Apps for Prenatal and Postpartum Care
October 2, 2014 12:33 PM Subscribe
Anyone use any phone apps to help them through pregnancy and the postpartum period? Stuff like breastfeeding apps, exercise, etc...?
My friend is nearly full-term and feeling pretty isolated as she lives some distance from her sister and she doesn't really talk to her parents; I'm trying to be as helpful as I can - I recommended that she sign up for text4baby (free public health service I found through the CDC, sends messages about pregnancy to her phone) which she really liked. I want to be able to suggest more resources to her.
I'm not too familiar with the use of this kind of technology for pregnancy-related and postpartum stuff... has anyone used any particular apps that were helpful?
My friend is nearly full-term and feeling pretty isolated as she lives some distance from her sister and she doesn't really talk to her parents; I'm trying to be as helpful as I can - I recommended that she sign up for text4baby (free public health service I found through the CDC, sends messages about pregnancy to her phone) which she really liked. I want to be able to suggest more resources to her.
I'm not too familiar with the use of this kind of technology for pregnancy-related and postpartum stuff... has anyone used any particular apps that were helpful?
Babycenter has lots of information and a large online community. There's a "Birth Club" feature so users can "find other moms in your stage of pregnancy or parenting. Build friendships and share stories, photos, advice, and more!"
Try to help her find a local moms group (ideally both online and in person) so reduce the feeling of isolation. Also encourage her to ask her OB for ideas. Apps can be helpful, but being able to talk with other people going through the same thing at the same time, ideally in person, would be far better.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 1:22 PM on October 2, 2014
Try to help her find a local moms group (ideally both online and in person) so reduce the feeling of isolation. Also encourage her to ask her OB for ideas. Apps can be helpful, but being able to talk with other people going through the same thing at the same time, ideally in person, would be far better.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 1:22 PM on October 2, 2014
Oh and I had pretty good success using a timer app called Alarmed for reminding me to take my meds after my c-section. The paid version has pretty cool recurrence options which most reminders don't.
posted by pennypiper at 1:23 PM on October 2, 2014
posted by pennypiper at 1:23 PM on October 2, 2014
Sprout's baby+ is great for when the baby is around. They have a pregnancy app too!
posted by exois at 2:41 PM on October 2, 2014
posted by exois at 2:41 PM on October 2, 2014
I used Total baby too. I'm fairly type A and it was hard even for me to keep up - you can literally log every thing your baby does in detail using that app. Good app if you like that sort of thing. You can graph all the variables and so forth.
Right now for pregnancy I have this app called "I'm Expecting" - it doesn't sound particularly exciting (I was just looking for a general countdown to due date sort of thing, this also logs your weight and give you facts about your baby at whatever week of pregnancy), but it's actually pretty user friendly and a nice design, and it has this community feature where you can go ask/answer questions from other users that is a nice touch.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 4:23 PM on October 2, 2014 [2 favorites]
Right now for pregnancy I have this app called "I'm Expecting" - it doesn't sound particularly exciting (I was just looking for a general countdown to due date sort of thing, this also logs your weight and give you facts about your baby at whatever week of pregnancy), but it's actually pretty user friendly and a nice design, and it has this community feature where you can go ask/answer questions from other users that is a nice touch.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 4:23 PM on October 2, 2014 [2 favorites]
Babybump is a nice app with a built in forum that was easy to use and supportive. She wants a birthmonth club and there are several online - she should join a few to find the one she clicks with.
posted by viggorlijah at 5:11 PM on October 2, 2014
posted by viggorlijah at 5:11 PM on October 2, 2014
I have used the Babycenter apps (both My Pregnancy and My Baby) and they are pretty good free options. You'll also want a tracker app to keep track of, at minimum, diapers, sleep, and eating habits (oz consumed if bottle fed, which breast and for how long if breast fed). I don't have a recommendation for what to use for that though.
posted by Night_owl at 9:34 PM on October 2, 2014
posted by Night_owl at 9:34 PM on October 2, 2014
I used BabyESP to track feeding, sleep & diaper changes. Besides obvious tracking functions, I liked it because it has a schedule view which I used to discover the kid's natural rhythms.
I also liked BabyCenter's weekly email updates giving me various info based on my kid's age (you tell them the birth date when you sign up for emails).
posted by gakiko at 6:29 AM on October 3, 2014
I also liked BabyCenter's weekly email updates giving me various info based on my kid's age (you tell them the birth date when you sign up for emails).
posted by gakiko at 6:29 AM on October 3, 2014
Seconding Sprout for baby tracking. It's awesome. And, uh, I used an app called kegel cat pretty religiously the first couple of months, as I discovered a baby wreaks havoc on your bladder.
posted by missjenny at 6:41 PM on October 4, 2014
posted by missjenny at 6:41 PM on October 4, 2014
Oh and the babycenter apps are great too, especially for the community. You enter your due date when you sign up and are automatically given access to a birth club (the club stays the same from pregnancy through postpartum and beyond). I'm in the May 2014 birth club and have been part of the group through my pregnancy and all the first four months of my baby's life. It's really helpful connecting with moms at exactly the same point as you.
posted by missjenny at 6:45 PM on October 4, 2014
posted by missjenny at 6:45 PM on October 4, 2014
Response by poster: Thank you all - I really appreciate it - I will be passing these along and make sure she's on track for track - the apps in particular that come with a birth club sound right on target with helping her with her isolation; I'll keep encouraging her to actively find groups with actual physical meetups in her area, too.
posted by noonday at 9:37 AM on October 6, 2014
posted by noonday at 9:37 AM on October 6, 2014
Hey there, a little late, but she might like the sister apps of BabyBump and Kidfolio. These apps share a common username and password. You said she was late in her pregnancy now. If she starts with BabyBump and joins in on her month's due date group, that same group will be available on the app new parents graduate to, Kidfolio, so she would still have some of those same new moms to talk to and share with during her post-partum and new motherhood days, too.
BabyBump and Kidfolio are both available for iOS and Android and are in free and pro versions, and the community part itself is available on the web, too.
posted by Zella at 8:59 AM on October 19, 2014
BabyBump and Kidfolio are both available for iOS and Android and are in free and pro versions, and the community part itself is available on the web, too.
posted by Zella at 8:59 AM on October 19, 2014
« Older Why does copy/paste work intermittently? | Columbia River Gorge camping in mid-October? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
Total baby - it's an awesome tracking tool, breastfeeding, sleeping, growth (with charts), and much much more. My favorite part is it does graphing of your data, so you can see a graphical representation of when baby is sleeping (good for looking for patterns), how long they nurse on average, how many times, etc.
Otherwise what I use/used most were good time killing apps, netflix, kindle, two dots, that sort of thing. And of course a web browser for metafilter and general "why is my baby...?" research. There can be a lot of awkward down time with a small baby, where you can't actually do much but usually will have one hand free navigate a phone.
posted by pennypiper at 1:20 PM on October 2, 2014 [1 favorite]