Show HN: Baby Buddy
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Being able to confidently predict "it looks like he will have a cold in one or two days, let's increase his dose and preempt it" based on PEF (peak expiratory flow) measurement done morning and evening was such a boon. Also being able to confidently identify patterns like "he always gets worse when we do X". We did it with pen and paper, but today of course there's an app for that:
By the second child i was too tired to keep stats, so we winged it and the docs and I happily acknowledge that ignorance is bliss (sarcasm, i think).
(You’ll note, not for being wrong, the diagnosis got independently confirmed both times.)
Medical professionals like and are used to being the unquestioned experts. But you are always the expert of your own child (because, like I said before, every child is different.)
Of course eventually we (like most parents I believe) learned to relax and not obsessively record sleep, feeds and nappies. My friends who have more than one child said after the first they didn’t do any recording like this and instead just let things take their natural course.
There is a market for this. But I can’t see anything doing a better job than baby connect.
Our daughter had feeding issues and medicine that had to be administered in certain intervals so it was really useful to see at a glance what was going on.
The feature I really wanted was Alexa or Google Home integration for logging events or checking times.
Disclaimer: sat next to the guys who made this at some point in time. Disclaimer 2: never used personally (though I have kids). As said before, you learn to relax. Tracking is too much hassle for me.
[1] https://www.usa.philips.com/c-m-mo/ugrow-baby-development-tr...
That sounds like letting someone die. :-)
Fun hack to make data entry easy: Use hacked Amazon Dash buttons for really quick data entry. ie: press a button when feeding the baby, press another button when changing diaper.
This is a general purpose daemon I wrote that monitors an arbitrary number of Dash buttons and does whatever you want when they are pressed.
No hacking required.
We ended up using WebMD’s baby tracker which was definitely not ideal, but it let my wife and I use both phones for data input.
One suggestion would be to add an import option, for those of us who already have some data.
My wife isn't CL-user, so this isn't for us. If you're looking for recommendations, she and I are using Feed Baby (http://feedbaby.com.au) because it's got great graphs and really flexible good features without the social crap of Glow. Definitely worth the $6 for unlimited syncing.
NB: On your screenshot it says 'Last Feed: Formula, Left Breast' - that confused me, then I realised you're probably doing both (maybe? some people supplement breastfeeding with formula).
Is there a way to record how long a breastfeed was? That's pretty important.
The app does keep track of breast feeding duration as well, but so far we (my wife and I) haven't done much with that data so it's not well represented.
Found a couple bugs:
- The sleep pattern page gives a 500 if you haven't slept yet. Likely a null pointer / empty list situation.
- I think you may have some time zone issues. Some of the timeline pages display histrical events that occurred in the future.
Pen and paper was our original plan as well, but I wanted to be able to aggregate and graph information easily.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are some TZ issues. I'm still fairly new to Django and had a bit of trouble wrapping my head around its TZ handling at first. I probably need to revisit some of the earlier commits.
Apps like this are extremely helpful to identify deviations from the norm that could be indicitive of a problem the child is having.
EDIT: Removed links to Glow; poor form on my part in a Show HN. Awesome app OP!
I might give it a run for number three!
Glow was one of the ones we checked out and liked. Ultimately I think there are some perfectly good apps and websites out there, I was just a little anxious about the data privacy aspect. Maybe I'm being overly protective, but new dad and all (:
IME babies will have days when they feed non-stop, days when they hardly feed, days when they'll take more naps, data when they won't, etc.. that's just being a baby, they're not ill.
Major deviations are normal. Sleep patterns go through stages, for example, and often there's a change over period where there is little pattern; in a day when the child is tired from activity they might sleep much longer.
I feel that changes that are indicative of health problems are going to show in the child before you get them from looking at an app.
I think this kind of app could be really helpful but inputs need to be automated for this to be feasible. Maybe using some IoT devices (baby cradle sleep monitor, diaper box sensor, etc.).
of course, for some of us, having a newborn means you completely lose track of time. I was off for 4 weeks when our first was born in the height of summer. we slept whenever she slept. I remember waking up once when it was sunny outside, seeing "8:00" on our 12-hour bedside clock and literally not knowing if it was 8 in the morning or 8 in the evening.
I'd rarely do it in real-time, but I had a notebook I'd update pretty often.
That let us predict our childs routine pretty well, enough to schedule naps anyway.
