5 iPhone applications for brand new parents

Baby Sign ASL ($4.99)

My husband likes to tease "Mommy's a loser?" when I go overboard with the baby signing thing.

Honey, I chose this screenshot just for you. 

In truth, we're both kinda into it.  His favorite word combo is "Need help with that cracker?"

Anyway, baby signing books are great, but sometimes it is hard to "get" the sign without seeing it done by a real person (versus a drawing in a book).

I was hesitant to download this app, thinking a video version would be a drag, but it isn't, not at all.  The app is very quick and user friendly.  I also like how I can star my favorite signs to create my own handy shortlist.  This app definitely makes it easier for me to continue signing with my baby.




Lose it! (free)

I'm at the point where I'd really like to lose those last pesky 5 (or so) pounds of baby weight.  I'm still breastfeeding so I want to be careful about not going overboard on a crazy diet scheme.

Lose it! is great for helping me recognize how many calories I truly am consuming and how many of those are in the form of fat, protein, and carbohydrates.

I can also track any exercise I'm getting (including pushing a stroller).  I just started using this app because I do want to lose weight but it would have been handy earlier too when I was super-aware of trying to get enough calories to produce enough breast milk.

This free app would also be great for any dads who put on a few extra baby pounds. 





Baby Activity Logger ($4.99)

I totally got my big sister hooked on this application when she had her second child -- she'd used paper and pencil with her first but this app does it all and keeps it all right in the same place.  And you can multitask while you are timing your feeding -- so you can flip over to your email or Facebook while you're nursing and the timer keeps on ticking. It tracks all those daily everythings, especially feeding and sleeping and pooping and peeing but you can customize to track whatever you want.

I had to give my baby shots every single day (poor me, poor him, right?) and tracked it via Baby Logger -- it was bad enough giving him a shot once a day, can you imagine if (in the haze of sleeplessness) I'd accidentally given him two?  Ugh.

I think it is odd the app button shows up as Blogger, but other than that, this app is great.  




White Noise ($1.99)

I love this app.  With options ranging from a Tibetan Singing Bowl to a Vacuum Cleaner, your baby's sure to be lulled to sleep. (Unless your baby is my baby and then sleep is a lost cause.)

I love the gorgeous photos that go with the sounds.  I love the way you can flip to a new sound.

The only downside is that the many, many water noises tend to make me have to pee.  Also, I have no idea what Violet (or any of the other colors) is.  I'm a little curious, but not curious enough to google it.  I'm  happy with all the other known noises on this app.

There is a free White Noise lite version of this application and also a White Noise Baby version of this application (which I didn't even notice because I was so seduced by the many stars and rave reviews of this here version).





iTrackBaby ($2.99)

 Given that my baby is on the small side of the weight percentile scales, I tend to pay very, close attention to his weight and this app helps me to track it nicely.

You can see his weight gain has been a little erratic -- all the more reason for me to want to track it closely -- and it is nice to see it plotted right on the percentile chart for comparison.

I can also track key milestones (crawling, smiling, walking) with this application, but I do wish I had the ability to edit or add other milestones of my choosing. 

Doctor appointment tracking is nice too, as is the photo storage, though I tend to keep my appointments and photos elsewhere.

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of iTrackBaby for review.  



Total Baby ($4.99)
 
Newer, better, everything version that wasn't around when my baby was brand new.  I like that you can include shots and allergies and other medical-y things.  Looks like includes the nursing tracker I did use.  I've just downloaded it and am trying it out now ... do check back!

With all the news (and jokes) about the iPad hitting the twitter waves this week, I decided to revisit my iPhone application posts because, oddly enough, they get more hits than anything else on this blog.  This content is a little bit of a stretch for "eco pretty finds" but it was nice to see Treehugger's eco take on the iPad.