Best Parenting Apps for Newborns

Better Sleep for Kids

Youtube Premium

“The most invaluable app I used when the girls were newborns was YouTube Premium. Our children would sleep so well with white noise and the many 10-hour-long white noise videos on YouTube were perfect. Whether the sound was ‘rain on a tin roof,’ ‘vacuum cleaner,’ or ‘TV static,’ it always gave our kids a good night’s sleep.”

Pros: “The benefit of the YouTube Premium app is that you can turn off your phone’s screen and the sound will continue playing (you can’t do this with the free app). This means the battery lasts longer and there’s no light.”

Cons: “Free version has a lot of ads that can disrupt whatever video you’re watching.”

Naomi Harris – Our Kiwi Homeschool

Baby Tracker

Lorestry

“Lorestry is the world’s first consumer product mapped to SNOMED global health codes, creating a useful data set that parents collect and control. SNOMED is a machine-readable set of codes recognized by the National Library of Medicine and more than 80 nations.

The app is the first baby tracker inclusive of the 1:6 children with developmental delays and the 1:33 with congenital, genetic, and rare conditions. The app is mapped to the new CDC milestones and is designed for real-time monitoring. In March 2022 the AAP/CDC issued a special article calling for improved monitoring (which occurs between formal screenings), and the app meets this important call to action.

The app includes several lullabies, including 2 recently composed by a leading cellist from Ireland, and a pianist from Ukraine.”

Pros: “Free app that creates a baby’s life story on a timeline and includes family history, useful lists, reports, and a comfort tracker. No ads. The entire app has been hand illustrated and digitally rendered by a leading artist.”

Cons: “The app does not provide dirty/wet diaper tracking or breastfeeding tracking. Currently only available through the app store.”

Linda Craib – Lorestry

Medication Finder

MommyMeds

“This app is designed for parents to be able to look up medications by prescription name, generic names, or by condition.”

Pros: “It’s really handy when you’re trying to find out what medication you can take while lactating, what similar medications might be more compatible, etc. Many practitioners, even pediatricians, may not have a handle on what’s safe during lactation and what isn’t. This can help prevent parents from having to pump and dump or give up all together. It’s run by the InfantRisk Center – they actually conduct studies on medication safety in pregnancy and lactation.”

Cons: “Costs $3.99 for a 1-year subscription (Less than the amount you’d pay
for a can of formula.)”

Robin Elisse-Weiss – Robin Elisse-Weiss

Baby Tracker

Baby+

“We love this app as it let us create a routine for our baby. It also gives the option to track the child’s progress and capture important moments that can become memorable. One of my favorite features is the interactive graphs, as it helps me and my partner see our child’s growth. It includes their weight, height, and head circumference. Another benefit of using Baby+ is that there are several guides and tips that help learn more about child growth. As new parents, the app has helped us to have a clear overview of the baby’s development.”

Pros: “Very detailed with visuals, graphs and monitoring guides, schedules routine, tracks child progress.”

Cons: The app can lag sometimes, syncing with other phones is difficult, and exporting data from the app is almost impossible.”

Elizabeth Hicks – Parenting Nerd

Calming Sounds

Sound Sleeper

“The Sound Sleeper App is an app that produces white noise to help soothe newborn babies. The app contains a library of sounds, including white noise, which can be played for a specified duration. The app also has a timer function, so that the noise can be played for a certain amount of time and then turned off automatically. The aim of the app is to help newborn babies sleep through the night by providing them with a calming and consistent noise to listen to. And it *actually* works!”

Pros: “I used this app when I had a newborn and also recommend it to clients if they are struggling to get the little ones off to bed. The power of white noise can be almost miraculous depending on how your baby takes to it. I’ve seen incredible success with this app and some parents even report their babies sleeping all the way through the night – giving them some much-deserved rest.”

Cons: “The only downside is the free version (while extremely good) is limited by features. And there is no guarantee that your baby will be receptive to the power of white noise. But you can always try the free version to test it out and upgrade if needed.”

Catherine Wilde – Soul Care Mom

Pregnancy and Baby Tracker

BabyCenter

“Is the go-to app for all expectant mothers out there for all the necessary advice, resources, checklists, and other features to assist you and your spouse along the road. Most importantly, the BabyCenter Medical Advisory Board has reviewed all health information, so you can rest easy knowing you’re in excellent hands.”

Amanda Watson

Baby Tracker

Baby Sparks

“Did you know that a child’s brain forms more than one million new synaptic connections per second throughout the first few years of life? BabySparks was intended to distribute expert-made, bespoke daily play routines for precisely this reason.”

Amanda Watson

Baby and Child Growth Tracker

Baby and Child Charts

“Forget about writing something in pencil on the interior of the laundry room door. You can precisely watch your child’s growth with Growth: Baby & Child Charts, determine exact percentiles, and make sure they’re developing at the appropriate rate. Growth: Baby & Child Charts receives extra points for its user-friendly design and usefulness even though it may not be the most visually appealing app in the group.”

Amanda Watson

Family Tracker

Our Family Wizard

“Apps like this cover the basic calendar and communication functions well, but they also seamlessly share school report cards, photos, expense receipts, requests for payment, medical information, etc. Some parents use it for paying/receiving child support payments, which is great for tracking. There are many other useful built-in functions. For example, if one parent needs to switch weekends, a feature lets them request the schedule change and then documents the other parent’s response. While most of these tasks can be completed with a simple email, the apps keep everything in one place, avoiding confusion and miscommunication. For co-parents stuck in dysfunctional or high-conflict relationships, the app can mean all the difference in the world.”

Pros: “Our Family Wizard is such an effective tool that many jurisdictions around the country mandate parents use it for all communication and co-parenting functions. The data that the app tracks, including text messages, calendar appointments, child support payments, and expense reimbursements, are all admissible as evidence and impossible to tamper with by either party. A friend of ours going through a high-conflict divorce recently told us her ex was harassing her with endless messages via the Our Family Wizard. The court reprimanded him after seeing the evidence in the report the app produced. What a fantastic tool! The saying “A little sunlight is the best disinfectant” applies here.”

Jessica & Jim Braz – Baby Out of Wedlock

Baby Development Tracker

Pathfinder Health

I represent Pathfinder Health — the only baby (age 0-5) app that goes beyond tracking milestones and identifies developmental concerns* (developmental, social/emotional, behavioral, autism) using evidence-based questionnaires recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics

Natalia Sakhnova – D8a Driven

Child Development Tracker

Wonder Weeks

I represent Pathfinder Health — the only baby (age 0-5) app that goes beyond tracking milestones and identifies developmental concerns* (developmental, social/emotional, behavioral, autism) using evidence-based questionnaires recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics

Natalia Sakhnova – D8a Driven