In this age of all things technology and things being easy accessible oh and quick. My motherhood journey is very much different to that of my own mum’s and I am very fortunate to be able to have access to the internet which holds all the information you can imagine when it comes to well everything. In particular our smart phones hold the true power because lets face it they are glued to us at the hip – Mine definitely is, I would be lying if I said otherwise haha
In this world where your app store and google play store is you going to the store LOL (okay that was awful but you get my point) Let me go over the mum apps’ to use during pregnancy and once after baby is here from my own personal experience.
During Pregnancy
1. Pregnancy plus
cost: free but with in app purchases
When I first fell pregnant, this was the app I downloaded only because I knew other people used this app too AND it is free. The very first person I knew of who used this app was my old retail manager back when I was at University working for french skincare brand L’Occitne En Provence. I loved it when my manager, who was pregnant at the time would tell me how big her lil bubba was each week. Anyway fast forward what 7/8 years and here I am using the same app.
Key features:
Calculate your due date: As soon as I found out I was pregnant, within that same day after I told my husband I downloaded this app. Like most ladies I make a note of when I have my period and I use an app called P Tracker Lite – it is free to download and easy to use. Highly recommend. As I had not yet gone to my GP, you can imagine how eager I was to find out when my baby could possibly be due so I simply entered in when I last had my period and it was able to give me a due date, which was accurate as it was the same as what my GP told me. There is a formula used when calculating your due date, I just could not tell you what it is haha. Anyway, really good feature to use
Baby development:
The main page has an overview with information relevant to how many weeks you are.
For a clearer breakdown this app has sections and in the ‘baby‘ section which lists features for you to look at regarding baby’s development.
– daily: has selected daily guides/articles to read which the app has pre selected for you to view
– weekly: a) your weekly, detailed breakdown of baby’s development which consists of a computerised image of baby and all the lovely and exciting information regarding his or her development, which includes size, length and weight- I longed to read this each week hehe sometimes I would read future weeks because I wanted to know. b) There was also a breakdown of what changes to expect when it came to your body – I read this all the time as it helped me to understand what was normal. c) There is also health tips to read. d) There is also Parter’s info, a little paragraph for your partner to read so that they can understand what is happening and what they can do to support you. – Showed this to my husband a couple of times, he did seem interested but it did become tiresome to constantly show him and sometimes i would forget to haha e) and finally, which I thought was interesting, information about twins/multiples to read – this did not apply to me but I still read as I found this very interesting.
– images: You can view what your baby looks like each week in 3 ways a) a computerised baby b) a 2d scan c) a 3d scan – I loved this feature. I loved this so much I paid extra to unlock it so that I could see the scans up until baby was due to be born.
– size: If you were interested to see overall the size of your baby each week and following weeks, this section does just that and I loved it. You could see how big your baby was in 3 versions a) by size of fruit b) by size of animal c) by size of cake – I loved this personally as it really helped me understand how big my baby was each week.
– timeline: is literally a timeline of your pregnancy and what is to come from showing when implantation takes place after your last period to then your have first scan to your gender scan to when baby’s heart starts beating to when dad can feel baby kick to what is classified as good infant survival rate if baby was to be born.
‘you’ section
– articles/guides: for you to read surrounding your pregnancy – I didn’t read many of these.
– logging in your weight – I didn’t log in my weight. The thought of weighing myself the scared the shit out of me
– taking baby belly bump pics – by the time I realised I wanted to do I was like showing so I felt there was no point
– a calendar to log your ante-natal appointments, a to do list to log your tasks
– a birth plan which is already broken down it down into items such as environment, companions etc so you can decide what you want on the day you give birth. Most likely you will have already discussed this with your midwife but before you do it is a great idea to know what your options are. – I used this to understand my options and if there was anything i didn’t understand I then asked my midwife.
‘more’ features include
– hospital bag: an automated list to refer to when packing your hospital, baby’s hospital bag and your partners. – I used this as I got so stuck as to what to pack for myself and baby.
– a kick counter, which I definitely used and is so important. There were many a times I panicked when madam’s movement changed.
– a contractions timer – this i definitely used to understand how far apart my contractions got as the pain intensified LOL. This was great also for my sister to use who was my birthing partner so that she could time them for me too.
Notifications: The app sends you notifications each week to alert you which week you are in and a lovely little fact about baby which prompts you to open the app to be taken directly to the baby development overview page. I loved it!
