My 6 Favorite Apps for New Moms (for pregnancy and after)

Ah, modern technology. Isn’t it just the best sometimes? I know it’s a hot button topic that our society is WAY too technology and social media centered, and I totally can get on board with those arguments in certain situations. BUT – when you are breastfeeding a new baby and learning your routine, an app that tracks which side you started feeding on so you don’t have to remember when the next feeding comes 3 hours later? YES. All the yes.

There is a time and place for overly useful apps, and pregnancy + new mommy-hood IS THAT TIME, PEOPLE. Whether you’re pregnant or whether you’re a brand new mom, both phases have you functioning on limited brain capacity, and we can use all the help we can get, right!? Enter: these apps. They are a mixture of useful, sanity saving, and just plain helpful when it comes to random information that is fun to know.

So let’s get started with the few I have in here that are great for pregnancy, and then we will move on to the ones that are AMAZING for when you have a new baby. Precursor: every single app I’m listing here I have used or still use RELIGIOUSLY and think are absolutely amazing. But don’t worry, I will ramble on about why each one is awesome below…

Number 1: Ovia Pregnancy

This app is AMAZING when you are pregnant. When I was pregnant with Ford, I literally looked at this app multiple times every single day and soaked in every tiny detail I could about my growing little squishy boy. Throughout this most recent pregnancy, I looked less just because the novelty wasn’t there quite as much, but I still looked at it a ton. At least several times a week.

My favorite part about this app is the size updates it gives you each week (which you can see at the top right of the above picture). It shows you 4 things: the size of their hand now versus what it will be when they are born, the size of their foot now versus what it will be when they are born, an image of what they currently look like in your womb, and a size comparison of an object/thing you are familiar with. That last one is my fave – you can pick between four things: a fruit/vegetable, a french bakery item, a toy, and an animal. The fruit/vegetable and animal are my favorites. For example, at 33 weeks, our little boy was the size of a ferret and a head of cauliflower! Cracks me up.

Along with the size updates, there are tons and tons of little blips and articles the app shows on its main “newsfeed” about the current week of pregnancy you are in and updates on the growth of your little guy or girl! BIG fan of Ovia pregnancy. When I was pregnant with Ford, I had like 8 baby apps downloaded on my phone, and they all eventually got deleted because Ovia won out as my fave.

Number 2: Tiny Memories

I used this app to track almost every single week of my pregnancy with Ford. I was waaaay less diligent this time around, but I have used it a bunch of times to track how many weeks I was. The app is super easy to use, and they have lots of cute artwork that you click and drag over to your own picture. You can change the color, size, etc of anything you put on there.

I not only used this app for bump pictures, but I used it to track Ford’s months of age too. It is super cute! I love it and still use it all the time!

Alright, those were my two pregnancy apps – now onto the new mom apps (the real sanity savers).

Number 3: Baby Tracker

I didn’t use this app to its full capability – I only used it to track breastfeeding. But it is 100 percent worth it for that one facet, even if you don’t use any of the other functions. So when you are newly breastfeeding (if you haven’t been there before), you are supposed to switch off on the side you start with each time. The baby gets more milk out of the first breast he is on, so if you always start on the left side, for example, your left side’s supply will be heavier than the right’s, and you want it to be even.

I read lots of little tips and tricks to keeping track of sides, like wearing a hair band on whichever wrist you started on, but in my opinion and experience, this app makes things way easier than anything else I’ve tried. Not only does it track the sides, it tracks the time spent on each side.

The reason that is useful is because right at first, when your baby is teeny tiny and isn’t a breastfeeding pro yet, sometimes you have to pull them off and switch them to the other side. So having the time tracker is nice for that reason. I don’t remember at this point how long I’d let Ford go before I switched him, but I feel like it was something like fifteen minutes on one side before I switched him. Eventually they start releasing on their own when they are done with one breast, but at first, you are both giant newbs and have no clue what you’re doing.

This app also keeps track of the last time you fed your baby. When they are brand new and are supposed to be eating every three hours so they gain weight, this app is wonderful for showing you how long it’s been. Honestly, anything that allows you to NOT have to remember something when you’re a new mom = huge score. This allows you to not have to remember sides that you started/finished on and when your baby ate last. KEY.

Number 4: The Wonder Weeks

This app has brought so much peace and answers to allllll the questions. You have to pay for this one, so that’s unfortunate, but I think it is so worth it. The wonder weeks is basically a schedule of developmental “leaps” that babies go through at certain ages. Every baby is different and won’t have their leaps at exactly the same time, but this app gives you a range in which babies usually hit these various milestones.

