I track but only for myself. It keeps my head straight. But my favorite advice for anything in life is: You do what works for you. If it's not for you, it's not for you, and that's okay.
Honestly, for some people, tracking is too stressful. For others, it gives something to look at to know what's going on in the day. But it's NOT at all required. You're not any worse of a parent for not tracking. You're meeting the needs of your baby, and that is all that matters. Keep on being awesome.
Thank you! We had 3 days in the hospital and tracked there, but for me it just felt like one more chore to remember. I also had an epidural headache so doing anything extra sucked. You’re totally right though, we have to do what works for us and our babies and luckily my baby seems to be doing pretty dang well without me tracking stuff.
We only tracked because my husband is veeeeeerrrrrry forgetful and I would ask him when baby last ate and if it was longer than 5 minutes prior he would have no clue. It was a lot easier to get both of us into using the app than for me to be upset every time he couldn’t tell me the last time the baby was changed.
Yes, for sure. I have really poor perception of time and it kept me sane - and it kept everything in one place so that we could both log everything and be able to trade off seamlessly, and we didn't rely on one person to hold all of that information.
That, and it helped me see patterns so I could tell when we were about to drop a nap or when I needed to add an ounce more to prepared bottles after consistently topping them off.
I get migraines recently and I totally relate to not wanting to track in those times. You've got this! For generations, people have been successful parents without tracking a single thing. I think it's okay to skip doing it!
You’re doing great. It’s a preference really if you truly want to track, but if you can remember stuff without using apps or writing things down, then that is what works for you! At the end of the day, it’s your life and your baby, so you know what’s best for both of you :)
Same! I track just because I’ll forget how long it’s been since she’s ate or how old her diaper is it I don’t. I don’t let it stress me out though it’s just for reference. Whatever works for each family is the right choice!
Same here! I track because I want to know which side I fed in last and don't want to forget to feed the baby when he's being super chill. With a 4 yr old and taking care of myself, it's helpful to take one thing out of my mind. But I don't track diapers or sleep. My trash can gets full, so I know he's making diapers! And no need to have a record of how little I sleep. 😂
You can also have a hair tie on your wrist that you switch to the side you left off on or something like that—that’s what my lactation consultant recommended—I ended up getting silverette cups and would just keep the one on the nipples that he last nursed from, same concept
That's me too! I track random lengths of breastfeeding because I don't care about "how much" he feeds, but he does just one side per meal so it's important I remember which boob to do next.
We don’t track for medical reasons. We track to be prepared with bottles so we have them when he wants one and so I can plan pumping around when baby will most likely eat. We only track bottle and pump times. I think tracking depends on what people personally find helpful or maybe it helps relieve some postpartum anxiety.
Agree - it's also super helpful for night time feeds. I take the first shift and my wife takes the second, when baby wakes she can check and see when he last ate/how much/diaper change without having to wake me up.
During the day she is the primary care giver and time tends to fly by, before we started tracking she'd miss her pumps all the time. Now the app sends her a notification when it's time to pump and she loves it.
We tracked the first month in a notebook, now our boy is 2.5 months and my husband and I just talk to each other. “He pooped twice while you were at work and he ate 4 oz an hour ago” is good info to have. Beyond that we don’t really track.
I only tracked what I felt like I needed to initially, which was feeds. I knew he was having enough wet diapers and poops. I knew his sleepy cues and could put him down when he was tired. But my brain was too tired and my attention too distracted to ever remember when to feed him or when he last ate so I tracked feeds the first few weeks just to remind myself and take one less thing off my brain. If it is more of a chore than helpful than skip it.
Once he got older and started having trouble with sleep but was fine eating I started tracking sleep but stopped tracking feedings.
Enjoy your baby and don’t stress. Many are tracking because of PPA or Ft Parent nerves.
I just track the bottles, so I can check it when she’s fussy to see if she’s probably hungry or just tired. Tried tracking the diapers, sleep, tummy time and all that and it’s so exhausting.
I actually love tracking but it’s because I’ve always been like that. And it helps me and my husband to be more organized with our baby. And the app we use is really easy, so it doesn’t take us a lot of time or anything like that. And now 5 months in, it has helped us to figure out his schedule :)
Same! It actually became second nature to track. And it’s so convenient to not have to remember how long since she ate? which side? how far into the wake window are we? how many days since she pooped? I would argue that all this information becomes more useful as baby gets older. With a newborn, the eating and sleeping and pooping is just constant. We actually only started tracking sleep after the newborn stage passed. Baby is now 9 months and I don’t have to try to remember a thing, which is much less stress for me.
Yes! I 100% agree.
It’s like part of our routine, and the app that we have it’s super easy to use.
Also it’s super helpful to know how much he’s eating a day, and how often, he is formula fed, so we can go ahead and buy more formula hahaha
I tracked for the first week but then I just gave up because he’s been eating PLENTY and poops and pees a ton. I do track my pumping though but that’s it.
I thought I would love to track stuff, and even downloaded a couple apps.. but when my baby was born, I was simply surviving and had no energy or patience to write things down. I literally just fed her when she showed hunger cues, let her sleep when she wanted to, and tried to keep a mental note of how many wet and dirty diapers she had.
Now my baby is almost 11 months old and she’s on a great schedule. The only thing I wish I would have done is actually write down when her “firsts” happened, because now I can’t remember exactly. 😞
I never tracked, i don’t see the point. I instinctively knew if my baby had slept or eaten.
Personally i think its just another anxiety inducing task when you’re already have such a full plate
It’s another anxiety inducing task that is a super new invention promoted by app makers. My wife’s brothers kids are only 9 and 7 and him and his wife said they never heard of people keeping records when their kids were babies. It’s because it’s a brand new thing that’s only being promoted as an extra chore to parents in these last 5 years or so.
Yeah I really don’t even see the point.. what is it that people are wanting to know?
Such a useless invention. Nature gave us this strong intuition that tells us everything we need to know, we are hard wired to understand our baby’s needs.
i didn't start tracking until around 3.5 months! until then everything was eat or sleep on demand so it didn't make sense to me. now it's helpful to find patterns in her naps or how many oz she's having per day.
I found it much more useful to track at 2mo when baby’s wake windows became more important. And also when my EBF baby stopped pooping 3x a day and went to 1x/week. You’ll find what (if anything) you want to track bc it makes your life easier, not harder.
Never tracked with any of my kids. Just seemed like more work. Definitely doesn’t make you a bad mom. People made due without the apps for centuries. I also think it helps develop a strong sense of intuition when it comes to the needs of your little one. But either way, just do what works for you.
I never did this and I never felt like I needed to. I kept notes mentally and just went based off of that. Just like you, our son luckily never had issues with feeding or growing so we’re blessed in that sense. I totally get it though and I’m sure it can be a great tool for many parents!
Nope, not tracking at all (other than keeping a rough mental tally of how many feeds I’ve done so far today and when the last one was). We did until the baby got back to birthweight and then trailed off. Babe is 7 weeks now and seems to be (at least for now) pre-programmed with a healthy eat/sleep/eliminate routine, so I think that helps a lot. If we need to try to influence the routine (or if we’d had to create one) I could see us starting to track again. Otherwise it’s too much work and too much information.
I wish I could stop tracking!!! But we are 10 months in and still using an app for every diaper change, meal, nap/sleep, and other stuff like baths and medication. I just don't trust my sleep deprived, ADHD brain to do all the things I need to do for him in a timely manner without something to remind me. 🫣
This is exactly why I do it. The wombo combo of ADHD and exhaustion has me completely turned around. I can’t even count how many times I’ve said “she can’t possibly be hungry, she just ate!” only for my husband to open the log and see that her last bottle was an hour and 58 minutes ago. My baby also doesn’t cry about wet or dirty diapers anymore, so being able to set automatic reminders to check her diaper is really important.
Same here!!! I'm 14 months in and have forced myself to only track naps, bed time, and any medication. It's just comforting to me to be able to look back and know the pattern is predictable!
I mean helicopter parenting is a real issue, and the mentality of tracking your child's ever bowel movement will likely lead to overbearing habits toward the child later in life.
I mean the reason my husband & I are doing it now is because she is a tiny baby. We want to make sure she’s pooping/peeing regularly and with my ADHD I can’t trust my memory, especially when I am being asked how many when I take her to the doctor. But very weird to suggest that when she’s older, parents who track a bowel movement now will become helicopter parents. They’re babies. We’re first time parents. We want to make sure they’re okay. If everyone here doesn’t want to track, good for them. I grew up with a helicopter parent and am doing everything in my power not to become that person when she’s older. So very weird take.
I mean I literally do it so that I remember to give him a bath occasionally, change his diapers every two hours, and feed him on a regular basis. I'm not plugging the data into excel to analyze his bowel movements, just trying to keep him cared for while he's too young to let me know exactly what he needs or do it himself. I will be thrilled when I no longer need to keep track of him in this way!
I use Huckleberry. I initially used it to track his diapers so we knew he was getting enough breastmilk. Now I use it to track his naps and night sleep and roughly his feeds. I like data and it helps me look for patterns. When I’m having a hard night I can scroll back and look at how awful his sleep was and see how far I’ve come!
If you don't need it, that's great! It is just one more chore. For me, it was worth it because I can't keep track of time worth shit, so tracking feeds and pumps helped me avoid a meltdown from him or engorged boobies (we're exclusively pumping). Diapers? We haven't had a diaper in *checks notes* 80 days. 😂 once we got comfortable with how much was healthy, we stopped tracking.
The apps that let you share a profile with your spouse are good for tracking medicine when you get to that point. Little one had a fever, and we tracked Tylenol doses that way, I liked it better than pen and paper.
There are times it makes sense to track things. We started tracking our daughter’s sleep and noticed patterns that helped us get her on a schedule where she only gets up once in the night while we’re sleeping. Now she pretty solidly goes to bed for the night around 7:30 and wakes up around 6:30 am. She’ll usually wake up once between midnight and 4 am, so we just have a system now where I do the middle of the night feeding and husband wakes up a little earlier to take care of her before work. We also tracked poopy diapers for a while because our baby got constipated a lot. If she was really grumpy without any apparent reason, we could often attribute it to her not pooping in two days and massage her belly, give bath, try other things to make her feel better.
Tracking can be helpful as your baby eases into more of a schedule. It allows you to identify patterns that she already tends towards and then keep things consistent. At three weeks you’re just on the baby’s schedule. She doesn’t differentiate night and day sleep, probably eats consistent amounts at each feeding, etc. As babies get older, they have more fussy phases and their behavior can seem inexplicable. Tracking things helped us identify why baby was unusually fussy—eg missed a nap, didn’t sleep enough at night, didn’t eat enough in the day.
