Friday, February 25, 2011

There's an APP for that!

You've heard that a few times and perhaps even used the phrase....SO I have an APP to tell you about.  It is the Simalac Strong Moms baby Journal app.  This APP is a dream come true for the blurry days of parenthood to make it a little clearer what you have done and what is needed for your baby and other children in the house for feeding, changing and sleeping.  The APP starts with a profile to get the information of your child including Name (for your use), birth date and gender.  For you moms of multiples or several small children that you still want to log on you can have multiple children profiles.  Then it creates a journal for that child where you log when they ate, how much, when they had a diaper change, color, texture etc.  It will also log when the baby fell asleep, how long they slept and how long since their last nap/sleep/feed!!!  All visible from your home screen seen here:
OK, so let me say this APP is FABULOUS, it is all with a tap of the finger and slide of a dial selector that you log all of the daily activity.  So mommy and daddy brain, otherwise known as sleep deprivation, is not a factor in you keeping track, no math, no pieces of paper and pens to find just grab your iPhone, iPad or iTouch and you are in logging heaven!!!  Can't remember if your baby pooped today or yesterday, not anymore with the Similac Baby Journal as you see below you can not only log if the baby had a wet, messy or both diaper at your logged diaper change but the consistency and color are also optional details you can add.
Some might say EWWWWW or TMI but if you are a new parent these things blend together not to mention the multitude of doctor visits that ask the details of these very things.  In addition to that, if you have a question about a lack of movement, a sick baby you need to make sure is having a number of wet diapers to prevent dehydration that this can prove VERY valuable!!!

Lets move onto the reason we are changing all of these diapers anyway!!!!  Feeding your baby can be complicated and the Similac Baby Journal can help you log, Bottle feeding, breast feeding or both.  Not only can you log the time and amount of the feeding, but you can also keep track which breast you fed from last, which can be important for moms health and the production of milk!

One of the perks of these entries is you can email the entry to print out and keep handy for a caregiver, to give dad/mom an update at work, or even email to your doctor in case of close monitoring etc.

So now you have fed the baby and changed the baby guess what the next thing to happen is????  The baby GROWS, best way to keep track is in this APP, as the doctor rattles off the measurements you can slide the dials and log it in to keep track of your bundles growth!!!  No more little pieces of paper that get lost the minute you leave the doctors office! hahahaha


So with all of this FABULOUSNESS comes some CONS....all of which could be fixed with later releases you never know!!!
1. This appears to be a on demand service not an account that the data would be stored to allow viewing from multiple devices which can prove handy when parents share the baby duties and are not using an iTouch or iPad that is left at the home.  Your phone typically goes with you but the baby might be on the other persons care, it would be great if you could have the information at your fingertips and not have to ask the other caregivers what needs to be done or when the nap started etc.
2.  While I commend Similac for providing a breastfeeding log, when they are a producer of baby formula, it would be nice if you could select how your baby is being fed when setting up their profile.  A simple Bottle, Breast, or both slider would work great.  The reason I see this as a con is that when I had my first daughter I was not able to breastfeed her to my great disappointment.  If every time I went to log a feed I had to be reminded by choosing breast or bottle it might be upsetting. 
3. This APP is completely destination based meaning you must go to it to make sure you are using it.  I would love it if you could set up a timer.... it would benefit you two fold.  It would remind you that it is time to feed as well as provide you the reminder to log the happenings! 


All in all I think the Similac Baby Journal APP is fantastic from Birth through potty training!!!  I would use it not only because I love technology but I have the worst memory and want to enjoy my time with my baby and not spend it trying to do the math on the last diaper change or how many hours it has been since they ate last!  Thumbs up from me for sure!

Compensation was provided by Collective Bias for my testing and review of this APP.

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