Trixie Tracker: Counting Everything for Baby

December 15, 2009 by Cathy Ribble
Filed under: News, Product News

The Trixie Tracker website has helped Allen Fawcett and his wife count every diaper, feeding and nap since they became parents three years ago. The pair of economists are parents of a three-year-old son and a three-month-old daughter.

The couple knows for a fact they have changed exactly 7,367 diapers for their son and 969 for their daughter. The website also helps the couple track their children’s sleeping time. Their daughter averaged 15 hours of sleep a day during her first month. That was much more than her older brother. It’s also way above other Trixie Tracker babies.

The launch of iPhone apps has enabled people to count the things which are important to them much more easily. Some choose to count calories as they record their food. Other people count their exercise minutes, while some track Christmas gift shopping and spending.

“People look at us and say, ‘My goodness, how do you spend so much time on this?’” Fawcett said. “But each record takes just a few iPhone clicks, so it’s really not as time-consuming as it looks.”

Tracking baby’s progress has come a long way since the days of periodic visits to the pediatrician. I personally remember the days of tape measurements for head circumference and the length of little arms and legs, as well as “balancing” scales instead of “digital.”

Every few days we hear of new iPhone apps which will make life easier. Well, I don’t know if it actually makes life easier, but all the information and knowledge is certainly making life interesting! If we “know” it, then we become “responsible” for doing something with that knowledge, right?

“As a pediatrician and researcher, I applaud anything that gets parents more interested in their child’s development,” said Dimitri Christakis of the University of Washington. Christakis studies the impact of technology on early childhood. “But I would hate to find out that a parent is spending an hour a day entering data on their child’s development, especially if that hour of data entry comes at the expense of spending an hour with your kid, or an hour recharging your battery so you’re better able to engage with them in the future.”

The ability to recognize patterns in your child’s behavior can be a very helpful tool. As with most things in life, I dare say it’s all about balance. Before you set out to be the king or queen of your baby’s stats, take a few minutes to set some goals. What information is most important? Most helpful? Most interesting?

It is true that iPhone apps can help you interpret your baby’s cry. Electronic toys and computer software programs can record how your child plays and even compare those results against so-called normal development patterns.

I wonder if there is an app for counting the number of times we tell our children we love them, the number of times we tell them they are special, the number of times we read a story, the number of times we hug their necks?

Are we counting what’s really important?

For more information on counting everything for baby: Trixie Tracker.

For iPhone app on interpreting your baby’s cry, check the iTunes Store for Cry Translator