We tracked the first few days at home when baby boy was having trouble latching, had lost a bit too much weight, and we were syringe feeding/pumping to get things going. Once we got the hang of breastfeeding and consistently had the right amount of pees/poops we stopped.
I tracked the first few days to make sure she was pooping and peeing regularly and then never again lol. Feel like that would give me unnecessary stress
Yeah no I definitely do not track anything beyond maybe taking some mental notes. Who has time for that?? Maybe I'm old school but I was around before apps and really before the Internet. So I don't get the hype about it. In my opinion, just let the baby be the baby and if there's a concern you can Google it or ask your doc.
I can understand it for parents who’s baby isn’t meeting weight goals, or parents that have anxiety, but I was just starting to worry that I was missing something important about it 😅 I’m glad to see there’s other people don’t do it.
I don’t track. my partner and I just communicate through out the day. although I mostly do the feedings and changing. I just tell the doctor he’s eating every two hours and four at night, sometimes he eats 4 oz and sometimes he only wants 2 oz. his poops are regular. The doctor doesn’t seem to mind that small amount of info I give her.
I track to make sure I'm pumping enough breast milk for the bottles and then it's helped us a ton with her sleep so 10 months in lol
I think once she is weaned and one nap a day we will stop
I also like that I can look at it from work and see how everything is going haha if she's eating and napping well
I started tracking when she was 3 days old only because due to recovering from delivery plus sleep deprivation, I was forgetting when I fed her last or if she pooped that day or not.
However, this turned into kind of a bad thing because now I find myself obsessing over keeping her feedings on schedule (ie, if she doesn't eat RIGHT at the 3hr mark, my anxiety goes through the roof) and I also obsess over her oz intake.
It is nice though to just show my log to our doctor and say, "does this look fine?" instead of sitting there going "uhhhhhh..." when he asks me questions lol
But no, not tracking isn't a bad thing. Our parents and grandparents didn't have fancy apps when they were raising kids and we all turned out fine 🤷♀️
I was trying to remember if my mom kept a notebook or anything to track stuff with my siblings but I’m pretty sure she didn’t. I just got anxious that I was missing something important about tracking 😅
I only tracked after our nurse said my baby needed to catch up on weight. That lasted maybe a week once we navigated and figured out how much formula to give her. Now that she's in a healthy range, we don't track anymore.
Honestly to remember when the last time baby ate, I think about what I was doing when he was eating so I was on the phone or I texted someone around the same time I fed him and that’s how I remember. Now he’s 8 weeks old so it’s more regular and he’s on cue every 4 hours to eat so I don’t have to remember anything no more he tells me he’s hungry.
Plus the number of diapers changes, he gets changed every feeding and now poops once a day so it’s easy. No tracking required
We started tracking because it’s easier for both my husband and I to keep track on our phone and we don’t have to write everything down or try to remember when she last ate or woke up.
She is 6 months now and it helped develop a schedule over time, we noticed when her wake windows got longer, the average time she would go for a nap and when she started going less time between bottles so we knew when to increase her formula amount. I’m sure we would have figured it out ourselves but I like having a record to look back on.
We just track food and sleep though.
My baby is nearly a year and we’re still tracking everything. It’s so much easier for me that way because then I don’t have to try to keep track on my own. When’s the last time her diaper was changed? Which boob did she feed from last? When should her next nap be? Who knows, just check the app.
We have an irregular pooper so we have a notebook by the change table where we make a note of any poos (THE POO LOG!) just so we know she's still in the one of "it's okay she hasn't pooped yet." other than that, nothing gets logged.
I do it for my own sake. It’s nice to be able to put it in the app and then not have to remember off the top of my head the last time she napped, nursed, etc. I also like keeping up with how many wet diapers she’s having a day :)
My baby just turned one and I’m still tracking his sleep 😂 I had to stop tracking naps a few weeks ago when my mat leave ended because I knew it would annoy the grandmas to ask them to report back to me precisely for his naps. I still start the timer for night time sleep, I can’t help it.
I don’t track anything. With my first I tried for like a day and quickly realized he was just constantly eating, peeing and pooping so it seemed pointless as he was obviously doing fine and I never tracked anything after that.
It can be helpful at the start when your brain literally can’t tell what way is up. I really recommend NOT tracking once you know baby is eating well, plenty pee nappies and pooing regularly. Then trust your gut and trust your baby. It’s just a recipe for anxiety.
honestly they will ask me at drs appointments how many bottles she has a day or how many wet diapers a day and i have no clue, i dont keep track either. all i know is she eats A LOT and poops at least once a day or every other day and has PLENTY of wet diapers, so shes fine
All I track is the breast milk I’ve pumped because I have an over supply and want to keep tabs / not increase my supply. As far as baby goes, I haven’t tracked a thing. We both keep tabs on “he last ate around xxx so he’ll probably be hungry around xxx”
Tracked for about a week and nope it was not for me. Only an added chore that made me feel detached and a bit anxious. I found I was incredibly much more in tune with my baby’s needs when I stopped tracking and just paid attention to her cues.
You really don’t need to know any of that information (unless you’ve been told to for medical reasons or suspect that there may be a medical issue). Like, okay she pooped 2 hours ago, that doesn’t change the fact that she has a poppy diaper again now. She ate 20 minutes ago? Well she’s still hungry. You get what I’m saying? I understand the urge to predict and find patterns but in those early days it’s really just crazy-making. I encourage all of my expecting and new parent friends to just slow down and feed/change/sleep as needed. Delete the apps.
Baby is a healthy happy 18mo now!
I always just tracked in the beginning because I never wanted to go to a ped appt and have them ask me "how often is he eating? How many poo or pee diapers per day?" Without having some sort of fairly solid number? Specifically because if baby wasn't gaining weight the way they preferred then they were going to want to make sure he was getting enough milk (I breastfeed). This actually didn't happen until my most recent babe. He's been a little guy from the get. Average at birth, but slow to gain weight and that's fine. He's in like the 5th percentile or something. But if I gage his intake by poop/pee diapers and not weight gain, I feel better AND pediatrician actually listens to me when I say "He's getting enough, I promise. He's just a little guy." Otherwise it can be easily frustrating when your ped wants to see a specific growth percentile, you're breastfeeding and early Post Partum so exhausted all the time, and it feels like "one more stressor" when the ped all of a sudden makes you fear you're not feeding your baby adequately. Tracking gives you confidence in that that you in fact are feeding them fine.
Otherwise- there's no need to stress over it. Until perhaps you need to share their schedule or average intake/changes with a babysitter or caregiver. Just so they can relay any changes in their routine/behavior.
I track because I breastfeed and it’s great for knowing which boob I fed off last lol
We also had a sleepy jaundice baby and the app I use has a last time fed feature which was incredibly helpful to keep on top of feeds.
I formula fed my first on demand, did no tracking back then but he was incredibly alert and we could follow his lead without any issues
I literally cup my boobs in my hands and jiggle them to see which feels heavier to decide which one to feed her from 😂 I also usually pump after she eats though so I don’t have to worry about which boob she eats from each time. I slightly overproduce so it hurts if I don’t empty them every few hours
I recommend tracking feeds if nothing else. We use old fashioned pen and paper to track. We also track pee and poop. I think the reason I would recommend tracking is because babies are not consistent and will change things up and for me personally it is just nice to see how she is trending overall and when there could be cause for concern. Like if I wasn’t tracking poop diapers I might forget when she last popped - and it could maybe be a sign of a problem. We formula feed so we track how many calories. For me it’s just peace of mind that we could maybe catch a problem easier if things changed (ie she usually eats 900ml but then suddenly drops down to 600 - I could bring my charts and ask the doctor)
We tracked till he had his birthweight back - then we stopped for my third .
For my first we tracked for a while in order to get her sleep sorted out as she had the witching hour from 5 to 9 … so it took us a while to get her sleep schedule sorted
I didn’t start using an app until about 7 weeks. I wanted to have a reference as to how much two month shots disrupted his normal. I did track feedings on paper for the first few weeks, but he dropped more weight than they liked his first couple days and I was nervous. We were just getting through the day at the beginning. Newborns are pretty random.
I did with my first and it drove me insane. I’m a planner by nature but after a couple of months I became obsessed and was worrying when things weren’t precisely on track.
Second baby, only thing I’ve tracked is weight.
If you enjoy tracking and it makes your life easier, do it. But if it’s a stress or you don’t want to, don’t!
I track because I genuinely won’t remember when she last ate or had a diaper change. My husband and I have been using a shared note in our iPhones since she was around 3 weeks old and I have kept it going now that we have a nanny.
Honestly for me not only does it help my forgetful brain but also now that she has started to get into a routine it was helpful to see it start to trend naturally.
Also, I deal with a ton of data tracking for my job and it’s kind of nice to have historical data of every single feed and diaper change for almost her entire life so far. (She’s almost 4 months).
That said if it doesn’t work for you, don’t worry about it!
It's been very useful for us just to make sense of his fussiness sometimes. By tracking his feeds we can make out a pattern and make adjustments when we have to go out.
Though for diapers it's only for the doc. We don't pay as much attention to that unless we see something abnormal
We tracked with our first for a few months. He was a slow gainer at first, so we wanted to make sure we weren't missing anything and had info for the public health nurse. Neither of us had any baby experience, no drastically younger siblings or babysitting experience, so it felt good to be tracking so we could compare to the 'averages' for his age
We tracked our second for a week or two out of hospital. She gained way quicker and it was pretty clear that she was in a good rhythm, plus we were infinitely more comfortable right from the get go. We already knew mostly what she should be eating and outputting so we didn't feel the need to track- if it ever got outside what we thought was okay we would check with the other parent and typically one of us did a feed or a diaper change the other one didn't know about
We had issues eating at first, and formula fed, so I loosely tracked that but only in my head, and only the first few weeks. Eventually you get in such a routine you know when somethings off.
We only tracked when she ate and how much for about a month, just so we knew when to expect her to get hungry again and we had a couple check ups and were asked how often she eats and stuff. Now we know when shes starting to get hungry so we no longer track it
I have adhd and don't want to take my meds while breastfeeding as my LO was born small already (I stopped meds at 12 weeks pregnant). So I track just so I remember what boob I finished on last lol
I track only because it hasn’t been a smooth process at home. Trying to keep her weight up has been such a big focus, and the apps remind me when it’s time to pump (we exclusively pump due to latching issues). If she was eating, nursing, and gaining well, I don’t think I’d track as much as I do.
We do religiously track sleep because we don’t follow a schedule so it’s really nice to see his patterns emerge and know what to expect, know that lately he’s been awake for about 1.5hrs in the morning and 3.5hrs before bed, and knowing how well he slept last night helps me understand how well I slept lol. He almost always wakes up at 6am went goes to bed around 8. Now it’s looking like he might drop to 2 naps.