This was honestly the biggest motivator for me. Back when we were still a few months out, I found this article[0] and graph[1]. I was amazed at how erratic the sleep times are and it seemed to me that having a graph like that in real time could be incredibly helpful. It absolutely has been - we are 1.5 months in and able to pretty decently determine when it is time for some sleep because we can see the progress and patterns beginning to develop so clearly.
[0] https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-patterns/baby-sleep...
[1] https://www.babysleepsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Sle...
Length of feed doesn't equate with volume consumed. Does it really help? Weight progression seems like a much stronger indication. Weighing nappies (aka diapers) and child would give useful information. An infant can have a lazy feed, fall asleep whilst suckling, feed hungrily, feed ineffectively. Added to that breast milk changes.
What then do you do with that data, it's not like your child feeds 8 minutes, but as you then speculate "volume is down" you can make them feed 9 minutes next time. If they're not unwell they'll feed to satiety.
Reassurance, or perhaps it's more just a diversion, is a good enough reason to go mad on stats though.
Feedings are probably the hardest ones to be consistent with, sleep, diaper changes and tummy time all kind of flow naturally.
Imagine a bunch of parents using a free/relatively inexpensive application, tracking feeding schedules, sleep, food intake, play etc. and then ranking each day as a thumbs up/down.
Taking that data, properly anonymizing it and then comparing it across babies with similar characteristics (location, age, siblings etc.) you could suggest a daily schedule (with alerts) that would trend closer to a thumbs up.
Started with a prototype, but it never amounted to much. I just imagine the collective value of some of the data managed by these applications and the potential to ease the extremely challenging (but rewarding!) experience of being a parent.
At the very least, that sort of data would be incredibly value for academia/research etc.
Also a great opportunity to brush on my Py.
Cheers!
Edit: information from an actual authority rather than just me: https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sts/about/Pages/tummytime.aspx
If you ever feel gassy, one of the best solutions is to lay on your stomach and then slightly elevate your butt until you've created a pathway where the gas can exit by rising.
Similarly, if you ever feel constipated or have acid reflux, try just getting down on your elbows and knees (on your bed or another soft surface) and then relaxing your core to let your stomach just hang down. Picture imitating the body position of a cow. Everything should run in the right direction again after 10 or 20 minutes of this (bring a book.)
I bring this up because, of course, babies shouldn't be any different. If a baby—especially after weening—is colicky and looks to be in pain, it might be gassy bloating that it has no idea how to resolve. Flip them over.
If you are becoming a new father, I very highly recommend The Expectant Father and The New Father. Really great books about what you and your partner will go through.
It's intense!
But don't fret - overthinking this can lead to everything turning sour and frightening, even if the baby is fine. You don't want to be frightened, you want both baby and mother to relax and get some sleep so they are motivated to try again.
We've always had babies that were relatively awake the first week - that means relatively more grumpy that there isn't yet enough milk. Last time, my wife gave the baby a little bit of the breast milk substitution you can buy to get through that period. That really helped. Baby happy and asleep for longer and the mother didn't have a baby chewing up her nipples all the time.
Honestly though? The first few days are largely "eat, piss, and sleep". It's only later when the baby starts to scream, move around, and so on. You can place him/her in a cot, cartboard-box, hammock, or even on the floor near you.
Newborns don't move around, so if they're asleep you can just sit there reading a book, relaxing, watching TV, etc, etc. They are a lot of work, but the harder parts come when they're more mobile, and need constant attention. Swaddling helps keep them in-place too.
Beyond that, good luck! The first smile, the first laugh, the first word? All of that makes any pain 100% worth-it. Even if there are times you want to scream, and throw the damn thing out of the window. (I'll pretend I didn't say that.)
Everybody in the world seems to know how you are doing it all wrong.
Even random strangers on the street have started giving me unsolicited advise.
People just can't shut up about how they think you should raise your kids.
Don't make rash decisions like "no pacifier" or "no formula" just because you want to be the best parent ever. The baby's (and your) comfort is more important than any of that.
All the stuff in this application is fine to measure, if you need it, but it's not necessary. The most important thing is your own sleep/sanity, the baby will tell you if it needs anything.
For instance, the baby's weight. You will likely go to a few checkups in the first few weeks and get the weight right there. You don't need to know it daily. A good rule of thumb for instance, is that the baby is doing well if he has fatty legs. There you go.