To unlock, in app purchase required: As I mentioned this app is free but I did pay for some extra features of this app. I wanted to see more scan images of baby so I had to unlock it by paying for it. It didn’t cost much I think I paid £0.75.
2. Bounty
cost: free
I only downloaded this app after I received my first ever baby pack from my first ever midwife appointment and in it contained samples to use within the first stages of my pregnancy as well as information to read about my pregnancy and what to expect.
Key features:
Baby development: The main page, in the app is on the ‘today‘ page has key information about your baby in terms of how many weeks you are, how many days left to go and some key articles that are relevant in line with your pregnancy which the app has selected.
– baby foot print: This shows how big your baby is by the size of his/her feet and it is pretty accurate I believe. – I loved this feature, I was always taking my finger measuring the size as it was shown on my phone and then taking my fingers, keeping them wide as to not lose the size and putting it against my belly.
– articles: within this app, the articles are in abundance. Each week, there is an article with information about your baby in terms of its size, weight, length, how big it was compared to what fruit/veg. The breakdown included information about how big your baby is, key facts to know about your baby, information about you at that point in your pregnancy, and what to think about in that week of your pregnancy. There were videos embedded into the articles, these videos were of medical experts talking about cesarean sections, pain relief information and pelvic floor exercises.
Other articles include health & wellbeing, pregnancy Q&A plus many more.
Other features:
– free stuff: Bounty offers packs with samples for mum. Simply pop into the list of retailers that stock their packs to claim. Other things this app lists are special discounts and deals which as a mum, you may find useful for you to use when shopping. The app has a section which lists new and top offers to use and view.
Free Bounty baby portrait: the app talks about this which you can claim when you give birth to your baby – I didn’t because well I assumed a photographer would be walking around on the ward I was on and I was to tired/lazy to ask about this. I also just wanted to go home so yeah but boy I really do regret it!
– Hospital: Has a list of all hospitals within the UK and documents which hospitals hold with information for mums to use such as information about cesarean section, contraception use, birth options etc. There are some hospitals who have no documents as of yet.
Notifications and emails: Each week I received notifications and emails about my baby’s development which I loved. On my phone it was a prompt to open up the notification and I was taken straight to the article, by email again same concept, I clicked on the link and was taken directly to the article on the Bounty website.
I also received weekly/daily emails with offers for certain baby related products and other deals that were were not baby related but Mum related. – In the beginning I took this as spam and was always deleting but it was only until I was stuck looking for a moses basket that on one of the emails there was an offer showing one so when I clicked the link I saw that this was on offer at a better price. I also bought my baby’s swing from an online baby website as per these emails I received.
There are no in app purchases for this app, it is free which is great. There is not anything extra or anything to unlock. With Bounty, you can continue to use this after giving birth too!
Conclusion:
For me I used both apps during my pregnancy, as both are good in their own way with some great features but fundamentally they offer the same thing which is to track your baby’s development in the womb. I didn’t use all the features in the Pregnancy plus app such as logging in my appointments but it has other features which I did use such as the kick counter which was so helpful (for obvious reasons). I liked how easy it was to access my baby’s development and the reference used to understand my baby’s size each week. The Bounty app is great because of all the articles it is has as nothing ever goes a miss and the information is in abundance which I found really helpful as well as the sample packs I was able to claim throughout my pregnancy. As baby’s development information is in articles sometimes looking for these proved tricky but not to hard to find.
For me I used both apps simultaneously as they both had things I used individually.
Once my baby was born
The below has been categorised so you can understand how I use the following apps.
Baby milestone and information
1. The Wonder Weeks
cost: £4.99
I did a post on baby mental leaps and how the use of this app has helped me tremendously. For more details on this app, how great it is and well other information click here to read all about it. You will be taken directly to the blog post.
2. Bounty
cost: free
As mentioned, this app can be used whilst pregnant and after baby is born so once my daughter was born, I kept this app and continued to use it.
Still the same features and format: I continue to get regular emails and notifications about my baby’s development each week up to 3 months then will be getting them each month. This is still in the same format so nothing new for me to get used to. I still have access to tons of articles which are great being a first time mum and all. I have not bought any parenting books as I didn’t feel the need to.
UK orientated: The information is in relation to things like The NHS and UK government laws etc. with articles about things like Statutory Maternity Leave, Child Benefit and baby vaccinations. – I found this very useful to know and understand especially to be prepared for what to expect.