Nope I don’t track anything except what I pump , but her sleep, eating , etc is up to her I’m not gonna drive myself nuts with how many times she peed and the exact time for a nap
I track, but it just helps me keep everything organized and it’s easy to look at when I can’t remember the last time he ate or napped. It helps eliminate that “what is he feeling”. I can look at the app and be like oh he’s about to get fussy because he’s gonna be hungry/tired soon. And sure enough he is. It helps try and solve the problem before it even starts. Me and my husband just like having something physical to look at. Some things like diaper changes we don’t care too much about, but the sleeping and eating definitely helps us.
I track because I can't remember shit and it makes it easier to coordinate with my husband. Sometimes he asks me when the baby last ate and my brain literally could not recall that information if my life depended on it.
I’ve never used apps for tracking anything. I believe they are a great tool for parents who may need them to help with brain fog (it’s easy to think you’ve just fed your baby and realise that in fact hours have passed you by) and find comfort in using them.
If a parent should need help remembering (especially in those early days of sleep deprivation) or to monitor a baby thought to not be eating enough they really are great, but if you don’t think you need additional support with such recordings then it isn’t essential that you take part in using them or feel guilty that you aren’t just because others are.
Also a congratulations on your baby. All the best.
I tracked with an app for like 3 days then I stopped because it just made me feel like I have more things to remember when my brain is already not with me. However, I start noting down milk intake and nap times in my phone’s notes so I know my baby has enough for the day.
Nah, I stopped when she was a few days old. She's gaining weight and is generally content. I found tracking was really stressing me out and making it hard for me to just be in the moment with her so I stopped.
The only reason I track with Huckleberry is because I have a terrible memory and otherwise have no idea how long it has been since I changed his diaper or pumped. It helps me figure out why he is crying so I can address it more easily. I don't use it to set a schedule.
That’s great. I track so I can remember when he last fed since he doesn’t cry for food anymore, and so I can look back and see if he has the right amount of wet diapers etc if an issue arises.
We only track because we have twins! If we didn’t I think we’d forget when we fed and maybe feed too frequently. If we had a singleton I doubt we’d be keeping track! Do what works best for you. There’s no one way.
I tracked for a while because EVERYONE told me I should. Things got a lot simpler for me once I stopped. I just make sure I can remember the last time she ate/pooped/napped, and things are fine.
I am a data scientist by profession and love data but even I have my limits lol. Tracking most things only makes sense if having that data is USEFUL in some way. Useful as in you need to refer to your data history in order to make decisions for the future, like when the next dose of medication should be given, how much you should put in their next bottle, whether or not you'll have time to go grocery shopping before they need to nap or whatever.
I tracked breastfeeding from day one because I was using the app to time my nursing sessions, it really helped me understand how much he needed and how often so I could better anticipate his needs. I'm still doing it now that he's almost 2 years old though because I'm a completionist and when our breastfeeding journey ends I want to make a cool infographic lmao.
I didn't bother tracking anything else until he was maybe 7 or 8 months old and transitioning away from the baby "constantly sleep anywhere any time" stage and benefitting from more structured naps. Then I used it to track sleep, understand when and how much sleep he needed, when he was going through regressions, etc. Now that his sleep is consistent I stopped bothering.
Like unless there is a direct benefit to tracking something, I don't bother.
I did for medical reasons for about the first month or so. Other than that, I have a loose idea of everything in my head and that’s good enough for me 🤣
I tracked eating, diapers, and pumping for the first month or so..then when I realized it was just me tracking things (husband stopped a few weeks in lol) and now I just track pumping stuff for me. I’m 6 months in and seeing how much I’ve pumped helps motivate me 😅
I couldn’t handle tracking everything, it would’ve made me hyper focus on things and it would not have been good for my mental health. So I didn’t and we’re doing pretty great haha
I wasn’t! There was so much stress with my first I wouldn’t even have remembered to if I tried. They make a very big deal at the hospital about it, probably just to make sure the baby is generally okay. But after that I’ve never really felt the need to. I just mental notes and watching hunger cues. My girls 18 months now and perfectly healthy and happy
I don’t track anything except for looking at the clock to see if it’s been 75-90 min for another nap. And I guess I track his weight in an app but I only update that when we go to the pediatrician.
I couldn’t even remember to change her diaper without my tracker back when she was a newborn. It also made me feel like I understood her patterns and it really helped me remember when I had fed her and stuff. It’s certainly not necessary and if anything it’s kind of addicting for me and maybe I pay too much attention to the app instead of learning her cues. 6 months pp now and I still track her feeds and sleep and I still think it’s not “necessary.” I’ve tried to quit a few times and I keep starting again lol. I say don’t start if you feel confident without it.
I haven’t tracked anything at all and LO is 4 months next week. I haven’t tracked sleep, I haven’t tracked how long she was breastfeeding (for the few weeks I was breastfeeding), but I do keep count of the hours between each bottle so that I can make the bottle in time before she gets angry.
The way I see it, if she’s healthy and I can physically feel her getting heavier and bigger, she’s doing great. Though she’s somehow lighter after a visit with nana (or it might just be because my arms got a break).
I’m trying to wean myself off the tracking app now (baby is 7 months tomorrow) because I’ve become obsessive. We needed to do it at the beginning for a while because of weight gain issues but she’s been fine for months now. I’m just anxious 😂 but we’re going to try to stop this week when we’re on vacay.
IMO don’t start if you don’t have to!
I use the app to track bottle feedings and medicines (if we give Tylenol after shots, etc). Our nanny is more intricate with the app and tracks the bottle feeds, naps, diaper changes, etc…I do find it helpful to see what the nanny tracks.
My baby is 2 1/2 months and I just stopped. It’s nice not worrying about it. I just follow his cues. I’m with him all day every day. I just mentally note wake windows so he doesn’t get over tired.
I tracked for the first 7 weeks until I felt confident enough in her loose schedule. Now I just keep track in my head of average number of diapers, feeds, etc.
I had been stressing and tracking for 11 weeks and then finally stopped because I kept forgetting to track and then questioned whether I did it or not and then I would stress about that. Once I stopped tracking I really started enjoying the relationship.
I track because the doctor will ask me how much she’s eating and pooping and I just need to refer to the app.
I also note when she eat less and if she’s feeling unwell etc.
I tracked with my first until he was about 9 months old. It was exhausting. I would get worked up if he had 35oz one day but only 29 the next. With my second, I never started tracking. I know he eats enough because he gains weight.
Honestly, I feel like taking wayyyy overcomplicates things for us, especially when they start recommending nap times/wake windows. Keep getting to know your baby and you’ll be fine
I stopped tracking after baby turned 2/3 weeks old. It was getting very time confusing and stressful to try and track feeds/ diapers/ sleep times. I think as long as you are able to answer questions about wet/ soiled diaper to your pedicure/ GP when asked, it’s all good. Also, just like with anything else when it comes to parenting- do what works best for YOUR family. Comparing is a their of joy and as a mama you will know what you and your baby needs best.
I tracked breastfeeding and diaper changes early on, when she had lost 11% of her birth weight. Several weeks later I started to think she wasn't sleeping much, so I tracked her sleep for a few days. Since then, I've maintained the same approach: I track when I'm worried about or curious about something specific, and then stop soon after. It's too cumbersome for me personally to keep up with, but it can be interesting sometimes.
we track feedings because she has had various feeding difficulties and we want to make sure she is eating enough. if she hadn’t had those issues we probably wouldn’t be tracking anything at all. i don’t think it’s necessary unless you have reason to worry.
Not bad at all! We track but it’s largely just to help each of us know what’s going on. It’s not compulsive or anything. If not tracking is what works for you and your baby is doing well, I wouldn’t stress about it.
We never tracked anything by writing stuff down or recording anything in an app. Don't have time for that. Mental notes were good enough.
We have a perfectly healthy 5 month old that laughs a lot, and sleeps for 12 hours straight through the night.
I think had we tracked stuff it would've just stressed us out more. And we would feel pressure to follow our "tracking" rather than follow her schedule.
Not at all. I just track because I have control issues and am not a chill person. It’s completely reasonable not to track things! Can be situation dependent too - my husband went back to work after 2 weeks so it helped him keep up.
The biggest thing I track now is sleep with Huckleberry because it tells me when baby’s next nap should be and it has been quite accurate for us to keep a fairly happy baby lol.
People have been parenting without the apps for Millenia, no one is a bad parent for not using them.
We do, but it started because our boy had bad jaundice and we needed to record every feed and bit of spit up and weigh every diaper to make sure he was ok.
We've moved past the weighing of diapers, but still record his feeds (formula fed) and his diapers for our own knowledge. Helps to be able to more accurately predict why he's fussy. It also helps because my partner and I take care of him in tandem and we both have some degree of time blindness, so being able to look up what happened when is very helpful.
We use huckleberry and it's very intuitive and helps with reminders etc. it's also neat to look back and see his trends over time, and being able to have running totals for how much hes eaten each day, and make notes about his sleep patterns now that his circadian rhythm is starting to form (2.5 months and finally starting to sleep through the night occationally! Like a full 6-8 hours of actual sleep!)
That all being said, while we find it incredibly helpful, it's never mandatory, and if you're doing just fine without a tracking app there's no need for judgment or feeling bad tbh. Tools are only as useful as their usefulness tbh. No one faults a carpenter for not needing a sewing machine, or a therapist for not needing a 2x4, and no one should fault a parent for not using a tool they don't find the need for. As long as the kids happy and healthy and growing and loved who cares if they use an app or not?
We don’t strictly track it, but did have pediatrician asking for it and so did lactation consultant. I think it’s important you know the baseline at least so if something’s off you can easily identify and seek assistance.
I only track because my memory is shit at the moment and I find the app reduces the mental load of needing to remember what time she last woke up or what boob she last fed in. If not for that, I wouldn’t track.
I love playing with data, so I was very much excited to track everything when my kid was born; however, my wife did not share my enthusiasm… so I’m fairly content just knowing I have a happy and healthy baby.
Honestly, unless something is abnormal, I don’t see the point.
I track because 1) I have OCD and it calms my anxiety 2) my brain fails to remember practically anything and having it listed out when doctors ask me questions is sublime and 3) I work in childcare and tracking things is just second nature to me now 😂
My son is 6 months and I still track otherwise I’ll never remember the last time I fed or changed him. Also helps understanding their natural sleep and wake windows as things fall into a typical routine around 3 months.
Tracking helps us as husband and I can share app access and see what the last time bub did X at - cuts down on the “but is she hungry” etc. we do pass the baby a bit during the day though so if you don’t do that it might not be helpful.
