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Most of my son’s first year is quite foggy these days, but there are a few things I clearly remember in his early existence. I seriously struggled with the idea of whether to breastfeed or not throughout my entire pregnancy. So the morning I delivered Gavin and we brought him to the nursery, the nurse on duty asked me the dreaded question, “Are you breastfeeding or bottlefeeding?” I exhaustedly answered, “I’d like to do both?” And I was met with the response, “Keri this is your baby and you as the mother can decide to do whatever you like.” Wait, what? Seriously! From that point on I was lucky to be able to breastfeed and we successfully supplemented Gavin with formula in a bottle at his midnight feeding.  Then, as a first time parent, became the craziness of trying to remember all the details. Friends offered all sorts of suggestions including spreadsheets, clipping safety pins to my bra to track which side we started on, and I downloaded a few free apps onto my iPhone, but none of them were at all useful. Honestly, I never really found a system that worked for us and eventually we developed a routine and I gave up trying to remember.

So this post is to let all of you know that Similac has just created a FREE App that I think will help many parents stay on top of all the daunting details, especially in the early weeks when trying to get a routine down is the most difficult. What I love about this app is that it also takes into consideration being able to bottlefeed, breastfeed or a combination of both!

First you input information on your child (weight, height, date of birth, photo). Have multiple children? You can also set up multiple profiles!

Next you can choose whether you are bottlefeeding, breastfeeding or both.

For breastfeeding, you can record which side you started on and the time the feed took in general. It allows you to make notes and email the information. The same for bottlefeeding where you can time the feed, then record notes and ounces taken.

The app allows you to calculate time between feedings, manage trends on a chart, as well as record sleep time and diaper changes.

I personally think the diaper change feature is great. I know I’ve turned into the official poop inspector in our home and it will let you record whether it was a pee, poop or combination diaper, and if there was any leakage. This part is my personal favorite, because you can record the quality of poop from hard to soft including adjectives such as “hard, chunky, sticky, thick, seedy, loose.” Words you never thought you’d ever be able to describe! Now, you can also pick from a variety of colors to describe the bowel movement. There is even a “diaper decoder” that brings you to the Similac web page with educational information and articles. I know I’m a little poop obsessed, but as you can see in the development of this app, I must not be the only one!

The sleep feature also allows you to record duration, time of day, whether you laid the baby down awake and any notes.

There are basic tips under the advice tab on feeding, sleeping, diapers, milestones as well as tips from moms and dads. There is a link to the Strongmoms.com website and also a phone number for 24/7 feeding help!

Here are some additional thoughts I had:

– In terms of sleep, I would have loved a feature to also record the position of the baby when sleeping and where (bassinet, crib, arms, etc.).  Since you can manage trends, you might be able to see in the long run, that the baby sleeps better in the crib versus the bassinet, etc.

– If you have multiple doctor’s appointments this is a great way to trend their height, weight and head circumference over time while keeping the information in one location

– This app I think works best if you have a newborn. I inputted Gavin’s information and he is 16 months old and though the app knows lists his correct age, it it gives information based on a newborn

– Though it’s a lot of great information, for those of you spreadsheet buffs, it could be overwhelming to take into account all the information at once, so try to keep a broad perspective and not hyperfocus on too many details

– There is not a place to record when babies start eating pureed foods, which I think would also be helpful to see the big feeding picture.  Parents could record the amount of food they took from the spoon and begin to look at the trends as they eventually wean off the breastfeeding and bottle feeding at later dates, because a child’s intake can change at different intervals depending on growth spurts and their acceptance of a variety of foods and cereal

– I LOVE the email feature. For those of us parents who pass in shifts or share care amongst providers, I think it’s great way to share information with others without losing the information on sticky notes or scraps of paper

Click here to download the Similac Baby App! It’s available for free in iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch formats.

I was compensated by Collective Bias for my time, but my opinions on this app and blog post are my own based on my personal experience.