During pregnancy there is a myriad of apps to choose. You can find an app to find a name for your child, to understand what is happening each week to even counting your contractions.
However once you bring the baby home bleary eyed from the hospital and you look at each other like “WTF are we going to do with this thing!” I thought it would be good to share some apps that our readers have been using to occupy them in the early hours of the morning breastfeeding or just to keep their sanity. The Apple App Store still does not have a category for “Baby” which I find astounding so I think watch this space as we will see more and more apps be developed over time.
1. Baby Wonder Weeks Development Calendar – $1.99
The Wonder Week app helps you work out why your baby is the devil one week and an angel the next. It focuses on the mental development of your baby in phases called “Wonder Weeks”. When your child is getting fussy for no reason and you check the chart in this app. You then realise you are in a week of “black clouds and lightening” and shudder a bit but it helps you get through knowing what to expect and what they will gain in their abilities following this phase. Hey it is not entirely accurate but does make you feel better if your child is being a terror and you can put it down to a “black clouds week”.
2. Shutterfly for iPad and iPhone – FREE
For anyone that has relatives overseas or interstate this is a great site to upload all your photos of the baby in one place. It sends out a weekly newsletter and helps you put together photo albums and merchandise using your photos. Just be aware it is a US site and so postage will be more expensive. (P.S. Tiny Prints, a sister company of Shutterfly, also does great birth announcements/ invitations).
3. iSitter – WiFi / Bluetooth Baby Monitor for iPAD or iPhone – FREE
When you are travelling you may find yourself staying in say a friend’s enormous house where you can’t hear your baby cry so don’t be caught out. iSitter is a baby monitor you can use on your device that share audio real time and a camera image (every 30 seconds). You will need two devices – one in the room with the baby and one with you but it does provide an easy and affordable way to have peace of mind while you are away.
4. Baby log – Activities, Growth and Milestones – FREE (lite version) but you will be requested upgrade quickly to $5.49
Its hard to remember anything in the early days so this is a great tracker for feeding, number of nappies, and sleep so you can work out patterns and ensure you are giving your baby what they need. It does get quite fancy with graphs but the basic service of tracking your baby’s activity will be a great help.
5. Mum or Dad for iPhone – $0.99
Constantly people comment on whether a baby looks like a mum or a dad. So for a bit of fun to keep your sanity, this app scans your baby’s photograph and with facial recognition will tell you whether indeed it looks like mum or dad. You will need to upload a photo of the baby and each parent to get the reading.
We are constantly reviewing our recommendation so if you have others apps parents should consider leave us a comment below or contact Mamma’s directly. Next week we will share our top 5 apps for infants and toddlers.