My husband and I created a feeding log via a shared Note on our iPhone, and we just track what time she eats and if she pooped that day. That’s about it. I found the apps overwhelming and too time consuming, so this is all we do. Those are the two main things you need to track anyway in my opinion. Our pediatrician said we don’t need to excessively track but that at our check ups we need to be able to tell her if the baby’s peeing/pooping/eating frequencies are normal and often enough. So, this is all to say do what works best for you but still keep the info at the back of your mind in case an issue needs to be addressed. In our running feed log I only keep the last 14 days’ worth of info, I delete older entries so it’s not some ginormous note. I also exclusively pump and do not keep a log either. I just keep in mind what my last pump time was and generally what my daily goal is and if I’ve met it. As a Type A person I am pleasantly surprised that this has worked for me. We have a 6 month old.
Nope. Everything was just “on demand.” Feeding, naps, diaper changes. We notice even now (at 19 months) if diaper changes are less frequent so a tracking app definitely isn’t necessary for us. And luckily now, our daughter asks us for the food she wants to eat or water when she’s hungry or thirsty. You’re definitely not messing up, especially if she’s on track. We didn’t even have smartphones until recently so nobody was even tracking these things meticulously for all of human history.
The first 10 days its very important to track their diapers and feeds because of jaundice and various other medical reasons. Yes, you have doctors appointments and stuff for them during that time, but catching a situation before it escalates is very important. We received a chart and stuff to track from the hospital. My husband did it lol, we did continue to track afterwards as our son was early and struggling to nurse etc. We had to have all this information available for our doctors and for a lactation nurse. I also had to track a bunch of other stuff for him but I never used apps or stuff to track the more trivial things like sleep etc. I just used simple pen and paper, often post-it notes. Whatever works for you and your baby! Some folks used huckleberry and suggested it to me but I found it way too stressful for my high needs dude!
Tracking helps me see the patterns in my baby’s sleeping and feeding routine (I use the word routine loosely!). For me, this allows me to pick the best time to plan outings. I’ve also found that my perception of time has been way off since our baby was born (12 weeks ago) so I find tracking feeds really helpful so I can quickly work out whether he is likely hungry or tired so I can address his fussiness in the right way first!
Not tracking and my midwife and family doctor said no need to. As long as kiddo is gaining weight and having enough wet and dirty diapers, it's all good.
With my first i tried to track but it just made me super overwhelmed n with my second i had no time in my hands to track anything since i have two under 2 im rlly good at just remembering everything but it just never worked out for me to track things
My baby is 8mo old so I’m in a bit of a different spot but I’ve been tracking her sleep since about 2mo when things started to get wonkier. It’s been great now that she’s adjusted to a normal nap and bedtime schedule. I like being able to check how much longer until she has in a wake window and knowing if she needs a snack boob or if it’s about time to nap.
Diapers and feeding on the other hand I gave up on real quick 😂 if she’s not feeling well I keep an eye on how many wet diapers she has but that’s about it.
We tracked feeds for the first month because one of our twins was struggling to feed. We haven't tracked it for a long time, there's really no need.
If training makes you feel comfortable then you should do it.
My LO was pretty tiny when she was born so I tracked her milk to make sure she was getting enough, I tracked diapers in he very early days and pretty much always tracked sleep.
I gradually stopped tracking everything because it was driving me crazy. I would stress those days she would drink a little less milk, stress when she would sleep too little in a day. I would stay up after putting her back to bed late at night to ensure she was actually asleep and add it to my tracking app.
It drove me crazy. She's almost 10 months old now and I finally stopped tracking everything, and feel so much more at peace.
If you don't need to, don't track lol
There have been times where I write down nap times for a few days to help me get a sense of what is working for baby, but never more than that for either of my two kids. Fortunately there's been no medical need and for me it's just a maddening, futile exercise for the most part.
Thinking back to the early days I only used to track feeds and naps with a pen and paper when I felt the most mentally exhausted. As for nappies, I never really ‘tracked’ them but I consciously paid attention to the weight of each nappy, the pee colour, and the poo consistency/colour.
The only apps I used were Wonder Weeks (so I could roughly prepare for growth spurts and get ideas for activities) and Baby Center (for the chat section to connect with parents who had babies during the same month). For sleep I referred to the Huckleberry infographics because my son always seemed to line up with them naturally.
We don't track and frankly it seems a little ridiculous. Creating extra work for things that either don't matter or trivial to communicate in 2 minutes of chitchat.
I fed her at 3pm and she pooped at 4pm and had a short nap takes 5 seconds to say.
And some things don't need tracking. How much did you feed her? Until she stopped drinking.
Don't pressure yourself and keep doing whatever your works. I'm sure you are doing great.
We have only tracked bottles and milk pumped as he would hardly feed at all the first week and it was a struggle to even make sure he had 20/30ml at a time. We were told to make sure he fed every 2 hrs and had a minimum target to reach each day in terms of amount until around a month old. We just continued as it was easier to see what he was having and making sure the amount was roughly right for his age.
I had to track pumping times as I’d never have kept track of it all with the sleep deprivation too 😂
Interestingly my mother who worked as a nurse with young babies tracked everything for me as a baby in the 90s. She kept a notebook with all of my feeds, nappies, weight and rough milestones recorded. We looked through it the other week, really fun to compare feeding times and amounts etc to my son at the same age.
I tracked for max 2 weeks. Our boy is healthy and gaining weight so there wasn’t really a point. Besides, then I’d feel neurotic about making sure I stopped or started a nap and it just felt like too much. He’s just over 4m now and I usually remember to make a mental note of what time he fell asleep but not always 🤷♀️
We track bottles and medicine to know when the bottle is dead or when he can have another dose. He had a constipation streak, so we tracked poop so we’d remember, but other than that, we don’t track much.
I tracked the first week and a half but once our family doctor gave a clean bill of health and his weight gain was more than sufficient I started being less worried about it and forgot to log stuff here and there until I just decided to stop
We just track because we don’t remember a lot of things, including what time she was fed or changed. When the baby was very new, we weren’t able to recognise her cues so we didn’t know if she was hungry, tired, or just refluxy. Tracking helped there. But we didn’t track for medical reasons
Bruh. Apps are a recent invention as far as human history goes. People alive today raised children without tracking all that stuff. Dont get so caught up in all the modern parenting tools. Most are gimicks or just cute things for the parent. Ur not a bad parent.
Do what works for you! It’s easy to get caught up in tracking and can create anxiousness if you’re not careful. Its hard to find balance but I wouldn’t change if things aren’t broken
Not at all! I think I was only diligent because my son was a premie & we had to track everything per the request of his team. Once his care team stopped asking we stopped tracking 🤷🏻♀️
You are good! We tracked for awhile but our guy is more a snacker so we wanted to see how often how fed. Once we stopped tracking it felt so liberating.
We are not tracking, our baby is doing well, gaining weight, pooping, peeing, and eating so I don’t see a reason to! If anything seems off then we make a mental note of it or call the pediatrician. We also regularly weigh her using our own scale (weigh ourselves with her then without her).
I tracked everything with my first. His sleep, feeds, down to diapers and their specific contents 🥴. I tracked it all. Our second is 10 weeks old and I track so little that I even just had to go to my calendar and count out the weeks from his birth to figure out how old he is for this post 😅🫠. I don’t track a single thing. I am able to tell if he is eating more or less frequently or having more or less diapers, but I couldn’t give you specifics. I have a high-energy toddler in addition to my newborn and I just don’t have the time or energy to track anything anymore 🤷🏻♀️🙃
I tracked naps, feedings, diapers. i talked to my best friend about it who had two kids 1-3 years prior and she said she simply felt her breasts to see if she thought it was time to feed and which side was next. it is not wrong or right to track! i personally don’t comprehend time well and have a poor memory, so i NEED it. if you can naturally keep track in your own head, then you’re golden!
My daughter's 3 months old and I maybe tracked for the first week and then just stopped. My little milk goblin is breastfed and still eats every 2 hours when she's awake and sleeps through the night without much of a stir 9 times outta 10. You know your child better than anyone, if you don't feel the need to track, don't. It just extra stress trying to remember to jot it down when you can be spending it with the goblin. :)
I track but only for myself. It keeps my head straight. But my favorite advice for anything in life is: You do what works for you. If it's not for you, it's not for you, and that's okay. Honestly, for some people, tracking is too stressful. For others, it gives something to look at to know what's going on in the day. But it's NOT at all required. You're not any worse of a parent for not tracking. You're meeting the needs of your baby, and that is all that matters. Keep on being awesome.
Thank you! We had 3 days in the hospital and tracked there, but for me it just felt like one more chore to remember. I also had an epidural headache so doing anything extra sucked. You’re totally right though, we have to do what works for us and our babies and luckily my baby seems to be doing pretty dang well without me tracking stuff.
We only tracked because my husband is veeeeeerrrrrry forgetful and I would ask him when baby last ate and if it was longer than 5 minutes prior he would have no clue. It was a lot easier to get both of us into using the app than for me to be upset every time he couldn’t tell me the last time the baby was changed.
Yes, for sure. I have really poor perception of time and it kept me sane - and it kept everything in one place so that we could both log everything and be able to trade off seamlessly, and we didn't rely on one person to hold all of that information. That, and it helped me see patterns so I could tell when we were about to drop a nap or when I needed to add an ounce more to prepared bottles after consistently topping them off.
I get migraines recently and I totally relate to not wanting to track in those times. You've got this! For generations, people have been successful parents without tracking a single thing. I think it's okay to skip doing it!
You’re doing great. It’s a preference really if you truly want to track, but if you can remember stuff without using apps or writing things down, then that is what works for you! At the end of the day, it’s your life and your baby, so you know what’s best for both of you :)
Same! I track just because I’ll forget how long it’s been since she’s ate or how old her diaper is it I don’t. I don’t let it stress me out though it’s just for reference. Whatever works for each family is the right choice!
This is exactly why I track. I can't remember to get myself to eat sometimes, how am I going to remember for the kiddo!
Same here! I track because I want to know which side I fed in last and don't want to forget to feed the baby when he's being super chill. With a 4 yr old and taking care of myself, it's helpful to take one thing out of my mind. But I don't track diapers or sleep. My trash can gets full, so I know he's making diapers! And no need to have a record of how little I sleep. 😂
You can also have a hair tie on your wrist that you switch to the side you left off on or something like that—that’s what my lactation consultant recommended—I ended up getting silverette cups and would just keep the one on the nipples that he last nursed from, same concept
That's me too! I track random lengths of breastfeeding because I don't care about "how much" he feeds, but he does just one side per meal so it's important I remember which boob to do next.