There were COUNTLESS times that Ford was cranky, fussy, clingy, etc…and I would be like WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD IS HAPPENING, and then I’d take a gander at this app, and they’d be like “Ford is entering his **blah blah** leap this week!” Lovely. And then you feel like you aren’t crazy, and that there is some reason behind why your baby is suddenly acting like a little clingy bundle of sobbing cuteness.

And what’s cool about it is that it tells you why they are acting the way they are. Their brains are developing all these new skills and changing like crazy, and it causes them to be a little overwhelmed at the newness sometimes, and they just want their momma. Or lots of milk. Or cuddles. Or all the above.

I love this app and still use it all the time – have since Ford was born!

Number 5: Baby Connect

Oh. MY GOSH. People. This app has been basically my favorite thing OF ALL TIME since I started using babysitters for Ford. Even if you aren’t using babysitters, it is FANTASTIC for tracking sleeping, eating, medicine, and every other thing possible.

When Ford was a little older and started napping more on a schedule, this was absolutely amazing for tracking sleep. When he’d fall asleep, we’d start his sleep timer, and when he’d wake up, we’d turn it off. It let us track how long he was sleeping for and, more importantly, how long it had been since his last nap.

Ford has always been a baby who did SO well with a schedule – he thrived on scheduled naps and feedings. He’s not one of those babies where if you missed his nap by half an hour he was peachy about it. Nope – he was far, far easier and more pleasant if you stuck to his body’s little strict schedule that it made for itself. At first, when he started really getting a solid schedule going, he was awake for an hour and a half between naps. So I’d check the app, and if I saw it was nearing that time, I started getting him ready for bed.

Same with feedings – he was always ready to eat at pretty much exactly 3 hours on the dot since his last feeding. This app allowed me not to have to actually pay attention to the clock – the app does it for you. It tells you how long it’s been since your baby has eaten, how much he ate, and how long it’s been since his last nap. And it’s extremely user friendly to input the information.

BUT – the best part of this app? You can sync on multiple devices. Like an unlimited amount of devices. My husband has this, multiple babysitters have it, all of our parents have it in case they come to visit and watch him, and when someone puts something in, everyone can see it! It’s seriously THE BEST. I’ve never had a problem leaving Ford and going out to have some husband and wife time, but even still, it was always so comforting for me to be able to look at the app and see what was going on at home since the sitter/grandparent would update it from their phones.

Seriously…would I have survived this year without this app? Questionable. It sure made my life a heck of a lot easier, I’ll tell you that. We only just recently stopped using it once Ford switched to a one nap day, because at that point his nap wasn’t based on awake time, it was just based on time of day. Same with bottles. But it’s about to get fired back up again when this new baby is born in December! This is one you have to pay for too, but I think it’s like five or six bucks, and I would legit pay like fifty for it…no joke.

Number 6: Tinybeans

I saved this one for last because this app holds such a special place in my heart. This app is basically a virtual scrapbook that anyone that you invite can have access to. You upload pictures and videos to it daily, and anyone who has the app that you have invited to share your memories can see the pictures and videos you upload. And then it organizes all the pictures for you in calendar form (like you can see in the above picture).

This app is very special to me for two HUGE reasons:

1. It allows us to connect with family and friends from so far away that we wouldn’t normally be sharing these pictures with. No mom has time to send Auntie Marge and Grandpa Stew the super cute pics of their kid at bath time every single day – it’s just not realistic. And I personally really didn’t want to BLOW up social media every single day of my son’s life with pictures that people may or may not want to see. But with this app? I go on there every day or every several days upload the cute pictures and videos I’ve taken of Ford, and – bam – grandparents, long distance friends, aunts, uncles, great grandparents – they all have access to these moments. They can comment on them, they can like them, they can basically interact with you on your own tiny social media platform. And you don’t have to worry about blowing up their phones, because they signed up and want to see your pictures.
2. It allows us to keep a virtual scrapbook of our son’s life. If I want to go back and look at pictures from his first month of life – SO EASY. I just scroll back to July 2017 on the calendar, which takes two seconds, and I can flick through the days one by one. I can’t tell you how much easier this is than trying to scroll back through my billions of phone pictures. Tinybeans also just has the highlights – the best pictures, so it’s way more fun to go back and look through.

I legit use this app every. single. day. whether it be uploading pictures and videos or scrolling back and reminiscing. Can’t say enough good things about it!

And that’s a wrap, people! My all time favorite, SUPER highly used apps for pregnancy + new mommy-hood. I hope you download all of them and enjoy them like CRAZY!