No one ever tells you how hard being a parent is. Quite honestly, I think it’s the hardest job ever. Not because my children are terrible, but because it’s a life long commitment and I constantly worry about my children. When I’m not with them, I think about what they’re doing, if they’re playing too rough, etc. and when I’m with them I feel like a mother hen constantly calling their names or checking up on them in their rooms.
Now that all my children aren’t technically babies anymore, I can think back on those early days remembering how difficult it was to keep track of everything. I had to constantly think about how many wet and dirty diapers I had changed, when the last time the baby ate, which boob they ate from, etc. Combine having to remember all these details along with a sleep-deprived mommy and it’s a meltdown waiting to happen. With my third I wisened up a little bit and kept a spiral journal by my bed with all the details. Only problem with that was, if I wasn’t in my bedroom, sometimes I would forget to write things down.
Oh how the Similac StrongMoms Baby Journal could have helped. But good news for you is if you currently have a baby, you can get this FREE app for your smartphone.
I downloaded the app just to check it out and I’m jealous of all the new moms who get to use it. Just for kicks, I set it up like I had a newborn — I named her Kailyn — and started using it as if I really had a baby. I know, that’s kind of weird. But hey, I just had to see how this app worked.
Setting everything up for the first time is a breeze. Everything is self-explanatory and it literally just took a few seconds. If by chance you are a mother of multiples, you can also use this app because you can set up different profiles for each baby. With this app, you can easily track baby’s eating, sleeping, and diaper changes.
I’m a huge breastfeeding advocate and was happy to see that this app is perfect for breastfeeding moms as well as bottle feeding moms.
Whichever method you are using, this app comes in handy. It’s very important for breastfeeding mothers to time how long baby eats to make sure they are getting a good balance of milk. If they get too much of the foremilk and not enough of the hindmilk there could be problems. The app features a timer that you start when baby starts feeding and of course stop when baby stops. The app keeps track of which breast the baby ate from and how long baby ate. If you bottle feed, you will be able to record ounces ate and time the baby ate.
Another thing that we as parents are supposed to keep up with in those early days with a newborn is how many wet and dirty diapers the baby produces. The app is also perfect for that! You can keep track of when you changed the diaper, the type of diaper (wet or poopy), the texture and color, whether the diaper leaked or not and there is also an option to leave a note about the diaper change.
Besides eating and pooping, the other important thing to keep track of with a newborn is their sleep schedule or lack thereof. Like the feeding part of the app, the sleep section also features a timer that you start when the baby goes to sleep and stop once the baby wakes up. With the touch of a screen, you can change the setting from night to day. I’d prefer if the app also had a feature where you could just input how long baby slept like from 4:30 am – 6:00 am, just in case you forget to set the timer.
Overall, I think this app is super cool and would have made those early days with a newborn so much easier. If you’re a new mommy or daddy, I’d highly suggest downloading the app and giving it a try.
Theresa @ Faith And Family Reviews says
Neat, no more losing sheets of paper.
Love the baby photo in the first picture. I can’t resist baby photos though. 😉
Louise says
Looks kinda cute for an app. How did we get by without apps in the past?
Katie says
that sounds really neat – and I’m glad they have a breastfeeding option too!
Lee says
Oh this is so neat, it’s like a journal system that is handy enough to use “one handed”.
Lee
Pam says
I remember keeping a journal with all these things, would of loved to have an app like this back then.
HilLesha says
Sounds great! 🙂
Bobbie {OneScrappyMom} says
I wish the iPhone would have been around when I had babies. This app would have been VERY handy!
Annie @ Mama Dweeb says
Maybe I’m just weird, but I never had to time my nursing sessions. In fact, it was when I was timing them and keeping track that I got all anxious about why she was eating to much and worried about problems that simply were not there. And a little bracelet on each hand reminded me which side I nursed on last (so did a quick feel LOL!)
But I can see the benefit of keeping track of the formula ounces in and the amount of dirty and wet diapers. It’s a great app for that reason – not so sure about the breastfeeding part, but everything else sounds great!
Great review!
Alison says
I never timed my nursing sessions either. I just let him stay on there til done lol
Tracy says
Great idea!
Penelope G says
I love that it fits for a breastfeeding mom too. Thanks for the info!
missy says
Wow, I’m so surprised to hear breastfeeding moms think this product is a good idea. I just read about it yesterday and frankly the very concept baffles me. Formula companies are NOT about supporting breastfeeding, they are about selling formula. This app may be helpful for tracking feedings, but they also indicate it’s for predicting feedings, which is totally against the American Academy of Pediatrics suggestions on feeding baby based on CUE not on a schedule. This app is really disappointing to me as a breastfeeding advocate. I wish they would have kept it for formula only, since that is the business they are in. The last thing breastfeeding moms need is a formula logo in their face every time they “track” their breastfeeding sessions. 🙁
Dagmar ~ Dagmar's momsense says
Missy, I totally agree with you. As an avid breastfeeding advocate, I am so disappointed that these mommy bloggers chose to review this app for money.
