I was having a conversation with a fellow mama the other day about tracking our babies’ activities – diapers, feedings, etc. This other mama friend had stopped tracking for a while already, but I have kept it up. Lil’ Macaron is six months now, so it’s probably time to stop, right? When do you stop? I had it so ingrained in me to track everything since his birth that stopping has become difficult. I told my friend I would stop on his six month birthday, but that day has come and gone. I realized I’m afraid to stop; I fear not knowing everything. I try to convince myself that I need to do it for the check-up, or that I find it useful. But really it’s become a safety net; I know when I fed him last and really there isn’t a huge reason to know how many diapers each day. Not to mention, it most likely feeds my anxiety about Lil’ Macaron getting enough sleep or food (always a worry for me since he’s on the smaller side). I keep picturing Lil’ Macaron in 16 years coming out of the bathroom, and his mom asking the details of his BM. Oh man, so wrong!
However, I do want to tell you newer mamas about a tracking app called Sprout Baby we started using it just a few days after Lil’ Macaron was born and. We tried a different app at first, but this one worked much better. It tracks diapers, sleep, feedings, medical information (growth, development, doctor visits, immunizations, etc), and memories as well. I decided it was easier than writing it down on paper since I usually have my phone nearby. Plus, it keeps track over time so it provides some handy charts, summaries, and consolidates all your baby information into one place. Sometimes I get a bit nerdy and like to look at the charts over time or summaries.
What I still find useful about tracking is the patterns and graphs, which you can view by either by week or month. I try really hard to have a schedule and the graphs help me identify trends and commonalities. For instance, I can see the number of feedings he does each day, if they land at similar times each day, or whether he’s starting to drop a nap. I can also look back at the diapers to see how long it’s been since his last poop, which might help me realize he’s having some tummy issues.
Most importantly, though, it gives me strength and reassurance that I’m doing a decent job — “hey look, he’s getting the recommended amount of sleep, he is following a loose schedule, and he is eating enough!” (By the way, newer mamas, I didn’t start tracking sleep until he was around 4-1/2 months. Any earlier and it’s just too much because they sleep on/off so much — believe me, I tired).
One last thing that’s nice about the app is that you can put it on multiple phones. Mr. Macaron and I both have the app on our iPhones. It got him involved and feel apart of the whole process.
Anyway, back to my tracking dilemma. I just don’t feel ready to stop tracking quite yet. I don’t mind doing it, so I don’t see any harm in continuing. My conclusion: I think I’ll keep it up for a bit longer.
P.S. You can purchase the app on iTunes.
pomelo / 5084 posts
Dang! That’s impressive! I (hand)wrote down diapers and feedings for the first couple weeks but that’s it!
honeydew / 7622 posts
I just kept a written log. I think it was just feelings and diapers. For a month? Less? T was in the PICU for dehydration day 4. Glad I had the log to refer to.
pomegranate / 3272 posts
I tracked until I went back to work with DS1 so about 12 weeks. Never even started with DS2.
blogger / apricot / 250 posts
My son is almost 1.5 years and we still track every diaper, sleep, bottle and food! We use the baby tracker app so we can export the data and plot it out ourselves (yes we are gigantic nerds!). The sleep and diaper data is still useful and it was really useful when I was breastfeeding and pumping, but we will probably be done tracking soon. It’s surprisingly hard to quit though!
One of my favorite things we tracked was my sleep from the first year (I posted about it here http://www.hellobee.com/2016/03/10/quantifying-a-new-moms-sleep/).
nectarine / 2690 posts
I stopped tracking after the first couple of weeks also. By the time I stopped tracking it I was mostly using it for my pumping schedule anyway. I just paid attention to whether her eating or bathroom habits stayed about the same or not. She’s almost 12 weeks now and doing great
guest
I never really got into tracking diapers or sleep, but I tracked feedings until my son weaned at 14 months. Mostly I feel like the best info was which boob I started on the last feeding session – no way I could have kept track of that mentally. It was also cool seeing just how much time we had spent breastfeeding – 49 days straight! Yipes!
olive / 59 posts
I LOVE data (engineer with a statistics minor), I felt like I had ‘some’ control when I tracked. We used a baby app; I tracked everything!
