When we left the hospital we were given a log to record when baby ate or had a diaper change. After a few days we switched to using an iphone app that also allows us to record sleep.
If you recorded baby's eat/sleep/diapers how long did you do so? Lao is 6 weeks today (Friday) and I'm leaning towards not tracking anymore now that we kinda have the hang of things.
Is there any good reason to continue?
pineapple / 12566 posts
We stopped after about two weeks (after his first doctor appointment). Once we saw that he was eating/sleeping/pooing on a regular basis, we felt we had a handle on things.
papaya / 10343 posts
Lo is 7.5 weeks and we still track everything. But we have also had a lot of feeding issues so I really like being able to look back and see what she did when. If/when we get a good routine and things stay the same/are good for. 2/3 weeks we would prob stop.
cantaloupe / 6171 posts
We stopped once it like it was more of a hassle than useful, around 6 weeks
kiwi / 728 posts
I am still tracking at 9 weeks, lol! But I am weird and probably too type A. Well and my baby is the worst sleeper on the planet, so I am pretty sleep deprived myself and if I did not record I wouldn't remember certain things!
persimmon / 1135 posts
I am just recording feelings for dd. she is 7 weeks and as long as she's got a lot of dirty diapers and overall seems good with her sleep/awake cycles I'm ok with not recording.
cantaloupe / 6692 posts
I have the sprout app. It's awesome. I recorded everything his first 4 weeks or so. Now I just start using it a week or so before his check ups so I can answer the peds questions instead of saying "I think he poops twice a day??" Lol
It also helps when he's sleeping poorly. I can see exactly how much he's sleeping and adjust if I need to.
I still use the pumping tracker every day. Idk why. I'm obsessed with tracking my ounces and stuff. Lol!!
watermelon / 14206 posts
I never did with M. It seemed like all I was doing in the early days was feeding and changing him, so it just seemed like an unnecessary thing to deal with.
grapefruit / 4988 posts
I'm going to sound like a crazy person, but I used an app for that until last week, and my baby is 9 months! Lol. I haven't tracked diapers in a really long, but I was still tracking nursing sessions and sleep. I just got into the habit of it early and never really stopped. It was still somewhat helpful for awhile to see how much total sleep LO was getting, since her daycare naps are usually really bad.
grapefruit / 4823 posts
we tracked for 2 weeks with #1. once we realized he was gaining/eating/pooping/peeing fine, we stopped. With #2, we never tracked.
coconut / 8498 posts
We stopped tracking diapers pretty early, once we knew she was gaining fine. Sleep was much later (maybe 6-7 months) as we used it to help with sleep issues. I tracked nursing for a year! But no other eating habits.
kiwi / 566 posts
...am I the only one who stopped as soon as we left the hospital? 
So it lasted 3 days. I still kept a rough chart in the back of my brain (to make sure she had dirties, was eating, etc.) but I didn't track anything on paper or an app, just enough to make sure she was eating and pooping fine. Once we went to her doctor follow-up and got confirmation that she was gaining well I stopped even keeping a mental tally.
grapefruit / 4823 posts
@ILoveLettie: With #2, we didn't even track in the hospital. I would just tell the nurse...oh we changed her twice. oh she ate at this time...oops!
coconut / 8498 posts
@ILoveLettie: There's a good chance this second kid won't be tracked. I just loved all of those charts that the Baby Connect app made. I was obsessed with those things.
pear / 1699 posts
I used Total Baby to track everything with J for a long time, especially sleep. I use it for his vaccines/growth too. With Leah I stopped early (2 weeks ish) but will keep her vaccine/growth in there too since I can (and do) email it for back up. I do forget which side I last nursed on since I don't track that anymore...oh well.
grapefruit / 4120 posts
Never tracked so sorry, not much help! We didn't have any issues though, I know it's more necessary for some people.
As an aside, sometimes I wonder if those apps are a way for us to feel like we have some control over something in those early days....
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@catlady: I'm even crazier. C is 11 months and I still track her nursing! It's mostly to keep track of which side she started on though, I don't keep track of the time. I just stopped clocking her naps a few weeks ago. Nuts.
persimmon / 1273 posts
I have the sprout app and currently track sleep. He's three months and I've found it helpful to see his total sleep and any sleep patterns that develop. He's not on a schedule but has more of a pattern than I realize on my own. We gave up on diapers as soon as he hit birth weight. And I keep track of feeding only so that I remember which side I'm on. Prob ready to give that one up soon.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@mamimami: I was about to say I think it was a way to feel like I had some control when I realy had none!
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
Baby Connect app. I still track nursing, pumping and sleep at 14 months.
apricot / 495 posts
I didn't even do it in the hospital. My night nurse my last night yelled at me for not doing it. 
pineapple / 12053 posts
I tracked nursing for 5 months, sleep randomly through that time and diapers for a month or two! Ha. I like data.
cantaloupe / 6730 posts
I love tracking. LO's sleep sucked for so long that it was nice to look back and see the oh so gradual improvements. Plus, I'm a sucker for charts. I stopped monitoring poos pretty early, a couple weeks, maybe. I stopped timing daytime nursing last week. I still time at night because I don't want her nursing more than 5 min and I lose track of time (surfing on the phone). I still track sleep. Can't help myself - I love seeing how much she got in a day. LO is 10 months tomorrow. But none of it is necessary. If you don't want to track, then I recommend stopping.
grapefruit / 4441 posts
I never did it! Well, that's not completely true... I wrote down all the times I nursed on random scratch paper for the first couple of weeks, but I never paid too much attention to it (and I lost half my post-its). Tracking fail.
persimmon / 1281 posts
We did it til his first doc appointment - then we knew things were going smoothly. If he goes off course for some reason I'll probably start tracking again.
nectarine / 2115 posts
Thanks for all if your input! I shared your responses with DH and we decided to switch to only tracking at night since we switch off who gets up. Today was already much better not worrying about tracking everything or having to go back and add things we missed.
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