A D-Link Wi-Fi camera came in handy, I remember it costing around $50. The application tinyCam Pro is good, as are a few other more baby-oriented apps which alert you when the noise level is past a certain threshold.
The amount of sleep needed between me and my wife became much more apparent after the baby came, so we had to change sleeping arrangements a lot until we found something that worked for us.
Oh this is a good one: Croup sounds like a barking cough. It is very scary the first time baby gets it, because he will have trouble breathing, but don't panic. There are 2 home remedies, both seemed to be effective, so I'm not sure which one is "recommended": The first is to take the baby out into the cold night air (bundled up of course). The cold air will treat his inflamed vocal cords. The other option is kind of the opposite: Go into the bathroom and turn on a hot shower, filling the room with steam. That should also help baby's breathing. If home remedies do not work then you will want to go to the ER, but only a small percentage of cases really need that. They will give baby a nebulized vapor of epinephrine and some corticosteroids, and charge you hundreds and hundreds of dollars. I wish there was some middle of the road option between "home remedy" and ER, but I don't know what that would be. Anyway, don't panic, the baby can tell you're panicking and will react with even more trouble breathing.
OK one more tip: Luv's are the best. They don't leak, you don't even need overnight diapers, just Luv's. They are owned by Pampers so you're basically getting premium diapers for rock-bottom prices. Conversely, Huggies suck, they are overpriced and can't touch Luv's on any level.
Don't take too much time for tidying up the house yourself, you need energy for the baby and take time to get to know him/her.
The first week was a complete change in our life, we were exhausted and so much had changed. But you get through it with help from others if you need it ( I know we did need a lot of it ).
The more important I think is take the time to get to know your baby, take the time to appreciate and share those moments with your SO, and do things the way you want (as long as it's secure).
Good luck :)
On the plus side, the current app does have a pretty solid (I think!) mobile UI. When in mobile, there is a special one-click button for starting a timer and bigger "quick add" dropdown for entries. I actually have been meaning to add a mobile version screenshot to highlight the fact that it is pretty functional on mobile (with the caveat that it needs an Internet connection). Mobile is how my wife and I use it about 95% of the time and has been a huge driver in my development of the UI.
Nice! I didn't check it out on mobile.
I'm incredibly impressed, btw, that you're working on something like this with a newborn. The month before and after birth, I was basically dead to the world. Kudos to you and her!
But looks like a great solution for those who need some peace of mind.
This is one of those areas where I believe technology will do more harm than good
As a side note, this is not Reddit, there is no need for that kind of language on this site.
After about a month of collecting data, we have a pretty good handle on baby's "schedule" and can take a quick look at our dashboard to help determine why he might be crying his little face off. After many weeks of frustrating struggle with this, I can't even put a price on the value of the data we now have. YMMV (:
Thanks for the insight!
My turn to take care of the baby, while she gets badly needed sleep? I can easily check when the kid ate last, when she last had a wet or dirty diaper, without needing to check on the wife - and that kind of information is very useful when she's crying, and you're trying to find out which one of a dozen things is the problem.
It's also very helpful at doctor visits - you can quickly pull up information on how often your kid pees and has a dirty diaper, how much she's drinking throughout the day, and if you have a scale, you can record information.
A dozen things? Temperature, hunger, 'nappy', burps ... there's nothing else a baby ordinarily cares about.
Also it's not formulaic, a key thing IMO that those caring for infants need to realise is that babies cry. They don't decide to cry, they sometimes just cry.
Ever have a day when you feel sad/happy/emotional/excited/whatever and you don't know why? Babies do too, and what they do is cry, because they can't write posts on social media yet.
"They cry all the time, I'm doing something wrong", are they failing to prosper (put on weight after the initial dip), then it's highly unlikely the crying has anything to do with you at all.
Stick your finger in the nappy elastic to see if they've dumped, you now know if they're too hot/cold too; give them a hug and a chat, offer them milk.
IMO you need to learn to read your baby rather than treat like a car with a service schedule.
"Normally they wake at 3:13+/-12, not 3:50; and their median time to evacuation is 80mins, not 115; ..." you're going to stress yourself out. Babies are not machines.
I was lucky and had an easy enough time with my son to not need an app, but not everybody is. Medical or other complications can increase the value of a solution like this.