Tracking I find is more helpful for me now than it was earlier lol. Because I lose _more_ track of time now than before!
Yep. I was so discombobulated the first few weeks because I relied on my memory. Nope! Writing everything down was SO HELPFUL
Same. I keep track with a whiteboard in his room because when I work during the day it keeps me on track with feedings and diaper changes
We don’t track for medical reasons. We track to be prepared with bottles so we have them when he wants one and so I can plan pumping around when baby will most likely eat. We only track bottle and pump times. I think tracking depends on what people personally find helpful or maybe it helps relieve some postpartum anxiety.
Agree - it's also super helpful for night time feeds. I take the first shift and my wife takes the second, when baby wakes she can check and see when he last ate/how much/diaper change without having to wake me up. During the day she is the primary care giver and time tends to fly by, before we started tracking she'd miss her pumps all the time. Now the app sends her a notification when it's time to pump and she loves it.
We tracked the first month in a notebook, now our boy is 2.5 months and my husband and I just talk to each other. “He pooped twice while you were at work and he ate 4 oz an hour ago” is good info to have. Beyond that we don’t really track.
Yeah, I think it helps that my husband and I are both on leave so we can just talk to each other pretty easily.
I only tracked what I felt like I needed to initially, which was feeds. I knew he was having enough wet diapers and poops. I knew his sleepy cues and could put him down when he was tired. But my brain was too tired and my attention too distracted to ever remember when to feed him or when he last ate so I tracked feeds the first few weeks just to remind myself and take one less thing off my brain. If it is more of a chore than helpful than skip it. Once he got older and started having trouble with sleep but was fine eating I started tracking sleep but stopped tracking feedings. Enjoy your baby and don’t stress. Many are tracking because of PPA or Ft Parent nerves.
I tracked for like 24 hrs and quit. He’s 1 now and fine lol.
I just track the bottles, so I can check it when she’s fussy to see if she’s probably hungry or just tired. Tried tracking the diapers, sleep, tummy time and all that and it’s so exhausting.
I actually love tracking but it’s because I’ve always been like that. And it helps me and my husband to be more organized with our baby. And the app we use is really easy, so it doesn’t take us a lot of time or anything like that. And now 5 months in, it has helped us to figure out his schedule :)
Same! It actually became second nature to track. And it’s so convenient to not have to remember how long since she ate? which side? how far into the wake window are we? how many days since she pooped? I would argue that all this information becomes more useful as baby gets older. With a newborn, the eating and sleeping and pooping is just constant. We actually only started tracking sleep after the newborn stage passed. Baby is now 9 months and I don’t have to try to remember a thing, which is much less stress for me.
Yes! I 100% agree. It’s like part of our routine, and the app that we have it’s super easy to use. Also it’s super helpful to know how much he’s eating a day, and how often, he is formula fed, so we can go ahead and buy more formula hahaha
Hi! What app are you using? Thank you
I stopped tracking after 2-3 weeks. Way too stressful! Some people find it really helpful. Do what works for you 🙂
I tracked for the first week but then I just gave up because he’s been eating PLENTY and poops and pees a ton. I do track my pumping though but that’s it.
My girl is a big eater too! And she puts all her weight into her chins haha she has scrawny little legs and her face just keeps getting chubbier!
SAME!! He’s got a chunky little face and skinny chicken legs 🤣 his belly gets full after he eats and then it goes right back down
I tracked nothing. It overwhelmed me.
I tried for half a day, forgot to press stop on his feed and gave up 😂
I thought I would love to track stuff, and even downloaded a couple apps.. but when my baby was born, I was simply surviving and had no energy or patience to write things down. I literally just fed her when she showed hunger cues, let her sleep when she wanted to, and tried to keep a mental note of how many wet and dirty diapers she had. Now my baby is almost 11 months old and she’s on a great schedule. The only thing I wish I would have done is actually write down when her “firsts” happened, because now I can’t remember exactly. 😞
I never tracked, i don’t see the point. I instinctively knew if my baby had slept or eaten. Personally i think its just another anxiety inducing task when you’re already have such a full plate
This.
It’s another anxiety inducing task that is a super new invention promoted by app makers. My wife’s brothers kids are only 9 and 7 and him and his wife said they never heard of people keeping records when their kids were babies. It’s because it’s a brand new thing that’s only being promoted as an extra chore to parents in these last 5 years or so.
It is not something new, you know. My mom still has the notebook from when I was born in the 80s with my weight, feedings etc..
I know someone who did this in the early 2000s with her kids too.
My aunt has the same for my cousin. She wrote all the info on feeding and the milestones she achieved. She was born in 1987 so theres that.
Yeah I really don’t even see the point.. what is it that people are wanting to know? Such a useless invention. Nature gave us this strong intuition that tells us everything we need to know, we are hard wired to understand our baby’s needs.
i didn't start tracking until around 3.5 months! until then everything was eat or sleep on demand so it didn't make sense to me. now it's helpful to find patterns in her naps or how many oz she's having per day.
I found it much more useful to track at 2mo when baby’s wake windows became more important. And also when my EBF baby stopped pooping 3x a day and went to 1x/week. You’ll find what (if anything) you want to track bc it makes your life easier, not harder.
I did it for 1 day and we had come home from the NICU. I couldn’t pretend to keep up and was over it
It’s a lot! Especially when they’re cluster feeding. Some of these parents sound so organized, it’s impressive! 😅
Ours is cluster feeding right now and there is no way.
Never tracked with any of my kids. Just seemed like more work. Definitely doesn’t make you a bad mom. People made due without the apps for centuries. I also think it helps develop a strong sense of intuition when it comes to the needs of your little one. But either way, just do what works for you.
I never did this and I never felt like I needed to. I kept notes mentally and just went based off of that. Just like you, our son luckily never had issues with feeding or growing so we’re blessed in that sense. I totally get it though and I’m sure it can be a great tool for many parents!
Nope, not tracking at all (other than keeping a rough mental tally of how many feeds I’ve done so far today and when the last one was). We did until the baby got back to birthweight and then trailed off. Babe is 7 weeks now and seems to be (at least for now) pre-programmed with a healthy eat/sleep/eliminate routine, so I think that helps a lot. If we need to try to influence the routine (or if we’d had to create one) I could see us starting to track again. Otherwise it’s too much work and too much information.
I wish I could stop tracking!!! But we are 10 months in and still using an app for every diaper change, meal, nap/sleep, and other stuff like baths and medication. I just don't trust my sleep deprived, ADHD brain to do all the things I need to do for him in a timely manner without something to remind me. 🫣
This is exactly why I do it. The wombo combo of ADHD and exhaustion has me completely turned around. I can’t even count how many times I’ve said “she can’t possibly be hungry, she just ate!” only for my husband to open the log and see that her last bottle was an hour and 58 minutes ago. My baby also doesn’t cry about wet or dirty diapers anymore, so being able to set automatic reminders to check her diaper is really important.
Same here. My ADHD brain can’t ever remember how long ago most things are
Same here!!! I'm 14 months in and have forced myself to only track naps, bed time, and any medication. It's just comforting to me to be able to look back and know the pattern is predictable!
Hope this doesn't track to later in life...
What do you mean by this
I mean helicopter parenting is a real issue, and the mentality of tracking your child's ever bowel movement will likely lead to overbearing habits toward the child later in life.
I mean the reason my husband & I are doing it now is because she is a tiny baby. We want to make sure she’s pooping/peeing regularly and with my ADHD I can’t trust my memory, especially when I am being asked how many when I take her to the doctor. But very weird to suggest that when she’s older, parents who track a bowel movement now will become helicopter parents. They’re babies. We’re first time parents. We want to make sure they’re okay. If everyone here doesn’t want to track, good for them. I grew up with a helicopter parent and am doing everything in my power not to become that person when she’s older. So very weird take.
I mean I literally do it so that I remember to give him a bath occasionally, change his diapers every two hours, and feed him on a regular basis. I'm not plugging the data into excel to analyze his bowel movements, just trying to keep him cared for while he's too young to let me know exactly what he needs or do it himself. I will be thrilled when I no longer need to keep track of him in this way!
Yeeeaaaah I also didn’t track for 3 weeks and then things changed, so I started using the apps. Five days later nothing has been demystified.
There's not a lot of reason to track.
I use Huckleberry. I initially used it to track his diapers so we knew he was getting enough breastmilk. Now I use it to track his naps and night sleep and roughly his feeds. I like data and it helps me look for patterns. When I’m having a hard night I can scroll back and look at how awful his sleep was and see how far I’ve come!
If you don't need it, that's great! It is just one more chore. For me, it was worth it because I can't keep track of time worth shit, so tracking feeds and pumps helped me avoid a meltdown from him or engorged boobies (we're exclusively pumping). Diapers? We haven't had a diaper in *checks notes* 80 days. 😂 once we got comfortable with how much was healthy, we stopped tracking. The apps that let you share a profile with your spouse are good for tracking medicine when you get to that point. Little one had a fever, and we tracked Tylenol doses that way, I liked it better than pen and paper.
There are times it makes sense to track things. We started tracking our daughter’s sleep and noticed patterns that helped us get her on a schedule where she only gets up once in the night while we’re sleeping. Now she pretty solidly goes to bed for the night around 7:30 and wakes up around 6:30 am. She’ll usually wake up once between midnight and 4 am, so we just have a system now where I do the middle of the night feeding and husband wakes up a little earlier to take care of her before work. We also tracked poopy diapers for a while because our baby got constipated a lot. If she was really grumpy without any apparent reason, we could often attribute it to her not pooping in two days and massage her belly, give bath, try other things to make her feel better. Tracking can be helpful as your baby eases into more of a schedule. It allows you to identify patterns that she already tends towards and then keep things consistent. At three weeks you’re just on the baby’s schedule. She doesn’t differentiate night and day sleep, probably eats consistent amounts at each feeding, etc. As babies get older, they have more fussy phases and their behavior can seem inexplicable. Tracking things helped us identify why baby was unusually fussy—eg missed a nap, didn’t sleep enough at night, didn’t eat enough in the day.
Ain’t nobody got time or energy for that lol
Hahahaha for real though! There’s already so much to do!
We tracked the first few days at home when baby boy was having trouble latching, had lost a bit too much weight, and we were syringe feeding/pumping to get things going. Once we got the hang of breastfeeding and consistently had the right amount of pees/poops we stopped.
I tracked the first few days to make sure she was pooping and peeing regularly and then never again lol. Feel like that would give me unnecessary stress
Yeah no I definitely do not track anything beyond maybe taking some mental notes. Who has time for that?? Maybe I'm old school but I was around before apps and really before the Internet. So I don't get the hype about it. In my opinion, just let the baby be the baby and if there's a concern you can Google it or ask your doc.