– Diapers for the first year (why?!)
– Breastfeeding for all 20 months (40,000+ minutes)
– Sleep for the first two years, only thing that made me stop was going away for 4 days when my LO was 26 months. My mom said she wasn’t going to track that stuff so I finally stopped!
guest
Never tracked except when they made me in the hospital! Possibly because I am a NICU nurse… it all just feels very routine. I think it has to be a personality thing. I think tracking would make me anxious where I feel like it gives others a sense of control!
guest
I tracked for a year with each of my babies. As a math/statistics teacher, I enjoyed looking at the data.
pomelo / 5621 posts
I tracked for the first couple months. Just feedings and diapers. I wrote it down in a notebook. I also wrote things we did. 3 years later do you think know where it is??
blogger / olive / 64 posts
@Mrs. Ice Cream: This is so reassuring to hear. I felt like I was the only one still tracking at six months!
blogger / olive / 64 posts
@Jadj13: HA! That’s awesome – 40,000+ minutes!! I’m sure it’ll take something similar to stop.
cantaloupe / 6730 posts
That’s the app I used. Loved it. I stopped tracking when I started forgetting to do it. So diapers lasted 2 weeks, breastfeeding was a year and sleep was 2 years. Stop tracking when you feel there is no need, not because of what you are “supposed to do”.
guest
With my first, I tracked for a year! When he turned 1, I made my friends help me wean off it because it was so ingrained in me! With my second, I tracked for maybe a few months.
grape / 87 posts
We tracked everything for the first year or 13 months and then stopped. It was a little bittersweet to end it.
bananas / 9229 posts
DD is 12 1/2 months and I’m still tracking. I’ve slowly been dropping things though – solids and what’s done at daycare basically. Otherwise I still log nursing, diapers and sleep. I don’t know how to stop!!
cherry / 108 posts
I’ve used this app on both my girls and had the same issue of letting go of tracking.
I was forced to with my first when we took a trip and I couldn’t keep up with the tracking. It was so liberating! She was 6 months, and I just never started again after the trip. Now with my second, it was tough stopping just because it becomes such a habit. She is now 7.5 months and the only thing I track now is when she wakes and sleeps so I’ll know when her next nap or bedtime should be. Funny thing is I never tracked sleep times with my oldest. Then again I was less distracted since she was my only baby
I do have the nanny write down her schedule when I’m at work. Just so I know how the day went.
blogger / pear / 1563 posts
We used Baby Connect and LOVE it! it’s great because you can also use the computer and it syncs with all your devices. This was great especially when we had others watching Little P when he was a baby since they could just enter info. on their computers about his day and we got it permanently saved on the app.
Both of our kids were tracked past 1 year old for different reasons. Little P was LOW on the weight charts and so we were always concerned with how much he ate, and then Sweet P had very erratic sleep, plus awful tummy issues, so we really did need to keep track for her. I’m glad we did! Now that they’re older I just put in their height/weight after dr. apts., but I’m glad we have all the information. It was helpful when Sweet P’s sleep was a mess to check the app and see how Little P was doing when he was her age just to see what seemed “normal” at the time. I recommend to keep going as long as you feel like it’s helpful.
grapefruit / 4988 posts
I felt like this at 6 months but I was actually able to wean myself off of the tracking soon after. Looking back over my logs (Baby Connect), looks like I managed to stop everything by 8 months. It was pretty freeing once I was done. For whatever reason, I stopped tracking nursing sessions first, then diapers, then sleep was last. I kept using the app to track height/weight at doctor’s visits for awhile but I think I stopped that by her 2 year appt.
guest
I used Baby Connect obsessively for the first 6 months because my son was slow gaining weight at the beginning so I was nervous. At six months I weaned myself off of diaper/sleep/nursing tracking and got hooked on Baby Bites for food tracking!!
blogger / olive / 64 posts
@Mrs. Pinata: Oh, I love that you can use that one on your computer. Maybe in our sleep deprived state we didn’t come across that app. I’m too invested now to switch – haha. Thanks for the words of advice/encouragement!