When I had my first baby way back in 2006, smart phones weren’t really a “thing” yet. I did most of my research on my desktop PC and when labour finally began, we were timing my contractions with a stopwatch and a pad of paper! I kept track of my breastfeeding schedule with pages and pages of notes and charts, and white noise for my screaming newborn came via the vacuum cleaner (always at 3am, of course).
Now that it’s 2018 and that newborn is a surly preteen, you lucky pregnant people have a smorgasboard of apps to choose from to help you do your research, answer your questions, and to track every last thing to do with your pregnancy. The downside? There are so many apps to choose from that you may feel a little overwhelmed by them all! Here are some recommendations from your local doulas to help you make the most of the Technology Age during your pregnancy.
1. Ovia Pregnancy
There are a ton of pregnancy tracking apps and you likely feel a little overwhelmed when choosing one. This one is great because the interface is clean and straightforward, and really easy to setup. Customization allows you to choose from a variety of ways to track your baby’s growth (more than just “your baby is the size of a pomegranate”) and the weekly videos that are lined up with your pregnancy are great to help you brainstorm questions. And when labour begins, there’s a built-in contraction timer!
2. Baby Connect
This is the best baby tracking app out there! Keep track of naps, feeds, diaper changes, milestones, growth stats, basically anything you want. The coolest part is that you can share your child’s tracker with anyone of your choosing, so if your baby is being cared for by grandparents or a nanny, if they’re in daycare, or if you’ve hired a postpartum doula, you can let them see what’s been going on with your munchkin, too.
3. The Wonder Weeks
You should definitely check out the book, but even if you don’t, you want this app.
The Wonder Weeks app is a huge resource for all the periods of development your kiddo will go through from birth to age two. During these “leaps,” as the app refers to them, you may find that your baby is a completely different baby—more clingy, more fussy, more tired (or maybe less!).
Not only does the app help you understand how your baby is experiencing and handling these transitional phases, but it can help provide some peace of mind when you are able to connect the more challenging responses (clinginess, crying, etc.) to an actual reason. Plus, it predicts everything in advance, helping you prepare for what’s to come.
4. Glow Baby Breastfeeding Tracker
If you’re nursing your baby, you’ll want to keep track of it. It’s so easy to forget which side you last nursed on and for how long when you are sleep deprived! The Glow Baby Breastfeeding Tracker does all the work for you, so you can save that space in your brain for more important things (like a mental GPS of the nearest coffee shops and the words to your baby’s favorite lullaby).
5. White Noise Baby Sleep
Don’t be me. Don’t use your vacuum cleaner to get your baby to sleep. This is a much more energy-conscious way of helping your baby fall asleep (and stay that way). Research shows that the constant noise in the womb is similar to the sound of an oncoming train (yes, it’s that loud!), so when babies are born they often need some white noise to help them fall asleep. I use this apps with babies on postpartum shifts, and parents are always amazed at how quickly and easily it gets their baby to sleep. The best part is, this app has over 20 different white noise sounds (for the discerning baby that would prefer “babbling brook” over “hair dryer”), infinite playback, and a timer for soft fade out. Technology is an amazing thing.
There you go- our top 5 baby app recommendations. Now there’s only one thing left for you to add to your device before your baby arrives: our phone number (psst, it’s 778-557-5450).
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