The first of these is for pre-natal use and is very basic.
It's the Kick Chart recorder.
Then there is the newborn feeding and sleeping recorder.
If you aren't planning on using a bracelet or similar as a memory aide for breastfeeding, this may be a useful alternative. I have put in an imaginary entry at the top for you to see how I would use the form.
The originals of each of these were created in MS Excel, but WP doesn't support the format. If you are so inclined, drop me an email and I can send through the spreadsheet for you to alter as you see fit.
My experience.
I found recording feeding times, lengths and sleeping times to be extremely useful for when our midwife asked about the baby's patterns. Prior to writing things down I was pretty much guessing at what we were actually doing. So it should be no surprise that as soon as Miss OWW had a week of next-to-no weight gain shortly after joining us I began to write everything down. It gave very quick clarity to the fact that she was sleeping for long periods and therefore was not feeding as often as she needed to for optimal growth.
There is no need to panic about these things, but being forearmed allows you to see clearly and without the memory haze that can accompany a new baby. It also allows for patterns to be viewed clearly and for you to track alterations in behaviour that may be the cause of difficulties. While I never needed to show my scribblings to our midwife, I always had them available for her expert eye if things had not improved.
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If you have other resources or links to similar ideas or a story to share, please feel free to leave a comment.
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