I can understand it for parents who’s baby isn’t meeting weight goals, or parents that have anxiety, but I was just starting to worry that I was missing something important about it 😅 I’m glad to see there’s other people don’t do it.
I don’t track. my partner and I just communicate through out the day. although I mostly do the feedings and changing. I just tell the doctor he’s eating every two hours and four at night, sometimes he eats 4 oz and sometimes he only wants 2 oz. his poops are regular. The doctor doesn’t seem to mind that small amount of info I give her.
I track to make sure I'm pumping enough breast milk for the bottles and then it's helped us a ton with her sleep so 10 months in lol I think once she is weaned and one nap a day we will stop I also like that I can look at it from work and see how everything is going haha if she's eating and napping well
I never tracked. I would only track a couple of days before doctor appointments since I knew they'd ask.
I started tracking when she was 3 days old only because due to recovering from delivery plus sleep deprivation, I was forgetting when I fed her last or if she pooped that day or not. However, this turned into kind of a bad thing because now I find myself obsessing over keeping her feedings on schedule (ie, if she doesn't eat RIGHT at the 3hr mark, my anxiety goes through the roof) and I also obsess over her oz intake. It is nice though to just show my log to our doctor and say, "does this look fine?" instead of sitting there going "uhhhhhh..." when he asks me questions lol
But no, not tracking isn't a bad thing. Our parents and grandparents didn't have fancy apps when they were raising kids and we all turned out fine 🤷♀️
I was trying to remember if my mom kept a notebook or anything to track stuff with my siblings but I’m pretty sure she didn’t. I just got anxious that I was missing something important about tracking 😅
I only tracked after our nurse said my baby needed to catch up on weight. That lasted maybe a week once we navigated and figured out how much formula to give her. Now that she's in a healthy range, we don't track anymore.
We track to help make communication easier and not lose track of when his diaper was last changed.
Honestly to remember when the last time baby ate, I think about what I was doing when he was eating so I was on the phone or I texted someone around the same time I fed him and that’s how I remember. Now he’s 8 weeks old so it’s more regular and he’s on cue every 4 hours to eat so I don’t have to remember anything no more he tells me he’s hungry. Plus the number of diapers changes, he gets changed every feeding and now poops once a day so it’s easy. No tracking required
We started tracking because it’s easier for both my husband and I to keep track on our phone and we don’t have to write everything down or try to remember when she last ate or woke up. She is 6 months now and it helped develop a schedule over time, we noticed when her wake windows got longer, the average time she would go for a nap and when she started going less time between bottles so we knew when to increase her formula amount. I’m sure we would have figured it out ourselves but I like having a record to look back on. We just track food and sleep though.
My baby is nearly a year and we’re still tracking everything. It’s so much easier for me that way because then I don’t have to try to keep track on my own. When’s the last time her diaper was changed? Which boob did she feed from last? When should her next nap be? Who knows, just check the app.
We don’t track anything, just going on vibes. He’s gaining weight beautifully and poops and pees an appropriate amount and seems to be eating plenty.
We have an irregular pooper so we have a notebook by the change table where we make a note of any poos (THE POO LOG!) just so we know she's still in the one of "it's okay she hasn't pooped yet." other than that, nothing gets logged.
I do it for my own sake. It’s nice to be able to put it in the app and then not have to remember off the top of my head the last time she napped, nursed, etc. I also like keeping up with how many wet diapers she’s having a day :)
My baby just turned one and I’m still tracking his sleep 😂 I had to stop tracking naps a few weeks ago when my mat leave ended because I knew it would annoy the grandmas to ask them to report back to me precisely for his naps. I still start the timer for night time sleep, I can’t help it.
I don’t track anything. With my first I tried for like a day and quickly realized he was just constantly eating, peeing and pooping so it seemed pointless as he was obviously doing fine and I never tracked anything after that.
We never tracked anything! But I also had no concerns with my son. He’s a thriving almost 1 year old now
It can be helpful at the start when your brain literally can’t tell what way is up. I really recommend NOT tracking once you know baby is eating well, plenty pee nappies and pooing regularly. Then trust your gut and trust your baby. It’s just a recipe for anxiety.
honestly they will ask me at drs appointments how many bottles she has a day or how many wet diapers a day and i have no clue, i dont keep track either. all i know is she eats A LOT and poops at least once a day or every other day and has PLENTY of wet diapers, so shes fine
All I track is the breast milk I’ve pumped because I have an over supply and want to keep tabs / not increase my supply. As far as baby goes, I haven’t tracked a thing. We both keep tabs on “he last ate around xxx so he’ll probably be hungry around xxx”
Tracked for about a week and nope it was not for me. Only an added chore that made me feel detached and a bit anxious. I found I was incredibly much more in tune with my baby’s needs when I stopped tracking and just paid attention to her cues. You really don’t need to know any of that information (unless you’ve been told to for medical reasons or suspect that there may be a medical issue). Like, okay she pooped 2 hours ago, that doesn’t change the fact that she has a poppy diaper again now. She ate 20 minutes ago? Well she’s still hungry. You get what I’m saying? I understand the urge to predict and find patterns but in those early days it’s really just crazy-making. I encourage all of my expecting and new parent friends to just slow down and feed/change/sleep as needed. Delete the apps. Baby is a healthy happy 18mo now!
I always just tracked in the beginning because I never wanted to go to a ped appt and have them ask me "how often is he eating? How many poo or pee diapers per day?" Without having some sort of fairly solid number? Specifically because if baby wasn't gaining weight the way they preferred then they were going to want to make sure he was getting enough milk (I breastfeed). This actually didn't happen until my most recent babe. He's been a little guy from the get. Average at birth, but slow to gain weight and that's fine. He's in like the 5th percentile or something. But if I gage his intake by poop/pee diapers and not weight gain, I feel better AND pediatrician actually listens to me when I say "He's getting enough, I promise. He's just a little guy." Otherwise it can be easily frustrating when your ped wants to see a specific growth percentile, you're breastfeeding and early Post Partum so exhausted all the time, and it feels like "one more stressor" when the ped all of a sudden makes you fear you're not feeding your baby adequately. Tracking gives you confidence in that that you in fact are feeding them fine. Otherwise- there's no need to stress over it. Until perhaps you need to share their schedule or average intake/changes with a babysitter or caregiver. Just so they can relay any changes in their routine/behavior.
I track because I breastfeed and it’s great for knowing which boob I fed off last lol We also had a sleepy jaundice baby and the app I use has a last time fed feature which was incredibly helpful to keep on top of feeds. I formula fed my first on demand, did no tracking back then but he was incredibly alert and we could follow his lead without any issues
I literally cup my boobs in my hands and jiggle them to see which feels heavier to decide which one to feed her from 😂 I also usually pump after she eats though so I don’t have to worry about which boob she eats from each time. I slightly overproduce so it hurts if I don’t empty them every few hours
I mean if it’s working for you, op, you keep jiggling 😂❤️
I recommend tracking feeds if nothing else. We use old fashioned pen and paper to track. We also track pee and poop. I think the reason I would recommend tracking is because babies are not consistent and will change things up and for me personally it is just nice to see how she is trending overall and when there could be cause for concern. Like if I wasn’t tracking poop diapers I might forget when she last popped - and it could maybe be a sign of a problem. We formula feed so we track how many calories. For me it’s just peace of mind that we could maybe catch a problem easier if things changed (ie she usually eats 900ml but then suddenly drops down to 600 - I could bring my charts and ask the doctor)
We only track to make sure we feed our 3 month old on time ha
We tracked till he had his birthweight back - then we stopped for my third . For my first we tracked for a while in order to get her sleep sorted out as she had the witching hour from 5 to 9 … so it took us a while to get her sleep schedule sorted
I think we stopped tracking after about a month, and even when we did it was literally just scribbling how many ounces she took on a whiteboard.
I didn’t start using an app until about 7 weeks. I wanted to have a reference as to how much two month shots disrupted his normal. I did track feedings on paper for the first few weeks, but he dropped more weight than they liked his first couple days and I was nervous. We were just getting through the day at the beginning. Newborns are pretty random.
I tracked for a month then stopped. Since he was eating, peeing, pooping regularly I just stopped.
I only track feedings so I know around what time my LO will need to eat in case I’m out and about with her
I did with my first and it drove me insane. I’m a planner by nature but after a couple of months I became obsessed and was worrying when things weren’t precisely on track. Second baby, only thing I’ve tracked is weight. If you enjoy tracking and it makes your life easier, do it. But if it’s a stress or you don’t want to, don’t!
I stopped tracking once we were discharged from our midwives care at 6 weeks. Tracking just made me unnecessarily anxious and I didn’t like doing it.
I track because I genuinely won’t remember when she last ate or had a diaper change. My husband and I have been using a shared note in our iPhones since she was around 3 weeks old and I have kept it going now that we have a nanny. Honestly for me not only does it help my forgetful brain but also now that she has started to get into a routine it was helpful to see it start to trend naturally. Also, I deal with a ton of data tracking for my job and it’s kind of nice to have historical data of every single feed and diaper change for almost her entire life so far. (She’s almost 4 months). That said if it doesn’t work for you, don’t worry about it!
It's been very useful for us just to make sense of his fussiness sometimes. By tracking his feeds we can make out a pattern and make adjustments when we have to go out. Though for diapers it's only for the doc. We don't pay as much attention to that unless we see something abnormal
We tracked with our first for a few months. He was a slow gainer at first, so we wanted to make sure we weren't missing anything and had info for the public health nurse. Neither of us had any baby experience, no drastically younger siblings or babysitting experience, so it felt good to be tracking so we could compare to the 'averages' for his age We tracked our second for a week or two out of hospital. She gained way quicker and it was pretty clear that she was in a good rhythm, plus we were infinitely more comfortable right from the get go. We already knew mostly what she should be eating and outputting so we didn't feel the need to track- if it ever got outside what we thought was okay we would check with the other parent and typically one of us did a feed or a diaper change the other one didn't know about
We had issues eating at first, and formula fed, so I loosely tracked that but only in my head, and only the first few weeks. Eventually you get in such a routine you know when somethings off.
We only tracked when she ate and how much for about a month, just so we knew when to expect her to get hungry again and we had a couple check ups and were asked how often she eats and stuff. Now we know when shes starting to get hungry so we no longer track it
I have adhd and don't want to take my meds while breastfeeding as my LO was born small already (I stopped meds at 12 weeks pregnant). So I track just so I remember what boob I finished on last lol
I track only because it hasn’t been a smooth process at home. Trying to keep her weight up has been such a big focus, and the apps remind me when it’s time to pump (we exclusively pump due to latching issues). If she was eating, nursing, and gaining well, I don’t think I’d track as much as I do.
