Six Apps You Need On Your Phone If You’re a New Mom
As a new(ish) mom (Parker is 7 months old now) who had many friends go before me into a lot of life events including parenthood, I have found myself approaching one or two of them first before feeling fully confident in anything child-rearing related decisions. It was nice to bounce ideas off someone who had already done “it” more recently than my own mom. Especially when it comes to my baby girl. No offence, mom, but it’s been over 30 years since you were a first time mom and things have changed quite a bit since then…
Having a career that just started pre-baby as a teacher, I have committed to life-long learning to continuously improve my skills as an educator. So when we found out we were going to become parents, I quite quickly started finding books/blogs/people to refer to with certain things. I handed things off to my husband to research (car seat, mattress, etc), but anything to do with how we would navigate raising her (eating, sleeping), I turned to friends and the apps they suggested, I started following people on Instagram for sleep advice and exploring the world of Baby-led weaning.
In a world of “there’s an app for that”, advice comes with an app suggestion, a blog post (hello, I see you), or some instagram influencer (please help me gain my follower count by following @ellis.ina.lens on Instagram) that provides insight into their own parenting journey. Whether it be eating, sleeping, activities appropriate for the age level, or just general fashion tips, the world of social media has certainly changed the way I’ve accessed information. But you’ve come here from insider reviews on apps that I used for so here we go…*
What to Expect
(free) - fun to track size of baby as they grow physically, but also to see the different development phases (physical and mental) during pregnancy and after birth (men: check out “DaddyUp” for your own tracker and a bit of a laugh). I opted in to receive weekly (maybe daily blogs/forum posts from other expecting moms), which gave me a community amongst other mamas expecting around the same time.
2. Huckleberry
(free, options to upgrade for more access) - I honestly didn’t do a lot of research into tracking apps, but have found this one has worked very well for our family. You can look at daily/weekly trends with colour coded graphs based on data you enter. It allows you to track the amount of sleep (daytime and night time), timing nursing sessions (can also enter manual nursing sessions as well as bottle feeds), medicine doses given (amount and time), diaper changes (what kind and frequency). There was a lot we did in the beginning to see patterns if we needed to. We now mostly log sleep and solid food/nursing sessions. You can enter from a catalogue of foods and make note of how the baby enjoyed/didn’t. This app has honestly been the one that takes up most of my screen time since Parker was born. You can also make notes in each section as well - which I know sleep consultants love to see ;)
3. Wonder Weeks
(paid) - I don’t know why I’m always such a dork when it comes to paid apps, I’m too cheap to spend any money on apps. I don’t actually remember how much this app cost, but it wasn’t a lot (maybe $5?), and it has definitely come in handy. It’s the type of app that makes you feel like you have a user manual for your child at times. You can reference it for developmental milestones, it will let you know that your baby may be going through a fussy stage as they enter a new leap. It’s been comforting when you feel like your very easy going baby has all of a sudden flipped a switch and is cranky 87% of the day, isn’t sleeping their normal, or is only wanting mom to put them to bed and not dad. A quick reference to this app will have you realizing they are entering a new leap and oftentimes all the above cues are the signals for that leap. I wouldn’t say this is a complete “necessity app”, but there have been moments I’ve been grateful for it.
4. Peanut
(free) - I’ve joked with a few people, but this app is like Tinder for moms. I know, it sounds super weird and off-putting, but hear me out. You can connect with moms based on location (you set the parameters), interests, and hobbies as well as the age of your kiddos. I moved outside the big city when I married my husband, and while I’m not that far away, I’ve definitely found myself much more eager to stay home than drive all the way back in for a hang out. It’s out of my comfort zone to meet strangers, but I’m warming up to it (invited one “match” to join us at bouncing babies class at the local library). It’s also nice to have people who are in the same development stage as you (most of my friends are now veteran parents, or have multiple kids).
4. Solid Starts
(free with option paid upgrade) - I just found this one recently after attending a baby led Weaning webinar. The account @solidstarts on Instagram is also one to check out. They are a team of “food+feeding experts and doctors” giving you an introduction into a safe babyled weaning journey. Their app gives you information about nutrients the food has, age appropriate time to introduce it, and at least one way to prepare and serve it to your baby. It’s actually amazing. They’re continuously adding new foods to the list for all kinds of cultural diets. This method of feeding your baby is not for everyone, it’s still very new, but there is a lot of research that shows it helps to limit picky eaters, food allergies, and negative relationships with food. As a former behavioural therapist, I find a lot of joy in all three of those categories, so we’ve embarked on the journey. It’s been so fun watching Parker explore her food and yes, mom play with it, getting a little messy almost every meal.
5. Marco Polo
(free with optional paid upgrade) - if you have friends spread across the city, province, or country, this app is a game changer. Even if you have friends you see semi-regularly, this is a great communication tool. I have a group of friends who happen to be spread out throughout Alberta and BC and this app was a game changer for us for a while! It’s a great way to stay updated with people, see faces, but have the convenience of responding when it works for you. We all have busy moments in life, but this app allows you to stay connected without having to be available at a certain time. It’s literally a game of Marco-Polo; a video messaging system that allows you to record sound and video and be watched on your own convenient time. 10/10 would recommend for sure.
Well...that’s it! Now I need to go and watch some Marco Polos...I currently have three conversations to catch up on :)
*please note all app costs were at the time of my own purchase late 2020/mid 2021
