Since bubba was about 2 months old I have religiously kept track of his every feed, every sleep, every nappy change. Well not quite all, but most. I didn't set out to try and keep a record of this for reasons of posterity - it was simply an unintended by-product.
As a sleep deprived and naturally scatty mummy I was struggling to remember when bubba last fed, last had a nappy change, or which side he fed (without copping a feel!). Being up every 2-3hrs the days and nights just merged into one big baby-filled blur. Not that that's a bad thing mind, I just didn't know whether I was coming or going. I felt like my life was out of my control.
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| day...? night...? hours spent staring at our little bundle of joy |
Spending too much time on my phone while bubba was feeding or napping I figured someone cleverer than me must've come up with something to help me get organised. Or at least help me remember what I was doing. A search on Google Play later and I found the
Feed Baby app. And it changed my life. And yes, before you ask, I am that sad.
At the click of a button I could record when he fed, for how long, which side, even expressing was covered. It kindly produced little graphs for me, showing how many hours a day he fed or slept, intervals and durations.
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| touch screen controls for feeding and sleeping |
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| easy to read graphs |
Somehow this made me feel in control of things, even though bubba was sleeping and feeding on demand. I could see little patterns, and trends, and I could see that there was some semblance of order to our chaotic life.
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| trapped under a sleeping baby... |
Admittedly I don't use it so much now bubba is nearly one, as he generally feeds and naps less. But in those early days when I could hardly tell night from day, I gained more understanding and began to predict how our days and nights might pan out.
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| one of many post-feed naps... |
What it doesn't tell you on the accompanying spiel is the advantage that can be gained from 'proving' that you've been up 5 times during the night, so it was definitely not your turn to get up again/change nappy/wash nappies/do anything other than collapse in a heap. You can also bore people to tears with the wealth of baby-related data that you have now amassed. And one further benefit - no more random 3am ebay purchases - and subsequent hiding of parcels each time the postman called...
Did you use anything to help organise yourself? Feeding bracelet? Pin on your clothes? Good old fashioned pen and paper? Or did you get by with chilling out and going with the flow?! Would love to know your tips for other mummies...