Sleep Counter: A new feature I noticed with this app is it has a sleep counter
I personally have not used it and don’t know if I will as I don’t really need to but it is good to have should I ever decide to use it. I do not know if it is to time how long baby sleeps or mum sleeps but I do not think I will really use it if I am honest
Conclusion:
For me, I just wanted to keep things simple which is why I continued to use this app after baby was born as I could. I knew I could use it and I trusted the information in it. I did download some other apps like baby centre and emma’s diary but fundamentally they have the same information and I didn’t need 3 apps to tell me the same thing 3x. Upside, after baby is born you still can claim sample packs which are great and still receive emails about special offers – I believe these offers are bespoke so it takes into consideration how old your baby is.
Baby recording
2. Glowcost: free
With this app, it was recommended to me by cousin after I had a meltdown over the phone whilst talking to her because I was worried about how to remember when I feed Soraiya. She told me she used this app and that I might find it helpful. With this app you can record the following:
a) feeding times
b) nappy changing times and whether baby did a wee or a poo
c) sleeping times
What I was doing before I downloaded this app: I was manually writing these down whether it be on paper or in my ‘notes’ app on my phone. The way I was doing it was messy and got confused and sometimes would forget to make a note of it. I was talking to my cousin and she told me the way I was doing it was confusing and to give this app a try.
Recording feeding amount and times: Very simple and easy to record, it is simply a matter of recording whether I was feeding baby my breast milk, expressed breast milk or formula milk and the time I was feeding her. When recording the time you can time it while you are feeding or enter manually – I always entered manually as in the moment of feeding I always forgot to time and when I did I always forgot to stop the timer haha. It is very easy to record how much you feed baby so you have a record.
This feature also has options to record types of solid food to record once you start weaning your baby.
Baby nappy changing details: Again so very simple to record simply select whether, when changing baby’s nappy what mess was made in it whether there was nothing, pee, poop or mixed. If you choose poop the app asks you to confirm what the poop looked like with image examples – which I just loved!
Baby sleep recording: This was easy to log in as this was in a timer format – however for me I found an issue. The method of recording is a timer of which you start and have to end when baby wakes up. I found this problematic as there were plenty of times I forgot to end the timer and the app would think that my baby was sleeping for like 12 hours straight. For me would have been great if you could manually enter in baby’s sleeping period.
Chart view of daily and weekly baby activity: With all 3 of the above, as you record, this is logged onto the system and you can view a chart so you can see a daily and weekly overview of how many times you fed and changed your baby as well as how many times your baby slept. – I thought this was clear and great to use as it allowed me to see a pattern. There is also the option to edit if you notice anything you entered was incorrect which was great too.
Baby milestone/development information:
This information is not as detailed as other apps but what is nice about this app is the baby milestone information. The information is not as detailed but it will pop up for you to view and if baby has reached this milestone you simply confirm and the app logs this for you so the next milestone information will pop up. The app does ask for baby’s date of birth so is able to track it that way.
MOM community/message boards: With this app, the ‘MOM’ community chat rooms is massive. In fact it is so vast that mom’s create threads and discussion boards for each area of interest and so there are loads. There is something new being talked about like every minute so for someone one looking to join in on conversations and topics this is perfect – I say MOM because this app is more intended for use by mum’s in the USA. At first I could tell, you can really once you download this app but I thought it wouldn’t be an issue but once I tried to participate in one of the discussion boards well I just could not understand what they were talking about and could not fit in. I cannot deny that some of the mums were very inspiring and I enjoyed reading what these mums were posting/talking about but other posts/boards were very inappropriate, like VERY.
I think the type of content and information was different in the sense that I understood the type of information we here in the UK is receive is different from what mum’s receive from their health professional in the USA.
Unlock extra features, in app purchases required: This is a free app and I believe there are some features which you can unlock by purchasing. I did not feel the need to unlock anything further as I was using this for one purpose which was free.
Conclusion:
When I first started using this app, I used it religiously. I was always recording everything and as I had the memory of a fish I always looked back at this app as to when I last fed and changed her. Gradually however as time went on, I began to have less time making a note of when I fed and changed her as in that moment it didn’t seem important so now if I am honest I do not use this app.
For those mum’s looking for an easy to record things such as feeds, nappy changes and sleep it is great and easy to use eventually just like me you to may also stop using it or you might not. In terms of the MOM community discussion boards I just couldn’t get in with this mums however other UK mums might and really enjoy this mom community.
Meeting other mums
4. Mush
cost: free
Back to my lovely cousin (who I gotta tell ya, is perhaps the best, she has been so helpful in every shape and form and no question is a bad one… I love you Soraiya’s khala amma)
So I was speaking with my cousin one day and I must have talked about an issue with my daughter’s trapped wind, she told me to download this app as a) I would meet other mummies nearby who could help with my questions b) make mummy friends.
