log info on their phone (or computer), so that was helpful.

It will probably depend on how easily your babies fall into a schedule whether or not you need to track things. The more regular your schedule is, the less you need to track it. But for us, the first 4-5 months were pure chaos. Even my nanny who has a lot of twin experience was exasperated at how difficult it was to keep my girls in synch. Some babies are just more difficult than others to schedule and keep in synch and if you have difficult babies like mine, its very easy to forget who ate last or who woke up when.

So,

FaeryStarGazer · May 2014

There was no such thing when my daughters were baby, but we made an actual physical journal of feeding/poop/pee/diaper changes etc. It really helped us learn to recognize the girls cries and keep everything straight.

Long live the poo journal.

badbridey · May 2014

I use babyconnect and find it really easy to use. I BF and really only use it to track feedings - just to know when the last feed was and what side I need to nurse on next. Without it I can't keep it all straight and I couldn't imagine having to write it all down. I used babyconnect for ODD also, and tracked her feeds, sleep & diapers, but with the twins I don't have time for all of that.

ladyprof · June 2014

We had a lot of help (my mom and a part time nanny) and so one app made it really hard for everyone to see what was going on. We got a chart that we filled out manually and left in the kitchen for everyone to see what was going on and it worked great.

so72409 · June 2014

I used baby connect and it was so helpful, as the girls were both bottle and breast fed. I'm also very type A and loved using the app. We stopped using it around 5-6 months. It was also great because when I went back to work I had our nanny use it and I could log in on my iPad at work and check their "stats" throughout the day!

LittleLady77 · June 2014

We use this and it's super helpful. It's a book not an app but that's better for us because hubby and others who are helping us can use it too. https://www.justmultiples.com/twin-schedule-3mos.html

curlylocks3 · June 2014

Mine are only 5.5 weeks old but we are using Total Baby and like it. We track feedings and diapers, it has an option for naps that we don't use. Baby girl still is not feeding great (although gaining well) so we are still doing frequent weight checks and the pedi always wants to know how much they are taking- the app really helps with that.
Lastly, both babies deal with constipation and need prune juice at least once a day. It took trial and error to find the right dose of it, and sometimes we need to give a little extra still. By tracking diapers it makes it easy to remember when they last had dirty diapers and to get a better idea if they need an extra little dose of the prune juice.

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