Baby Apps
Here is another in an increasingly long list of reactions that prove I'm getting old. I read in THE ATLANTIC just this morning about the new wave of apps designed to keep track and chart EVERYTHING about your new infant's behavior. On Baby Connect, for example, you can log the exact amount of your child's intake, describe, weigh and measure your child's output (a rather disgusting thought), record every sleep session, describe the differences in your child's crying and fussiness, etc. You can even ask the app to tell you, based on the data you have entered, how your kid stacks up. What percentile is he? How does his poop "measure" up to other two month olds'? And the biggest question of all: Is my baby normal? I find the whole thing horrifying. It's right up there with play dates and toddler visits to the beauty parlor.
There's one line that really concerns me. The article says the best thing about the new baby apps is that they offer "tech-savvy parents a substitute for hand written diaper-change and feeding logs." DIAPER-CHANGE AND FEEDING LOGS! Were we supposed to do that? No one told me. No mention of it by Dr. Spock. Penelope Leach ignores the whole thing. I'm kind of ashamed to admit that we have no diaper-change log for Franny. It makes me a little angry that our pediatricians never mentioned the possibility. I think we've missed out on a valuable source of nostalgia. Sure, we have plenty of photographs that we can go through and remember. But when it comes to diaper-change logs, nada!
And what if the app goes down, or someone swipes your iPhone? At the Y if the FitLinxx computer that keeps track of everyone's progress--the total weight lifted, total miles run--is off line, many members wander around aimlessly, not knowing what to do. You know, they really wanted to lift weights and run today, but the computer broke. By the same token, do your baby's full diapers count if they can't be recorded? That's why if I was a new parent I wouldn't want one of those apps. Just too much to worry about.
4 comments:
I cannot defend the use of such an app in general, but I can easily see using the input/output feature in the first few weeks of a baby's life. Such an accouting is useful (and often expected by the doctur), especially if breastfeeding, until such a time as it clear that the kid is getting enough to eat and drink. When our second kid (whose gender will likely be observed on Thursday) is born, I'll likely use a simple app for that purpose.
Past that, though, these apps seem likely to just feed neuroses. Perhaps there analysis features could be replaced by a simple screen that says, "Your kid is doing just fine. Stop worrying, put down the phone, and go pay attention to them."
I'm sure it would work for you. But what about my daughter, whose motto is, "I know I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?" By the way, she got her motto from me.
It's pretty vital work, this being a parent thing. All apps and normalcy aside, tell Franny she is doing the most important thing every day just by holding that baby.
Well, let's see. I don't how much I could add that is insightful to the post and comments, which were very good -- I laughed at the post and found huge merit in the points-of-view in the comments (it is true that keeping a log for a baby who is perhaps having some distress and growth issues could be helpful -- but IMO, not really necessary for a healthy baby who is consuming and, uhhh, outputting [?] just fine).
I am in full agreement that there should be a screen that pops up that says, "Sit down, go and hold and rock your child."
As the parent of a kid about to turn 16 and step-parent to ones that are teens as well, I can say this much to the new-ish moms and dads that want that app: you're not really going to care about the poop log some years down the road, but what you will remember are the memories of holding and rocking that baby.
xoxo
Karin
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