The first time you’re handed your newborn, especially if you’re a first time mum, you’re bombarded with information. No sooner have you glanced down at the newest addition to your family and decided upon ‘whose nose he’s got’, than he’s snatched away by the midwife and hoisted onto your breast. Tired and exhausted, getting your baby to latch on for the first time can be an uncomfortable moment. To make things worse, for the next few hours the nurses will be hovering at your bedside every 20 minutes asking how many times he’s fed? For how long? Has he had a wee yet? Has he disgraced himself? It’s a hugely overwhelming experience.

With Dexter, I recorded every little thing in a notepad for his first 6 weeks; The hours he slept, the hours I slept, the length of time he spent guzzling from each boob… my scribblings were more thorough than one of Craig’s tax returns! Every time Dexter made a move for a feed, I’d quickly grab the tv remote, press the ‘i’ button and make a note of the time. If the remote wasn’t to hand I’d get in a panic and convince myself the world was coming to an end. I put so much pressure on myself to record every moment that Craig and I started to bicker, and my initial experience of breastfeeding was utterly hellish.

It’s exactly this kind of experience that registered nurses and lactation consultants Cindy Leclerc and Jana Stockham have sought to address with their brand new iPhone app Nuunest. They’ve been working with families since 1995 and have helped nurse more than 20,000 babies - they’ve seen firsthand how parents have been inundated with information regarding newborn care, and want to make tracking their babies progress as simple as possible.

With an incredibly user-friendly interface, Nuunest allows parents to easily track a newborn’s feeds, diapers and development. You create your babies unique profile and enter in information frequently to get a full record of how he or she is doing. There are also a number of handy features such as timer to record how long you’ve spent expressing milk on each breast, and pop-up notifications (can be disabled at any time) to offer pearls of wisdom and gentle reminders on a variety of post-natal topics.

It really is a case of the-more-you-dig-the-more-you-find with this app. There’s a whole host of health information for both mum & baby including a very useful section on babies nappies and the little presents they might leave you in their first few weeks. For mum, there’s advice on how to cope with fatigue, post-natal depression, c-section healing, sore breasts, and when it’s safe to resume business-as-usual in the bedroom.

It’s true there are a number of similar apps available, but I did find Nuunest particularly easy-to-use and appreciated its simple no-nonsense approach. As you might expect, some of the language is very american (diapers, moms etc) but it’s still a very handy tool for first-time parents, particularly those who are planning to breastfeed.

If you’d like to try the app for yourself, I have 5 promo codes to giveaway (usually $4.99 in the App Store). Just enter via the very simple rafflecopter below. For a sneak peek of the sort of advice you’ll find on the app, Cindy and Jana also have a really useful blog, and you can also show them some love on Facebook and Twitter.

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway