The iPhone Mom

Just over a month ago I reviewed Hush Little Baby from mytales digital. It’s an app that sweetly brings the classic lullaby to your iPhone. Now mytales has released another lullaby app, this time it’s Rock-a-Bye Baby. These illustrations are just as sweet and the app is a nice blend of music, narration and singing. You can choose to read the words to yourself, listen to them being read aloud or listen to the song version. The app allows you to record yourself singing or reading the app so your child can hear it from you also. Your final option is to listen to instrumental accompaniment while the illustrations show on your screen. I found this option to be very soothing. Maybe I need lullabies to help lull me off to sleep.

I never realized that Rock-a-Bye Baby had additional verses. I always sing the first verse over and over but the app has all the words and they make for a very sweet song. My baby turns one year old on Friday and I find myself in a precariously emotional state which means this app really got to me. Listening to the lullaby made me miss the days when my wiggly baby was my Rock-a-Bye Baby. Another job well done mytales!

Rock-a-Bye Baby is compatible with both the iPhone and the iPad. I tested it out on my iPhone.

Price when Reviewed: $2.99

Seller: mytales digital

See the app in iTunes

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Last fall I reviewed the app Baby Connect. If you’re away from your baby it allows you to work with your child’s caregiver to keep tabs on what’s going on. Using the app or the website www.baby-connect.com the caregiver can make quick updates when your baby is eating, sleeping, etc. You can check the app to see what the status is throughout the day and even send messages back and forth. It’s a slick app. Now Baby Connect for iPad has been released and the concept is the same but the user interface is updated and I think it’s an improved experience on the iPad. Instead of moving from screen to screen on the iPhone you’ll see everything in one screen on the iPad. Updating the information takes only a few taps and it’s all right there for you to see. The iPad app still syncs up with the website so you can view and update information there as well.

I thought the original Baby Connect app was a great one for peace of mind and I think that the new iPad version improves on an already great app.

Price when Reviewed: $4.99

See the app in the App Store

Seller: Seacloud Software

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Milk Monitor is designed to help you record and track your baby’s feedings. It also has the ability to record information on sleep, diapers and medications. The “Monitor” part of the app is very easy to use. The default is set to breastfeeding and to begin timing a feeding you simply tap on the L (for left) or R (for right) on the screen. This begins a timer and when you are done tap on the letter again to stop the timer. Once you’ve stopped the timer this feeding is automatically entered into a log. More about that in a moment. The monitor screen can also record bottle feedings but you’ll need to tap on “bottle” at the top of the screen to make the switch. This pulls up a graphic illustrating a baby bottle. You can adjust a slider on the baby bottle to mark how many ounces your baby drank. The bottle goes from .6 to 12.3 oz or from 10 to 350 mL. You can switch between the two measurements. Once you’ve marked the appropriate amount you tap “ok” and this feeding is also added to the log. The final thing that you can add in the Monitor section is notes. This button is also found at the top of the screen and it brings up a screen where you can type in your own notes. You can also use a wheel to mark if the notes are about sleep, diapers, medicine or miscellaneous. In order to add a note to the log you’ve got to tap in the text box – even if you don’t type anything. I found that if I didn’t do this the “ok” button wouldn’t show up. Once you’ve tapped “ok” the note is added to the log.

The “Log” button at the bottom of the screen brings up the log that I’ve been mentioning. It’s where you can view the feedings and notes you’ve recorded for baby. Tapping on a log entry brings up a screen with additional information. You can manually add in log items or delete them from this section. There is also a “Baby” button at the bottom of the screen. This is where you add in your baby’s name, sex, birthday and any likes that you want to record. You can also add a picture. Here you can also add in additional baby’s to keep track of. Once you’ve done that you can switch between them on the Monitor screen. Finally, you can tweet your last log event or email out the last seven days worth on the “More” screen.

Milk Monitor has a cute feel to it and is a simple way to keep track of basic baby information.

Price when Reviewed: $2.99

Seller: Milo Creative

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

When I had my first daughter almost eleven years ago (seems like yesterday) I had a genuine baby book where I recorded her growth and all of her firsts. When I had my second daughter three years later I used a calendar to jot things down. My son came next and I think I kept notes on scraps of paper but I can’t remember exactly. Somehow all of his important details made it into the scrapbook so I must have been somewhat on top of things. And now we come to baby number four and I’ve been keeping track of her on my computer’s notepad. If it’s a good month I’ll go in at the end of the month and write down what happened that month. If it’s a normal month then I’ll probably forget and have to go back and write down the dates to the best of my recollection. I figure at least I’m getting photos of her so she won’t be able to say we totally forgot about her! And for the record, that is anything but the case…truth is she’s been such a high maintenance baby (thank you protein intolerance and acid reflux and her incredible amount of spitting up) that her first birthday party will be also be my survivor party. You’d think that the mom who reviews iPhone apps would have wised up and used one to keep better track of Baby J’s growth but I haven’t. As I mentioned before it’s been all about survival this year.

Now with that out of the way let me introduce you to Gwiggle, a baby book meets iPhone app. It has five different sections and I’ll let you know about each.

Day 1 – Here you will enter in your baby’s name and all of their important birth details. Date and time of birth, weight and length, etc. At the bottom of this section there are three buttons. The “Doctor” button takes you to a screen where you can enter in up to five different doctors. Each doctor has their own screen where you can type in their phone number, email and address. You can also enter in appointment dates and descriptions. The next button is “Vaccinations” and it can be turned on or off. If you’ve turned it on then the button will also show up on the Doctor screen. There you can tap it and enter in the dates your baby received the different vaccinations. I liked that the vaccinations were already listed so you don’t have to remember all the abbreviations and spellings. The last button is “Baby Brother/Sister” and with this button you can add in siblings and then enter in their birth information, doctors and vaccinations.

Dr. Gwiggle – This section shows the doctor information that you entered in on the Day 1 screens. If you didn’t enter it in there then you can enter it in here. You can also deal with the vaccinations here too.

Photo – If you’d like to use Gwiggle to store photos of your baby you can. You have the option of choosing a frame before you take a photo. From what I saw you can’t bring in a photo from  your camera roll. The app’s description says you can take video with the app as well. My iPhone doesn’t do video so I wasn’t able to test that feature.

Bubbles – Bubbles is a section where you can type in notes about your baby as things happen. The app will time and date stamp your comment and then it appears on the screen in a bubble. It looks like a text message conversation once you have several comments entered.

Steps – This part of the app has five different sub sections and was my favorite section. First is “Tooth Fairy”. With this the screen is filled by a giant smiley face with a mouth full of teeth. The idea is to tap on a tooth and then enter the date your baby got a new tooth or lost one. Once you’ve entered the date a star will show up on the tooth. I love the concept of this screen but I wasn’t a big fan of the smiley face. It just didn’t fit with the feel of the rest of the app. Next comes “Growth Chart” and it’s exactly what it says it is, a way of tracking your baby’s growth. “Countdown Calendar” gave me a smile. Based on your baby’s birth date it will tell you how many years, months and days are left until they become a teenage, leave the nest and more. “Firsts” is a list of first events and you’ll want to tap on them to enter the date that the first happened. It makes it easy to keep track of such things. “My Family” let’s you put family member’s names onto the petals of a flower. The baby is the center of the flower and then you can tap on the other petals and type in the names of brothers, sisters, grandmas, grandpas, etc.

Gwiggle seemed like a pretty thorough baby book to me and a good way to keep on top of life with kids. Take a lesson from what I haven’t done myself and use an app to keep track of all the things that will be over before you know it.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: EdElder

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Even though my baby is quickly approaching her first birthday (only about 6 more weeks, let the crying begin!) I can still appreciate a good pregnancy tracking app. Sprout is a great pregnancy tracking app with everything you could want. Here’s a rundown of it’s features:

My Baby – These screens show you what your baby looks like week by week. The images are amazing and authentic. They’re big and bright to show you exactly what’s going on. The images have dots that you can tap on to reveal information about your baby’s current development. Some of the images even come in 3D and will rotate on your screen.

Doctor Says –This is where you’ll find medical information and advice. Throughout this section you’ll notice “To Dos” and when you tap on them they’re copied on to the app’s organizer. The “To Dos” correspond with the weekly information. For example on Week 9 you’ve got “Stock up on healthy snacks” and “Purchase pregnancy bras”. You’ll also find notes that say “M.D. Visit Planner”. These are things you might want to talk to your doctor about. When you tap on those things they’re added to another list in the app. I love the way the medical information is integrated with practical things that a pregnant woman would really need and use.

Organizer – The Organizer has several parts. First, there is a M.D. Visit Planner. This will list the “visit” items that you tapped in the Doctor Says section. You can also type in your own question or go through a list of questions that are sorted by trimester. There is also a list of symptoms which is fantastic too. All you have to do is tap on the question or symptom and it’s automatically added to your visit list. When you’re at your doctor’s appointment you can open up the list and everything is right there. I think this is a great feature and I would have used it all the time. I have horrible pregnancy brain which affects my short term memory and unfortunately never really goes away once the pregnancy is over. The Organizer also has a To Do List which shows your pregnancy  tasks. If you selected to dos from the Doctor Says section they’ll appear here. You can also type in your own to dos.

Newborn Essentials is a list of items you’ll need when that sweet baby comes home from the hospital. It’s a very thorough list but if there’s something else you’d like to add you can easily do it.  You can check things off the list as you gather your supplies. Hospital Bag is a list of things you might need when you go to the hospital to have your baby. Again, it’s a wonderful thorough list that you can also add to and check off as you pack.

Tools – In the Tools section you’ll find a Weight Tracker, Kick Counter and Contraction Timer. Each tool is very easy to use and I would have used them all except the weight tracker. I prefer to ignore that pregnancy issue.

All in all Sprout is a terrific, well thought out and well developed app. You can tell that pregnant women had a hand in it’s development. It is a pricey app (9.99) but if you want all of your lists, reminders and tools in one easy to use app then I think it’s worth it.

Price when Reviewed: $9.99

Seller: MedArt Studios

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Share My Pregnancy is a free app that will help keep you informed about what’s going on throughout your pregnancy. Here’s the rundown on the key screens and features:

Countdown – On this screen you enter in your due date and the app will calculate the number of weeks pregnant you are and the number of days you have left. This information will change as your pregnancy progresses. There is also a quote of the day that shows up here.

Baby & You – This screen is divided into two parts, Baby Growth and Maternal Changes. Baby growth gives you information about what’s going on with your baby during that week of development. I liked that it also features information on multiples and some “Good to Know” tips. The Maternal Changes has information about what mom might be experiencing that week. I thought it was nice to see that there’s also information especially for Dad too.

Share – From here you can send emails and photos directly to friends and family.

Labor – On this screen you can send two types of messages. You can send out a message to your friends and family letting them know you’ve gone into labor. The app comes with a preset message but you can also customize your own. You can add a photo too if you’d like folks to see what you look like while you’re laboring.  That would never fly here. The next type of message that you can send is a birth announcement. There is a template where you can fill in baby’s name, gender, height weight and time of birth.

I thought that Share My Pregnancy was a fairly thorough free pregnancy app. I didn’t see any images in the app so you’ll miss that if you want to visualize what your baby looks like during your pregnancy. There are ads that show up on the bottom of the screen but I didn’t find them too distracting or annoying.

*Update 5/31/10 -I missed the fetal images. They appear on the Baby and You screen under Baby Growth. The images will start at week four and then you’ll see them every two weeks in this section. I must have tried out the weeks that didn’t have the images, my apologies for missing them!

Price when Reviewed: FREE

Seller: GetBabyWise

Once upon a time I was certified in first aid and CPR. I went to the classes, practiced mouth to mouth on the plastic dummies and earned my little card from the Red Cross. Then I had kids and ironically, when I could probably use the information the most, I let the certification expire and forgot much of what I had learned. I’d like to think that the knowledge is still there and if I ever find myself in a crisis then it will come to me. But just in case that doesn’t happen, and I’m not naive enough to be counting on it, I’ve discovered a good app that details basic first aid for babies. Baby MedBasics gives you the basics in CPR, choking, fever, bleeding, burns and poison. It also features some “Safety Basics” that include information on SIDS, car seats, dog bites, falls and drowning. I’d suggest reading through the app when things are calm instead of opening it for the first time in the middle of a crisis.

Baby MedBasics does a good job walking you through how to perform CPR and deal with a choking baby. I appreciated the refresher course and learned some new information from the other areas too. I found this app to be helpful and think it’s a nice resource to have on my phone.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: PicPocket Books

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

I never tried baby massage on my babies. I know people who swear by it but I never felt comfortable enough to try it myself. This app, Aimee’s Babies Baby Massage, is for people like me who need some instruction before they attempt to massage their baby. The app has some good basic information about when you should (and when you should not) use massage. It also provides bullet points on the benefits of massage but the meat of the app comes in the information about the different massage strokes. The app provides a written walkthrough and a short video demonstration of seven different massage strokes that can be used on babies. By reading the instructions and paying attention to the videos you should be able to successfully perform them on your baby.

Price when Reviewed: $4.99

Seller: Aimee Ketchum

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Baby Travel is a travel app that has very thorough packing lists for traveling with baby. The app describes itself as “baby travel made easy” and while I don’t know if baby travel can ever be totally easy the app definitely makes the packing part simpler.

There are several different parts to the Baby Travel app. Here’s a rundown on each of them.

Packing Lists-This is where you create packing lists for your trips. Once you’ve created a list it will show up as an “active list”. When you’re done with it you can add it to the list archive and make it active again when you need it. This saves you the time of having to recreate lists. When you make a packing list you’ll give it a name and select the dates that you’ll be gone. You’ll want to enter in the number of days you’ll be traveling and the type of climate you’ll be experiencing. The app then asks you for the number of babies, toddlers, children, women and men who are taking the trip. These numbers come into play later on. Once you’ve entered in the data the app will generate a list for you. It takes the climate information and tells you what types of clothes to pack. Using the number of days you’ll be traveling it will give you quantities of items as well. If you have a baby coming along then baby items will appear on your list. The list that the app generates is very thorough. As you look it over you can delete items that don’t apply to your situation and check off the items as you pack. Baby Travel also allows you to enter in your own items so you’re not restricted to the list that they provide.

Blog – Here you can view blog articles about traveling with baby.

Helpful Sounds – This is a collection of soothing and silly sounds. I think they’re designed for times when you’re stuck in a car or on an airplane with a fussy baby. They’d be good for calming and distraction.

Social – Takes you to various social media websites.

Website – This will link you directly to the Baby Travel website.

I found Baby Travel’s packing lists to be very helpful. The items that it suggested were right in line with the travel information I had entered. Having the ability to add my own items, delete unnecessary ones and save my lists for future use makes this a great travel resource. And it’s a free resource at that!

Price when Reviewed: FREE

Seller: Jacobs Media

I think potty training is one of those secrets of parenthood that you never understand until you’ve had to go through it. And then you have another child and have to relearn it all over again because what works with the first fails with the second. And so on and on. I was so excited to train my first child, could not wait. Found myself able to wait a little longer with my second and when it came time to train my third I kept putting it off. After that it became a year long process but that’s another story. I’m going to wait as long as possible to get rid of the diapers with my baby because it’s been three years and I still haven’t forgotten what it was like when I tried it with my son.

Now if I’d had the Potty Predictor app three years ago things might have gone more smoothly.  The app works as an aid in your potty training efforts. The first week that you use the app you track when you give your child a drink. Twenty-five minutes later the app sends you a push notification telling  you that it’s time to take them to the bathroom. If you’ve got success you mark the event in the app. You can also note when accidents happen, and what type of accident it was. By tracking these things you set up a regular pattern of when your child is using the bathroom. The app is preset to switch from tracking events to predicting them after you’ve entered in forty events. At that point Potty Predictor automatically sets alarms based on what you have been entering. The more diligent you’ve been in keeping track of successful trips to the bathroom the more accurate your alarms will be. The app will give you a push notification telling you it’s time to take your child to the bathroom. Hopefully, when you heed the alarm your child will have a successful trip!

Potty Predictor comes with a built in sticker book. The stickers show up when you log a successful potty experience. There’s also happy music and encouraging words to be heard. On your iPhone’s settings screen you can customize some things about the app. You can enter in your child’s name and nickname and tell the app if you want to you it to use them in the app. The app’s default setting is to send a push notification twenty-five minutes after you give your child a drink but in the settings you can extend that time interval. You can also give yourself more than one notification at a time and turn the sound and music on and off. Finally, if forty events isn’t long enough to establish a pattern you can postpone the “Predicting” phase until up to ninety events have been logged.

I really think that Potty Predictor could be a big help to me when it comes time to eventually potty train Baby J. Much of my problem in the past was consistency and remembering when it’s time to try a trip to the bathroom. This app can help me with both those issues. Now if only it could help with lack of memory and consistency in other areas of my life!

Price when Reviewed: $3.99

Seller: Simple But Needed, Inc.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.