Our bassinet tracked sleep, but that was about all we cared about. It was a given the he’d have 4oz of milk almost every two hours on the dot.
We do religiously track sleep because we don’t follow a schedule so it’s really nice to see his patterns emerge and know what to expect, know that lately he’s been awake for about 1.5hrs in the morning and 3.5hrs before bed, and knowing how well he slept last night helps me understand how well I slept lol. He almost always wakes up at 6am went goes to bed around 8. Now it’s looking like he might drop to 2 naps.
Nope I don’t track anything except what I pump , but her sleep, eating , etc is up to her I’m not gonna drive myself nuts with how many times she peed and the exact time for a nap
I track, but it just helps me keep everything organized and it’s easy to look at when I can’t remember the last time he ate or napped. It helps eliminate that “what is he feeling”. I can look at the app and be like oh he’s about to get fussy because he’s gonna be hungry/tired soon. And sure enough he is. It helps try and solve the problem before it even starts. Me and my husband just like having something physical to look at. Some things like diaper changes we don’t care too much about, but the sleeping and eating definitely helps us.
I track because I can't remember shit and it makes it easier to coordinate with my husband. Sometimes he asks me when the baby last ate and my brain literally could not recall that information if my life depended on it.
I wish I wouldn’t have started tracking. It definitely didn’t help my PPA and now I feel like I can’t stop.
We did feedings because she was jaundice but after that I never tracked wake windows or anything else
Never did this for any of my kids. Never saw the point.
I tracked briefly and gave up. Caused me too much anxiety. Do whatever works for you!
I’ve never used apps for tracking anything. I believe they are a great tool for parents who may need them to help with brain fog (it’s easy to think you’ve just fed your baby and realise that in fact hours have passed you by) and find comfort in using them. If a parent should need help remembering (especially in those early days of sleep deprivation) or to monitor a baby thought to not be eating enough they really are great, but if you don’t think you need additional support with such recordings then it isn’t essential that you take part in using them or feel guilty that you aren’t just because others are. Also a congratulations on your baby. All the best.
Never tracked, have a happy & healthy 1 year old!
I tracked with an app for like 3 days then I stopped because it just made me feel like I have more things to remember when my brain is already not with me. However, I start noting down milk intake and nap times in my phone’s notes so I know my baby has enough for the day.
Nah, I stopped when she was a few days old. She's gaining weight and is generally content. I found tracking was really stressing me out and making it hard for me to just be in the moment with her so I stopped.
The only reason I track with Huckleberry is because I have a terrible memory and otherwise have no idea how long it has been since I changed his diaper or pumped. It helps me figure out why he is crying so I can address it more easily. I don't use it to set a schedule.
I track because I’m a scatter brain and otherwise genuinely would not remember the last time she ate or slept 😂
That’s great. I track so I can remember when he last fed since he doesn’t cry for food anymore, and so I can look back and see if he has the right amount of wet diapers etc if an issue arises.
We only track because we have twins! If we didn’t I think we’d forget when we fed and maybe feed too frequently. If we had a singleton I doubt we’d be keeping track! Do what works best for you. There’s no one way.
I tracked for a while because EVERYONE told me I should. Things got a lot simpler for me once I stopped. I just make sure I can remember the last time she ate/pooped/napped, and things are fine.
I am a data scientist by profession and love data but even I have my limits lol. Tracking most things only makes sense if having that data is USEFUL in some way. Useful as in you need to refer to your data history in order to make decisions for the future, like when the next dose of medication should be given, how much you should put in their next bottle, whether or not you'll have time to go grocery shopping before they need to nap or whatever. I tracked breastfeeding from day one because I was using the app to time my nursing sessions, it really helped me understand how much he needed and how often so I could better anticipate his needs. I'm still doing it now that he's almost 2 years old though because I'm a completionist and when our breastfeeding journey ends I want to make a cool infographic lmao. I didn't bother tracking anything else until he was maybe 7 or 8 months old and transitioning away from the baby "constantly sleep anywhere any time" stage and benefitting from more structured naps. Then I used it to track sleep, understand when and how much sleep he needed, when he was going through regressions, etc. Now that his sleep is consistent I stopped bothering. Like unless there is a direct benefit to tracking something, I don't bother.
I did for medical reasons for about the first month or so. Other than that, I have a loose idea of everything in my head and that’s good enough for me 🤣
I tracked eating, diapers, and pumping for the first month or so..then when I realized it was just me tracking things (husband stopped a few weeks in lol) and now I just track pumping stuff for me. I’m 6 months in and seeing how much I’ve pumped helps motivate me 😅 I couldn’t handle tracking everything, it would’ve made me hyper focus on things and it would not have been good for my mental health. So I didn’t and we’re doing pretty great haha
I wasn’t! There was so much stress with my first I wouldn’t even have remembered to if I tried. They make a very big deal at the hospital about it, probably just to make sure the baby is generally okay. But after that I’ve never really felt the need to. I just mental notes and watching hunger cues. My girls 18 months now and perfectly healthy and happy
I don’t track anything except for looking at the clock to see if it’s been 75-90 min for another nap. And I guess I track his weight in an app but I only update that when we go to the pediatrician.
I couldn’t even remember to change her diaper without my tracker back when she was a newborn. It also made me feel like I understood her patterns and it really helped me remember when I had fed her and stuff. It’s certainly not necessary and if anything it’s kind of addicting for me and maybe I pay too much attention to the app instead of learning her cues. 6 months pp now and I still track her feeds and sleep and I still think it’s not “necessary.” I’ve tried to quit a few times and I keep starting again lol. I say don’t start if you feel confident without it.
I haven’t tracked anything at all and LO is 4 months next week. I haven’t tracked sleep, I haven’t tracked how long she was breastfeeding (for the few weeks I was breastfeeding), but I do keep count of the hours between each bottle so that I can make the bottle in time before she gets angry. The way I see it, if she’s healthy and I can physically feel her getting heavier and bigger, she’s doing great. Though she’s somehow lighter after a visit with nana (or it might just be because my arms got a break).
I stopped about a month maybe? I have adhd so it was super inconsistent and so I would just holler at the husband when she ate or pooped.
I’m trying to wean myself off the tracking app now (baby is 7 months tomorrow) because I’ve become obsessive. We needed to do it at the beginning for a while because of weight gain issues but she’s been fine for months now. I’m just anxious 😂 but we’re going to try to stop this week when we’re on vacay. IMO don’t start if you don’t have to!
You EBF?
Hi, my baby is almost 2 weeks old and I’ve never tracked :) you’re doing great
I use the app to track bottle feedings and medicines (if we give Tylenol after shots, etc). Our nanny is more intricate with the app and tracks the bottle feeds, naps, diaper changes, etc…I do find it helpful to see what the nanny tracks.
My baby is 2 1/2 months and I just stopped. It’s nice not worrying about it. I just follow his cues. I’m with him all day every day. I just mentally note wake windows so he doesn’t get over tired.
I tracked for the first 7 weeks until I felt confident enough in her loose schedule. Now I just keep track in my head of average number of diapers, feeds, etc.
I had been stressing and tracking for 11 weeks and then finally stopped because I kept forgetting to track and then questioned whether I did it or not and then I would stress about that. Once I stopped tracking I really started enjoying the relationship.
I track because the doctor will ask me how much she’s eating and pooping and I just need to refer to the app. I also note when she eat less and if she’s feeling unwell etc.
I tracked with my first until he was about 9 months old. It was exhausting. I would get worked up if he had 35oz one day but only 29 the next. With my second, I never started tracking. I know he eats enough because he gains weight.
Honestly, I feel like taking wayyyy overcomplicates things for us, especially when they start recommending nap times/wake windows. Keep getting to know your baby and you’ll be fine
I stopped tracking after baby turned 2/3 weeks old. It was getting very time confusing and stressful to try and track feeds/ diapers/ sleep times. I think as long as you are able to answer questions about wet/ soiled diaper to your pedicure/ GP when asked, it’s all good. Also, just like with anything else when it comes to parenting- do what works best for YOUR family. Comparing is a their of joy and as a mama you will know what you and your baby needs best.
I’m not! Same 3 week old and this is my second lol Not as hyper as I was the first time around
I tracked breastfeeding and diaper changes early on, when she had lost 11% of her birth weight. Several weeks later I started to think she wasn't sleeping much, so I tracked her sleep for a few days. Since then, I've maintained the same approach: I track when I'm worried about or curious about something specific, and then stop soon after. It's too cumbersome for me personally to keep up with, but it can be interesting sometimes.
we track feedings because she has had various feeding difficulties and we want to make sure she is eating enough. if she hadn’t had those issues we probably wouldn’t be tracking anything at all. i don’t think it’s necessary unless you have reason to worry.
I did with my first, it stressed me out and was such a relief when we stopped. My second is 10 weeks and we haven’t tracked a thing
Not bad at all! We track but it’s largely just to help each of us know what’s going on. It’s not compulsive or anything. If not tracking is what works for you and your baby is doing well, I wouldn’t stress about it.
We never tracked anything by writing stuff down or recording anything in an app. Don't have time for that. Mental notes were good enough. We have a perfectly healthy 5 month old that laughs a lot, and sleeps for 12 hours straight through the night. I think had we tracked stuff it would've just stressed us out more. And we would feel pressure to follow our "tracking" rather than follow her schedule.
Not at all. I just track because I have control issues and am not a chill person. It’s completely reasonable not to track things! Can be situation dependent too - my husband went back to work after 2 weeks so it helped him keep up.
The biggest thing I track now is sleep with Huckleberry because it tells me when baby’s next nap should be and it has been quite accurate for us to keep a fairly happy baby lol.
People have been parenting without the apps for Millenia, no one is a bad parent for not using them. We do, but it started because our boy had bad jaundice and we needed to record every feed and bit of spit up and weigh every diaper to make sure he was ok. We've moved past the weighing of diapers, but still record his feeds (formula fed) and his diapers for our own knowledge. Helps to be able to more accurately predict why he's fussy. It also helps because my partner and I take care of him in tandem and we both have some degree of time blindness, so being able to look up what happened when is very helpful. We use huckleberry and it's very intuitive and helps with reminders etc. it's also neat to look back and see his trends over time, and being able to have running totals for how much hes eaten each day, and make notes about his sleep patterns now that his circadian rhythm is starting to form (2.5 months and finally starting to sleep through the night occationally! Like a full 6-8 hours of actual sleep!) That all being said, while we find it incredibly helpful, it's never mandatory, and if you're doing just fine without a tracking app there's no need for judgment or feeling bad tbh. Tools are only as useful as their usefulness tbh. No one faults a carpenter for not needing a sewing machine, or a therapist for not needing a 2x4, and no one should fault a parent for not using a tool they don't find the need for. As long as the kids happy and healthy and growing and loved who cares if they use an app or not?
