Before you read on – in the spirit of transparency: I think it’s important for you to know that I have had a relationship with the Nara brand for some UGC and sponsored social media videos before, but the content (as always) is 100% my own honest opinions and thoughts – they don’t even know about this blog post as far as I know. You can trust what you read here – I only share products that I personally use, genuinely love, and believe could make your life a little easier or more enjoyable.
Those early days of newborn life are a blur. I remember with my first, William, the hospital had us logging on paper every feed and diaper change so we continued that once we got home – or should I say TRIED to continue that. I would love to blame it on sleep deprivation, but I think it was sleep deprivation mixed with figuring out how to be a parent for the first time and the fact it wasn’t anything special – just a simple piece of printer paper, but my husband, Eddie, and I misplaced that dang paper more than I’d like to admit (in hindsight – it was on the dining room table or kitchen counter almost every time) and with our sleep deprivation we weren’t exactly gracious with each other. We weren’t arguing about whose turn it was to get up and feed William in the middle of the night or whose turn it was to change a diaper – we were arguing about who lost the tracking paper! haha
At some point I figured enough was enough. It was 2021 and SURELY someone had a tech-solution to this! We may have been misplacing that paper, but we weren’t misplacing our phones so I set out to find a tech-savvy way to make this parenthood thing easier. I got to searching and even tried a few apps that were mediocre, but then I found Nara Baby. *insert heart eyes emoji here*
Bonus Tip: We didn’t argue about whose turn it was to wake up with baby in the middle of the night because we came up with a shift-system where if it was 9pm-2am, I would get up with the baby (I’m a night owl) and if it was 2am-7am, Eddie would get up with the baby (he’s an early bird).
We did this with both babies and I can not recommend this enough – saved us from so many potential middle-of-the-night debates.
Nara Baby is a free app that not only allows you to track feeding and diapers, but you can also track other things like pumping sessions, sleep, growth, milestones, routines, medical, and even baby’s firsts! Features like History overview and 1 day, 7 day, and 14 day trends help you keep a higher level view on baby’s overall wellbeing.
You can customize your view as well so if you aren’t breastfeeding you can simply toggle that off and it won’t pop up for you. Same with any other category you aren’t interested in utilizing.
The Nara Baby app even has an Apple Watch expression so it’s truly on-the-go.
Feedings Tracking
One of my favorite features within the Feeding section is a reminder! I get a pop up alert on my phone every 3 hours (I have it turned off for nighttime) to remind me that it’s time for baby David to eat. Sometimes he is perfectly content and not ready to eat yet, but it lets me know that he will be hungry soon so I better be in a place where I can mix a bottle or get home to get one if I’m out without one.
Reminders are available as one-time or recurring and are available for feeding, napping, pumping, and even a custom option!
The feeding options include bottle feeding (both breast milk and formula), breastfeeding, combo feeding (breast and bottle), and solid feeding.
Bottle Feeding
You can select breast milk or formula (or toggle one off if you’re exclusively using one or the other), log the start time of the feed, the amount, and add notes if needed. It even offers a handy suggestion to auto-fill in the previous ounce amount from the last time your device logged a feeding.
Breastfeeding
The breastfeeding section has built-in timers for each side AND even logs which was your last side fed on. You can also manually adjust the start time as well and the section will show total feeding time of that session and offers a place for notes.
Combo Feeding
Within this section you can toggle between breastfeeding and bottle feeding and see the same features listed above, but in one handy feeding log instance.
Solids
This handy solids section has an area to select “breakfast”, “lunch”, “dinner”, or “snack”. You can log the time and add the food and add notes, if needed. Such a great tool once baby starts those solids!
Diaper Logging
The diaper option gives you options to log “wet”, “dirty”, or “dry”. You can also also multi-select “wet” and “dirty” in the same instance. When you select a dirty diaper you can additionally log the color and texture (things the pediatrician will ask you about in those early days) and log if it was a blowout. There’s a toggle to note if baby has a diaper rash as well. You have a section where you can add Notes in case there is anything else you want to note.
Pumping Sessions
Pump sessions let you log how long you pump (it even includes a handy timer!), the amount from each side (or a toggle to log the total amount instead), and a section for notes.
Sleep Sessions
You can start a timer or add time in manually to help keep track of naps and overnight sleep sessions. Being aware of baby’s natural routines can help you refine those wake windows and really get a consistent sleep experience for baby (and you!).
Growth Tracking
This area offers growth tracking (weight, height, head size) and milestones. I like inputing my son’s growth stats from his latest checkup in here so I can see them at a glance if I ever am curious or need the info.
The milestones section is a wealth of information! You can click in and based on baby’s age it will tell you milestones that you can be looking for with your baby. I LOVE this feature as it helps me know what to look out for so I’m better prepared for the questions at pediatrician check-ups. This features goes all the way from 2 months to 5 years!
Routine Tracking
This area lets you track routines like bath, nail trimming, play time, story time, tummy time, vitamins, and outdoors time. I can’t be the only one who feels like they just cut their baby’s nails, but somehow their nails are long again? This can help with keeping on top of a routine so that you don’t find out their nails need a trim when you are getting scratched by a feeding baby.
Health Tracking
This health tracking section has been AMAZING when we need to give either kid some medicine or log their temperature. We are able to log when we gave them their latest dose of medicine so we aren’t guessing and re-dosing too early or (for once a day repetitive things like antibiotics) wondering if we gave it to them yet or just thought about giving it to them.
You can also log vaccines here if that is something that is helpful to have on-hand for your babe.
Baby Firsts
This spot is a great place to write down all those memories – first time rolling over, first time pulling to standing, etc.
It Takes A Village
Raising kids really takes a village so one thing I love about the Nara Baby app, vs some other apps or the method of keeping the log on just your phone, is the ability to share with other caretakers. Nara Baby is a hub you can share with all of your baby’s caretakers so no one is out of the loop. For us, we have ours shared with myself, Eddie (my husband), and Cassie (our nanny). No more texting each other “Did he eat when you were watching him?”
Baby and Postpartum Care Made Super-Easy
Nara Baby’s slogan is “Baby and Postpartum Care Made Super-Easy” and let me tell you, that is true! When we brought home William the pandemic was still raging and we were isolated and feeling overwhelmed and ill-prepared. I can honestly say that when we started implementing the use of Nara Baby into our routine, the fog lifted a bit and we thought “you know what, we can do this!”
Now I’d love to say Eddie and I never argued again after we downloaded and implemented Nara Baby into our routine, but unfortunately this isn’t a Disney princess movie. So while I can’t say we never argued again after that faithful day in March 2021, I can say we have never argued again about knowing the latest about baby’s eating or changing history.
We’ve used Nara for four years now – 2021 and 2022 with William, and now 2023 and 2024 with David. It is still a go-to app that I am WILDLY grateful for.
To the entire Nara team, in case you ever read my post: THANK YOU! Your app holds a special place in our hearts. May all the traffic lights be green for you on your morning commute and may your pillow always be delightfully cold at night. <3
Check out my video review here:
You can download the Nara Baby App:
Let me know how it goes!
I truly hope this app brings peace-of-mind to you and streamlines your communication like it has our family.
So let me know how it goes – I’d love to connect, hear if this tip helps your family as much as it helps ours, and see your cute kiddos!
Follow me on socials, tag me in your socials when you try out Nara, and even pop into my DMs to reach out – you can find me @appmanda on all platforms!