Source: Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

Being a first-time parent is tough. You’re tired all of the time, you have a whole host of new responsibilities, and you’re figuring it all out as you go. Raising a child is both difficult and highly rewarding, and the newborn days can be exceptionally rough.

Parenting for the first time is always a challenge, but today, there are helpful apps that can make it a little easier to handle. Downloading these apps on your smartphone is a simple way to record your baby’s important and info and manage your day-to-day life with your new addition.

The Wonder Weeks

Ever wondered why your baby is suddenly much fussier than usual for a few days, even when their routine has stayed the same and they’re totally healthy? They might be having a “wonder week,” which refers to a period of rapid development that occurs several times throughout the first few months of a baby’s life. During a “wonder week,” your baby might cry more often and wake up more frequently throughout the night.

The Wonder Weeks app reveals which developmental milestones your baby reaches during a given week. It provides parents with tons of educational information on every “leap.” You can also use it to create personalized schedules. There is even a “leap alarm” feature so that you’ll always be ready for upcoming leaps!

Milk Maid

It’s perfectly normal for first-time moms to have lots of questions about breastfeeding. New moms who are often on the go will want to know the simplest way to manage pumping and storing breastmilk. The app Milk Maid allows moms to enter information about pumping sessions, keep track of how much they have pumped, and note where they’ve stored the bottles and bags. Noticed any issues with your milk supply that could be indicative of a health problem? The Milk Maid app can help you share this data with your doctor. You can export everything you record in the app to a spreadsheet, which you are free to share with any medical providers.

 Sit or Squat

Family road trips always require some advance planning, but when you’ve got an infant coming along for the ride, you’re going to need some extra preparation before packing up the car. In fact, as Kindred Bravely explains, you’ll need to fill your diaper bag with a number of important items one of which is a portable charger to keep your phone ready to roll.

The Sit or Squat app can help you plan where to stop and use the restroom. You can search for the nearest public restroom while driving, and you can also view photos and ratings of each public restroom on your route. This is especially useful for parents who want to make sure that there are clean changing tables wherever they choose to stop.

 Cozi Family Organizer

Every new parent wonders how on earth they can keep their house clean while taking care of an infant. You find yourself putting off those basic chores that you and your partner used to finish in a couple of hours every Sunday afternoon. The laundry piles up, the sink is filled with dishes, and you can barely muster up the energy to vacuum. Cozi Family Organizer is an app that lets you enter the schedules of everyone in your household, make to-do lists and grocery lists, and even store your favorite recipes. You can see your whole family’s daily agenda in one place. Plus, the app lets you capture family memories to look back on together in the future.

As a new parent, it’s hard to stay organized, keep track of your baby’s important milestones, and communicate clearly with your partner when you’ve got so much on your plate. Sometimes, you’ll wish that you had a personal assistant to take care of it all — but if you can’t hire a secretary, these convenient apps are the next best option.

Guest Writer: Josh Moore @ diaperdads.org