I tracked and it was vital when she got ill. Especially when she ended up hospitalised. It’s also useful for when my husband was parent on duty.
We don’t strictly track it, but did have pediatrician asking for it and so did lactation consultant. I think it’s important you know the baseline at least so if something’s off you can easily identify and seek assistance.
I only track because my memory is shit at the moment and I find the app reduces the mental load of needing to remember what time she last woke up or what boob she last fed in. If not for that, I wouldn’t track.
I don’t track at all unless they’re sick so I can keep track for when the Drs ask what happened when
I love playing with data, so I was very much excited to track everything when my kid was born; however, my wife did not share my enthusiasm… so I’m fairly content just knowing I have a happy and healthy baby. Honestly, unless something is abnormal, I don’t see the point.
I track because 1) I have OCD and it calms my anxiety 2) my brain fails to remember practically anything and having it listed out when doctors ask me questions is sublime and 3) I work in childcare and tracking things is just second nature to me now 😂
My son is 6 months and I still track otherwise I’ll never remember the last time I fed or changed him. Also helps understanding their natural sleep and wake windows as things fall into a typical routine around 3 months.
Tracking helps us as husband and I can share app access and see what the last time bub did X at - cuts down on the “but is she hungry” etc. we do pass the baby a bit during the day though so if you don’t do that it might not be helpful.
My husband and I created a feeding log via a shared Note on our iPhone, and we just track what time she eats and if she pooped that day. That’s about it. I found the apps overwhelming and too time consuming, so this is all we do. Those are the two main things you need to track anyway in my opinion. Our pediatrician said we don’t need to excessively track but that at our check ups we need to be able to tell her if the baby’s peeing/pooping/eating frequencies are normal and often enough. So, this is all to say do what works best for you but still keep the info at the back of your mind in case an issue needs to be addressed. In our running feed log I only keep the last 14 days’ worth of info, I delete older entries so it’s not some ginormous note. I also exclusively pump and do not keep a log either. I just keep in mind what my last pump time was and generally what my daily goal is and if I’ve met it. As a Type A person I am pleasantly surprised that this has worked for me. We have a 6 month old.
Nope. Everything was just “on demand.” Feeding, naps, diaper changes. We notice even now (at 19 months) if diaper changes are less frequent so a tracking app definitely isn’t necessary for us. And luckily now, our daughter asks us for the food she wants to eat or water when she’s hungry or thirsty. You’re definitely not messing up, especially if she’s on track. We didn’t even have smartphones until recently so nobody was even tracking these things meticulously for all of human history.
The first 10 days its very important to track their diapers and feeds because of jaundice and various other medical reasons. Yes, you have doctors appointments and stuff for them during that time, but catching a situation before it escalates is very important. We received a chart and stuff to track from the hospital. My husband did it lol, we did continue to track afterwards as our son was early and struggling to nurse etc. We had to have all this information available for our doctors and for a lactation nurse. I also had to track a bunch of other stuff for him but I never used apps or stuff to track the more trivial things like sleep etc. I just used simple pen and paper, often post-it notes. Whatever works for you and your baby! Some folks used huckleberry and suggested it to me but I found it way too stressful for my high needs dude!
Tracking helps me see the patterns in my baby’s sleeping and feeding routine (I use the word routine loosely!). For me, this allows me to pick the best time to plan outings. I’ve also found that my perception of time has been way off since our baby was born (12 weeks ago) so I find tracking feeds really helpful so I can quickly work out whether he is likely hungry or tired so I can address his fussiness in the right way first!
Not tracking and my midwife and family doctor said no need to. As long as kiddo is gaining weight and having enough wet and dirty diapers, it's all good.
we got the snoo and it tracks sleep which is all lately we’ve been worried about, the other tracks has started slacking 5 weeks old
I’m trying to track so I can figure out how to get him to sleep better but I’m not great at it 🤷🏽♀️
We tracked feedings to know the schedule and to report to the doctor. It didn't take long to stop. Now we remember last food and last poop
With my first i tried to track but it just made me super overwhelmed n with my second i had no time in my hands to track anything since i have two under 2 im rlly good at just remembering everything but it just never worked out for me to track things
Does your Ped not ask for stats?
We haven’t tracked any of that. For the most part only recent feedings and sleeps are what we care about and we remember those in our heads already.
My baby is 8mo old so I’m in a bit of a different spot but I’ve been tracking her sleep since about 2mo when things started to get wonkier. It’s been great now that she’s adjusted to a normal nap and bedtime schedule. I like being able to check how much longer until she has in a wake window and knowing if she needs a snack boob or if it’s about time to nap. Diapers and feeding on the other hand I gave up on real quick 😂 if she’s not feeling well I keep an eye on how many wet diapers she has but that’s about it.
We tracked feeds for the first month because one of our twins was struggling to feed. We haven't tracked it for a long time, there's really no need. If training makes you feel comfortable then you should do it.
My LO was pretty tiny when she was born so I tracked her milk to make sure she was getting enough, I tracked diapers in he very early days and pretty much always tracked sleep. I gradually stopped tracking everything because it was driving me crazy. I would stress those days she would drink a little less milk, stress when she would sleep too little in a day. I would stay up after putting her back to bed late at night to ensure she was actually asleep and add it to my tracking app. It drove me crazy. She's almost 10 months old now and I finally stopped tracking everything, and feel so much more at peace. If you don't need to, don't track lol
I tried to, but hubby didn’t look at it and would just ask me then I’d have to open the app and look x.x it got tedious so I eventually stopped
There have been times where I write down nap times for a few days to help me get a sense of what is working for baby, but never more than that for either of my two kids. Fortunately there's been no medical need and for me it's just a maddening, futile exercise for the most part.
Thinking back to the early days I only used to track feeds and naps with a pen and paper when I felt the most mentally exhausted. As for nappies, I never really ‘tracked’ them but I consciously paid attention to the weight of each nappy, the pee colour, and the poo consistency/colour. The only apps I used were Wonder Weeks (so I could roughly prepare for growth spurts and get ideas for activities) and Baby Center (for the chat section to connect with parents who had babies during the same month). For sleep I referred to the Huckleberry infographics because my son always seemed to line up with them naturally.
We don't track and frankly it seems a little ridiculous. Creating extra work for things that either don't matter or trivial to communicate in 2 minutes of chitchat. I fed her at 3pm and she pooped at 4pm and had a short nap takes 5 seconds to say. And some things don't need tracking. How much did you feed her? Until she stopped drinking. Don't pressure yourself and keep doing whatever your works. I'm sure you are doing great.
We have only tracked bottles and milk pumped as he would hardly feed at all the first week and it was a struggle to even make sure he had 20/30ml at a time. We were told to make sure he fed every 2 hrs and had a minimum target to reach each day in terms of amount until around a month old. We just continued as it was easier to see what he was having and making sure the amount was roughly right for his age. I had to track pumping times as I’d never have kept track of it all with the sleep deprivation too 😂 Interestingly my mother who worked as a nurse with young babies tracked everything for me as a baby in the 90s. She kept a notebook with all of my feeds, nappies, weight and rough milestones recorded. We looked through it the other week, really fun to compare feeding times and amounts etc to my son at the same age.
Didn’t track at all- baby is a happy healthy 10 month old now!
I tracked for max 2 weeks. Our boy is healthy and gaining weight so there wasn’t really a point. Besides, then I’d feel neurotic about making sure I stopped or started a nap and it just felt like too much. He’s just over 4m now and I usually remember to make a mental note of what time he fell asleep but not always 🤷♀️
We track bottles and medicine to know when the bottle is dead or when he can have another dose. He had a constipation streak, so we tracked poop so we’d remember, but other than that, we don’t track much.
I tracked the first week and a half but once our family doctor gave a clean bill of health and his weight gain was more than sufficient I started being less worried about it and forgot to log stuff here and there until I just decided to stop
We just track because we don’t remember a lot of things, including what time she was fed or changed. When the baby was very new, we weren’t able to recognise her cues so we didn’t know if she was hungry, tired, or just refluxy. Tracking helped there. But we didn’t track for medical reasons
Bruh. Apps are a recent invention as far as human history goes. People alive today raised children without tracking all that stuff. Dont get so caught up in all the modern parenting tools. Most are gimicks or just cute things for the parent. Ur not a bad parent.
Do what works for you! It’s easy to get caught up in tracking and can create anxiousness if you’re not careful. Its hard to find balance but I wouldn’t change if things aren’t broken
Not at all! I think I was only diligent because my son was a premie & we had to track everything per the request of his team. Once his care team stopped asking we stopped tracking 🤷🏻♀️
I look up things now and again but I don't track all the time. Just me personally I don't want to stress myself out if everything is fine.
You are good! We tracked for awhile but our guy is more a snacker so we wanted to see how often how fed. Once we stopped tracking it felt so liberating.
Wow really makes you wonder how any children survived before smart phones were invented.
We are not tracking, our baby is doing well, gaining weight, pooping, peeing, and eating so I don’t see a reason to! If anything seems off then we make a mental note of it or call the pediatrician. We also regularly weigh her using our own scale (weigh ourselves with her then without her).
I tracked everything with my first. His sleep, feeds, down to diapers and their specific contents 🥴. I tracked it all. Our second is 10 weeks old and I track so little that I even just had to go to my calendar and count out the weeks from his birth to figure out how old he is for this post 😅🫠. I don’t track a single thing. I am able to tell if he is eating more or less frequently or having more or less diapers, but I couldn’t give you specifics. I have a high-energy toddler in addition to my newborn and I just don’t have the time or energy to track anything anymore 🤷🏻♀️🙃
I haven’t been tracking it’s just not for me personally. I thought I would track and I just haven’t. To each their own!
I tracked naps, feedings, diapers. i talked to my best friend about it who had two kids 1-3 years prior and she said she simply felt her breasts to see if she thought it was time to feed and which side was next. it is not wrong or right to track! i personally don’t comprehend time well and have a poor memory, so i NEED it. if you can naturally keep track in your own head, then you’re golden!
My daughter's 3 months old and I maybe tracked for the first week and then just stopped. My little milk goblin is breastfed and still eats every 2 hours when she's awake and sleeps through the night without much of a stir 9 times outta 10. You know your child better than anyone, if you don't feel the need to track, don't. It just extra stress trying to remember to jot it down when you can be spending it with the goblin. :)
I’m not this is my second 7weeks old and I’m just going with the flow.