Dagmar
Crystal says
Wow, I am so disappointed in mommy bloggers who don’t have respect for other mommy bloggers.
I am a huge breastfeeding supporter. I breastfed my babies till each were about 16 months old. In fact, in my post I only mentioned formula once. Personally, I liked “tracking” my sessions. Not for any other reason but to keep my sanity knowing that baby was getting enough because I had no way of “tracking” how much baby actually ate. When I looked on paper and saw that baby ate every 1.5 – 2 hours for 30 – 45 minutes, I felt better. I feel that if you go into breastfeeding thinking there is another option, you’ve already set yourself up for failure. It has nothing to do with an app, but rather your desire and commitment to breastfeeding.
Kasandria says
Crystal some ppl will get bent out of shape with anything. You reviewed an app. That app is actually for both breastfeeding and for formula feeding. It’s not biased. It’s actually awesome of the company to offer both. Everyone is allowed to their own opinion in the whole breastfeeding vs. formula issue, but that is not what this post is about.
Kas
Nolie says
Not everybody breast feeds and not everybody CAN breast feed. This app isn’t about breast feeding vs. formula feeding. It is useful in so many ways and the app is free for crying out loud so it’s not like similac is making money off breast feeders with this app.
You are a mom blogger and your readers are moms. Some who breast feed some who don’t. You shared this app with your readers and they can choose to get the app or not. I don’t see what you did wrong. So you got paid to post it BIG DEAL!!! You got paid to review an app that covers many aspects of things we track as new moms.
I know you are a breast advocate and please don’t take this the wrong way but from my experience with many who are pro breast feeding is that formula companies should be shunned and hidden like cigarettes are. Formula is not the devil and this app isn’t even about formula feeding. It’s about feeding in general, sleep cycles and dirty diaper tracking.
Dagmar ~ Dagmar's momsense says
What, I can’t say that I’m disappointed? Well, I am, wish I weren’t.
But everyone has to make their own choices.
Lee says
Ladies! Dagmar especially because I actually know who you are! Why would you say this? This is hurtful and mean. This is very judgmental and I don’t like this side of you ladies at all. Very hurtful.
Lee
Dagmar ~ Dagmar's momsense says
I don’t understand how saying that I’m disappointed is “hurtful and mean…” That to me is judgmental, I was just expressing how I felt.
It’s okay for me to feel that way and it’s okay for this group of bloggers to have chosen to review this app — it just wouldn’t have been for me.
Lee says
IMO you are saying that you are disappointed in Crystal and other moms who accepted this opp because it somehow sheds a positive light on formula feeding. Therefore you are saying that people who formula feed are bad. That is judgmental. I am saying you are being hurtful for this. I don’t see how that is me being judgmental. That is simply me calling you out on being judgmental.
Rhea says
Wow. Judge much?
TJay says
There is an Android app called baby First Journal that helps you create your baby’s journal on the go. You can never miss those first moments when you have this app.
monique says
I never tracked any of that stuff. I don’t really get the need to do so, but to each his own.
I also have no issues with selling out. Everything isn’t right for everybody. At the same time, when I need additional funds, I’ll take a sponsored post for less than than what I’d like to get. When people are out of jobs, they (should) accept a job they wouldn’t normally take, in order to feed their families. I never know what they’re going through which would make them do something they wouldn’t normally do.
While I stood up for another blogger who wrote about not liking the app since it appears to promote bottle feeding, I think we all need to give other people more credit. Unless you’re a lemming who blindly follows the leader without thinking your own thoughts, the advertising won’t bother you.
I’m not buying Similac because of an app or a commercial or an ad. There are always going to be differing viewpoints. As long as you disagree respectfully, and provide reasons why you disagree, it’s all good. She’s promoting an app, not bottlefeeding, anyway.
Rhea says
Seriously. Crystal, You’re never going to make everyone happy.
Try breastfeeding twins! I would have LOVED LOVED something like this to help me keep track because in the early days I didn’t know if I was coming or going. Does this app support more than one feeder at a time??
I’m also not shallow or stupid enough to be influenced to formula feed just because I see a Similac picture on my app. Geeze people. I think (most) grownups are smart enough to do what they are going to do regardless of the commercial they see. Feed the baby…that’s really the ONLY thing that matters.
trisha says
im the last person the planet that doesnt have an iphone, so i dont use apps. That being said, i dont believe an app could make me go against or for breastfeeding…logos are honestly not that powerful to me. I am a person….i make my own choices. I want to breastfeed, i do it. I want to bottle feed, i do it.
The app sounds interesting! i hope it helps a mom out that needs it.
trisha
Shannon says
What a neat app! I need to tell my ssiter about this.
