Baby apps are everywhere — but their use can carry hidden dangers

When she was trying to conceive, Clara* used the Flo app to track ovulation. When she fell pregnant, she downloaded the 'What to Expect' app to find out how big her baby was.

Then, when she had her daughter, Clara used Baby Tracker to log all her nappy changes, plus Feed Tracker to record breastfeed times. And, after her mothers' group friends started raving about it, she also downloaded Wonder Weeks to follow developmental changes.

Clara is one of many mums continuously using mobile apps on their parenting journey. It's a common trend, and it's basically a modern way of doing what parents have done forever: keeping track of their baby's feeds, changes and sleep.

But while some new mums swear by these apps, others find they carry downsides, according to a recent Australian study that explored the role of baby-tracking apps in parents' lives.

The dark side of using parent apps

The increased 'appification' of everyday life is often assumed to be a positive thing, increasing convenience, connection and control.

It's true that for new parents or parents-to-be, the ability to quickly access health information or seek social support via their smartphone is invaluable.

For Clara, downloading that slew of baby-tracking apps onto her phone helped reduce the 'mental load' of remembering feed, nap and nappy-change times, too.

But while Clara and other participants in the study said using apps made them feel empowered and competent, not all parents have the same experience.

The study found that some parents linked the use of these apps to an increased sense of judgement and isolation.

This is partly because the use of phones and baby apps, particularly by mothers, is often assumed to distract them from bonding and responding to their babies' cues.

This isn't actually the case — in fact, research shows it may actually help alleviate stress and help them develop stronger relationships with their children — but it seems some mums find judgy comments or side eye from loved ones makes them second-guess their app use.

This judgement of parents' app use often comes from older family members, whose experience of parenting long predates the rise of the smartphone, the research found.

It can also come from partners who do not share the same responsibility and involvement in caregiving and who are therefore not aware of the usefulness of digital support tools.

Is gendered app design a problem?

There's another (potential) hidden downside to these baby apps: many of them focus on women's bodies and experiences, and therefore assume all their users are female.

In order words, these apps are gendered in their design.

They're also quite gendered in the way they're used. Since women frequently use fertility and pregnancy trackers prior to a child's birth, new mothers are often accustomed to using apps to support their parenting journey in a way fathers or non-birthing parents may not be.

These often-gendered patterns of app use can promote ongoing differences in the  amount of time parents spend learning about early parenting, which can have lasting impacts on how they divide parenting responsibilities. In other words, they can further divide the load of parenting along stereotypically gendered lines.

But it's not always bad news, the study found.

Depending on the features of the baby-tracking apps and how parents use them, these apps have potential to actually allow for more equitable involvement in parenting and better communication between parents.

One father interviewed in the study described how he’d sometimes access the shared baby-tracking data to gauge how his partner's day had been going.

If the data suggested their infant had been unsettled, he would pick up a takeaway meal on the way home, ensuring his partner could rest and he could take the baby once he returned.

The way you use apps matters, too

The specific ways parents use baby-tracking apps can also determine whether they're a positive or negative, the research found.

Early parenting is a time of great emotional upheaval and major life changes for any parent, and mothers are often particularly vulnerable due to the physical strain of pregnancy and childbirth, and the subsequent challenge of establishing breastfeeding.

Using baby-tracking apps can amplify any emotions they may be experiencing — positive or negative.

One way app use can contribute to a negative state of mind is when women come to see their app data as a reflection of their worth as a parent.

That is, for some users, the data they record through tracking apps can become a measure of their breastfeeding 'success' or 'failure'. The frequency of breastfeeds and wet nappies are commonly used by health professionals as markers of how well breastfeeding is going, so it's easy to see how some mums come to fixate on these figures.

Since breastfeeding is promoted as the optimal way to feed babies (who hasn't heard the term "breast is best"?), mothers who are unable or unwilling to keep trying to breastfeed often feel judged by health professionals.

The act of these health professionals reviewing baby-tracking data with them can make women feel like their love, their effort to care for their baby is reduced to numbers.

Using baby apps for good

The better news: when baby tracking takes place in the context of the family, it can be a positive experience.

The digital format of baby-tracking apps often makes tracking more convenient compared to pen-and-paper records, resulting in longer overall app use and duration of tracking.

Parents in the study also reported that long-term tracking of their infants' routines gave them a sense of control through the ability to identify patterns over time.

For example, one single mother described how the ability to see her baby’s sleep duration increasing month-to-month gave her a sense that things were improving, even when parenthood could seem relentless.

Baby-tracking apps that allow data-sharing between multiple caregivers also allowed parents who were separated from their partner and baby during the day to stay mentally involved in home life.

For example, one dad explained that he found the baby-tracking data crucial to understanding his infant son's sleep and feeding routines. The app helped him to learn how to structure his child's day — without having to rely on his partner to explain it to him.

Temporary use, long-term impacts

Regardless of what kinds of baby-tracking apps parents used, their use is often short-lived, the research found.

Once parents feel they have a sense of routine and competence — which app use often helped them with — baby tracking stops, often around the nine-month mark.

Yet while app use was temporary, the parental role divisions and responsibilities these practices emphasised were often more permanent. 

For parents keen to avoid the traditional gender division of baby care, being aware of the patterns such apps can emphasise can help them actively negotiate them.

(On the other hand, pragmatically choosing to divide parental responsibilities along gendered lines is fine, as long as both partners are happy with this and each other's respective contributions are recognised and valued.)

Whether or not you're on the baby app bandwagon, knowing the pros and potential cons of these apps can give you a starting point for deciding how much (and in what ways) you want to use them. 

*Not her real name. Clara is a fictional amalgamation of several different participants.

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.