As a new mum, everything is new and scary and well it is nice to get reassurance from another mummy about mummy things.
Connecting: This app is designed for mums in the UK to meet and talk to other mums in the UK. Taking into consideration where you live, you get notifications about when other mums who live local to you join the app for you to start adding as friends so that you both can start talking. – might I add that there are daddies on this app too which I find friggin awesome!
messaging: The app has an inhouse messaging feature which is very simple and easy to use. I still have lovely mummies that I am talking to. – with some mummies I have already exchanged numbers and one mum in particular reached out asking if other mums wanted to join a chat group which I am also apart of. Other mummies do not really reply, some reply late but it is okay. I understand. We as mums are super busy.
Asking questions, sharing concerns, talking about the joys of mother and fatherhood: In this app, you have your own profile so you can post, like a status whatever you want. – I have posted questions about baby and I have posted general mummy things which is really nice. Other mums do the same and if you want to reply back to a question simply leave a comment.
With this feature what is great is knowing that you are not alone and also knowing you can help a fellow mum with their worry. I have seen how other mums have responded to some statuses and it is really nice. The point of this app is to feel like a community and it does. When posting, you can post inline with baby tags such as poo or newborn baby not to mention geographically you can post it in line with a certain area in the UK.
That is what is great about Mush, it takes your postcode and adds you to the cluster of mums who use the app in that post code but also gives you the option to view posts from other mums in other post codes and post to those cluster groups should you wish.
Arranging meets ups: I think that is what the ultimate end goal is, meet mummies on here and meet up to then become great friends! Mush has pre arranged meet ups in areas for mums to simply take part in but I think what is important is that Mush is used as a platform to arrange a meet up. Whether it be a session of some sort, a mum can post about it or if a mum is going to be somewhere to let other mums know to join if they are free. – I have yet to personally meet up as well most of these meet ups that take place are not close to me. I am hoping to meet with 1 mum friend soon but again it is daunting, feels like I am at school again. I think once I meet up with other mummies, it will feel great.
For me, I have yet to find many mums in my area who are happy to meet up for coffee as I can do that now and all I really want is to just sit and have a chat over hot chocolate.
Mum and baby information guides: This app notifies you on the latest guides as posted by Mush. These are very varied and sporadic, aimed at mums with babies at different ages. – I have read a couple of these guides and some are very good reads.
As mentioned this is a free app, so need to unlock anything by paying anything. What you see is what you get.
Conclusion:
The purpose of this is app is great. I have been using it and enjoying it. I am part of a whatsapp group chat with other mums and I do enjoy speaking with them. I do feel like I am part of this mummy community, it is nice. Ultimately I want to meet these mummies face to face and that is not proving to be easy so I think my next step is to perhaps create a meet up and invite other mums to come by to a cafe or something but that itself requires planning and at present I do not have the time for it. Another thing is time, I have a baby, she takes up alot of my time so finding the time in general to use the app, speak in the WhatsApp group heck to even blog is hard
I am eager to speak with loads of mummies, however I have found on this app a lot of mums tend to ghost and do not reply. I am not hating or mad, these mums have joined this app in the hopes of meeting other mummies – I get that and what has happened is, their mum life with baby has kept them busy and they just have not made replying back a priority and that’s fine. It is not a priority for me either.
The app itself, does need updating and tweaking. It is easy to use but the notification feature needs to allows us to have filters because I do not want to be notified each a mum joins who is local to me.
Overall, download this app! As a new mum, just knowing that you can jump onto this app and talk to another mum about something you both are going through is so comforting. I for one have no mum friends so just knowing that these mums are looking for mum friends to is reassuring. Loads of mums have made lifelong friends from this app and I hope I do to.
Many mums tend to download and use loads of apps. I was tempted to download loads and yes I did download a couple but when I started to use them either, a) I couldn’t get into the swing of using them, b) find them hard to use, c) they provided the same information that the other apps I was using.
Recommendations are great! honestly they are as a lot of the apps I used were recommended to me. I felt if someone who is a mum is suing them and found them useful then I most likely will to.
I hope the above has proved helpful in helping you decide which app to download – if you were unsure or did not know. I would love to know what you think of the above listed apps and also if you can recommend me any other mum apps to download.
Lots of love
Yours always,
The Soul Tamer x
the soul tamer 