Sam says
I would have loved this app when I was breastfeeding! I could never remember which side I left off on and ended up sticking a safety pin on my bra strap as a reminder, lol…this would be much cooler than my safety pin!
Stefanie says
WOW! Very cool app! I’ll have to keep this in mind for the future…ya know…just in case! lol 😉
And to the earlier comments – we are all moms. We all have different circumstances. Formula is not bad. We’re not feeding our babies alcohol when giving them formula. It’s healthy for them in case the baby cannot nurse or the mother cannot produce enough milk. My son was not able to nurse because of health issues when he was born. It made me sad but the formula we used (which btw WAS Similac) did wonderful on his tummy and helped him grow healthy and strong.
BEFORE you jump on a blogger for doing a post (paid or not) please consider all circumstances instead of getting your diapers in a wad over something that some moms/babies cannot control. She isn’t forcing or even promoting that every mom *must* bottle feed or else. She was talking about an app…AN.APP. Go find something to be all picky about where it does actually matter.
Crystal, thanks for the review! I will keep this in mind for later. I wish they had this when my little ones were babies. 🙂
Jess says
What happened to respect?
I’m a total breastfeeding freak. I have breastfed each of my FIVE children for well over a year EACH and think this app is pretty cool! Not that I needed it.
Why in the world would you attack the blogger for it? Go attack the formula company if it offends you so much, sheesh!
Shop with Me Mama says
See, I just did understand this app I guess. I was thinking a formula company giving bfing advice? LOL! Now I understand it better 🙂
Sky says
What a handy app! I bottle/formula fed both of my babies with no shame. I always started out on paper strong, then I’d spill something on it or I’d lose it. I’m much more careful with my phone. Thanks for the info!
JulieD says
This seems like a cool app to me. I feel like there is so much animosity some who breastfeed and some who bottle feed. There is too much judging going on, the women who can’t breastfeed or choose to not breastfeed are not bad mothers. That being said, this app has nothing to do with choosing one or the other. Thanks for sharing with us the features of the app!
Pam says
This has turned into a breast vs formula debate and I don’t think it was intended to be such…just a review of an app.
Rachel says
I hate that this has turned into a breast vs. formula debate as well. . . . just as I HATE that people look down on moms who formula feed.
I bottle/formula fed my first child because we ADOPTED her and the adoption was such a quick process I wasn’t able to induce lactation. There were times in public, when I had snarky comments made by COMPLETE strangers that I was harming her.
Huh? Harming the child that became mine the day she was born? Harming her by FEEDING her? Plus, she had several issues that necessitated her being on special formulas — sorry, but I will do whatever it takes to help my child thrive.
With my son (a surprise pregnancy), I longed to breast feed and nursed him for 7 months. It was not easy. I struggled with supply and constantly worried about his intake. He cut his first two teeth at 11 and 12 weeks. . . his latch was too shallow from day one so nursing always hurt . . . and, as a voracious eater, he never got out of eating ever 45 minutes — even as he got older. By the time we hit the 6 month mark, I was so sleep deprived I felt I was losing my mind. I was getting more and more irritable and wasn’t being a good mom to either of my children. . . or a good wife to my husband . .. or good to myself.
At the seven month mark, I switched to formula. I GREATLY missed the bonding time of nursing (and was disappointed in myself, feeling like a failure that I couldn’t be a super mom and handle everything) but I ended up a stronger and better mother after making the switch. No, I’m not saying formula was a “miracle drug” for me . .. but it did give me the chance to continue meeting my child’s needs as well as the needs of his sister.
Now pregnant with my 3rd child, I am planning on breastfeeding again . . . and I’m looking forward to it, not dreading it despite how my 1st go-around went. I know that each child is different and I am hoping that being able to see an LC will help me overcome some of the hurdles I had last time. But, if we do make the choice to switch to formula at some point, I will not feel badly about it. Meeting everyone’s needs (including those of my 4 year old, 2 year old, husband and mine) is also important.
As far as the app goes, I neither think it’s evil . . . nor do I think Similac is evil for having their logo all over it. If it helps someone, then what’s so bad about? Seriously . .. there are more important things to spend your energy on than getting upset that a formula company has their logo on a “new mom app.”
With BOTH of my kids, I would have used this app — I’m a techy person and a “stats” person. I always tried to keep track of diapers/feedings with both of them — I realize some have questioned the necessity of this app simply because they never saw the need to track. Ok — good for you. Some of us wanted to track and liked tracking — liked the feeling of “control” and “security” tracking afforded. Being people who record diapers/feedings doesn’t mean we’re idiots . . . .it’s just a matter of personality. So, for those of us like that, I can see how this app would help. For those that don’t see the need, you don’t need the app. . . meaning you can just move on.
(which, honestly, we should all be doing at this point. There are bigger fish to fry.)