For those looking to conceive, track a pregnancy, or plan for the birth of their child, we reviewed some free apps that can help guide you and your partner through this life stage. These apps can be useful for both the pregnant individual and any involved partner to better understand what exactly is going on.
Full Term
This app has a stopwatch to track a mother’s contractions while she’s in labor and also includes a kick counter. Users can also track the intensity of each contraction by simultaneously using the intensity tracker and contraction length tracker. Full Term’s “Quick Reference” section also includes information on topics related to prenatal care, labor and delivery, and postnatal care. Free to download on iOS and Android.
Ovia Fertility Tracker
After entering basic information on the mother-to-be’s health, including age, date and length of the last period, and the length of her period cycle, the Ovia Fertility tracker creates a personalized ovulation cycle calendar. The app also has a space for users to add the dates that they last had intercourse, the consistency of their cervical fluid, the food and liquids consumed, hours slept, and other detailed health information. It helps, that the app is quite comprehensive in functions and information. Free to download on iOS and Android.
Baby Bump
The Baby Bump app allows expecting parents to track important information throughout the pregnancy. Parents-to-be simply begin by inputting their baby’s size and weight data. The app also includes general educational materials on the daily and weekly stages of pregnancies. The daily and weekly stages include picture depictions of the baby during particular stages of growth, the mother’s bodily reactions, recommended activities to do or shy away from, and health tips. The app also includes forums to meet and engage with other expecting parents, a function to create private groups and send private messages, a journal, potential baby names, and a kick counter. The information that parents input is also made into convenient graphs and charts to track changes over time. Parents can also make a plan for the day of the birth as well as use the app’s inbuilt contraction counter. Free to download on iOS and Android.
Baby Center: Pregnancy App & Baby Tracker
Baby Center is a comprehensive app that helps track your baby’s movements and growth patterns while in the womb. The app includes such functions as a kick tracker, a searchable database that shows which activities are safe or not safe to participate in, a contraction timer, and other educational tools. Users can also plan for their child’s arrival by creating a baby registry of necessary items as well as watch the childbirth class videos in the “Tools” section of the app. These classes cover such topics as the signs and stages of labor and steps to a positive birth. When opening the app, users will start on the “Calendar” page which shows what week of pregnancy the user is on, as well as the facts surrounding the baby’s development and other important information surrounding that particular stage. Users can also interact with other people on the app through Baby Center’s community forums. Free to download on iOS and Android.
Baby Tracker
In addition to attending to your daily necessities, parents will most likely also want to keep track of milestones, activities, and information on their little ones as well. This app aims to make it easy to track important information on your child. The tracker allows parents to record feedings and breastfeeding patterns, diaper changes, sleep, growth, and allows you to keep a photo library of your findings. The app also makes it easy for parents to input and track medical history. This information from the app can be copied to other devices and synced with other phones for easy sharing and access for yourself and others. Free to download on iOS and Android.
This article appeared on p. 19 of beijingkids July issue.
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