I'm due next week and everyone talks abo

Tonight, keep one record — and keep only four things in it.

You already have the app problem solved in the worst way: three apps, none running. Here is the version that fits a school week and an extra person in the house.

1) What you tried vs. what to do instead

Three tracking apps. Pick the one you opened most recently, delete the other two, and set it up so an entry takes under 20 seconds. If it takes longer, the second caregiver will stop using it and you will be back to guessing.

A notebook nobody else opens. Keep it — but move it to the fridge, and use it as the backup when the app is down, not as a parallel system.

The real question — how long, and which numbers. Track at this level of detail until your maternity unit's newborn check says they don't need it any more; that's their call, so ask them. After that, daily precision stops buying you anything, but you never stop *noticing*. The log earns its keep for three reasons only: the handover when someone else has the baby for two hours, the questions a clinician will ask you, and catching a change early.

The only four things worth writing down:

1. Feeds — roughly when, and how the feed went.
2. Wet nappies in the last 24 hours — counted, not estimated.
3. Poos — colour is the signal, not just the count.
4. Anything that felt wrong — one line, in the caregiver's own words, with the time.

Not in the log: sleep hours, mood scores, "how long until I could sleep again", app badges, streaks.

The numbers the record is read against (NHS, "Breastfeeding: is my baby getting enough milk?", checked 5 October 2026 — nhs.uk/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/breastfeeding-problems/enough-milk/):

• First 48 hours: expect only 2 or 3 wet nappies.
• From day 5 onwards: at least 6 heavy, wet nappies every 24 hours.
• From the fourth day: at least 2 soft, yellow poos, about the size of a £2 coin, every day for the first few weeks.
• Weight: steady gain after the first 3–4 days. It is normal for a baby to lose some birth weight in those first few days.
• Those figures come from the NHS breastfeeding page. If you are bottle-feeding or combining, your own maternity unit's discharge sheet is the number that counts for you — get theirs on the phone this week and use it in place of mine.

Signs the baby is getting enough, that cost nothing to track: you can hear and see swallowing, cheeks stay rounded rather than hollow, the baby is calm during and content after most feeds, comes off the breast on their own, their mouth looks moist afterwards, and your breasts feel softer afterwards. Your nipple should not end a feed flattened, pinched or white.

The nappy trick worth knowing tonight (same NHS page): put 2–4 tablespoons of water into an unused nappy and use it as your reference for what "heavy and wet" feels like. Disposable nappies hide how wet they are; this takes 60 seconds and it is the difference between guessing and knowing.

Set it up in 20 minutes, tonight, before anything else: pick one app, delete two; write the four fields on a card and stick it on the fridge; do the water-nappy test with one nappy; put the pen or the phone charger next to the hospital bag so whoever holds the baby writes it, not you.

Handover script — screenshot this:

> "Only four things go in the log: feeds, wet nappies in 24h, poos, and anything that felt wrong with the time. If the baby is hard to wake, is not feeding, is breathing fast or grunting, has gone floppy, has a temperature of 38°C or above or feels cold to you, is throwing up green, or something just feels wrong to you — call me first. If I don't pick up, call the maternity unit. Don't wait to see if it settles."

Phone script to your maternity unit — screenshot this:

> "I'm [weeks] weeks pregnant, my last review was Wednesday. I want the newborn numbers for going home: how many wet nappies and poos they expect in the first days, what they want written down, your out-of-hours number, and what should bring us back in."

2) What to avoid

• Do not download a fourth app. The third one already did not survive a week.
• Do not let an app score become a verdict on your milk or your baby. A percentage that drops at 11pm is not a clinical fact. Behaviour and nappies are the facts.
• No medicine changes from any app, tracker, forum or advice — yours, the baby's, or anyone else's. Nothing starts, stops or changes without your prescriber or the label. If someone hands you a suggestion about a medicine, ask your maternity unit or pharmacist.
• No prescription medicines bought online, and no powders, blends or "milk-support" supplements you cannot read a full ingredient label and an expiry date on. Anything you would not be willing to show the midwife — do not give it to the baby.
• No dosing from a tracker, a chart, or from me. Feed and nappy numbers are for counting and for reporting. They are not instructions to increase or reduce anything.
• Do not skip a feed, a wake-plan, or a night feed because a chart said a number was "enough". Ask the unit for your baby's own numbers.
• Do not treat a good day as proof the next one is fine. The log is for the bad day, not the good one.

3) Red flags — when to stop DIY

Call your local emergency number, or go to your maternity unit's labour and delivery, now — do not wait at home first — if any of these happen to you: vaginal bleeding or leaking fluid; a severe headache with blurred or flashing vision; pain high in your belly or under your right ribs; sudden puffiness of your face or hands; fast or difficult breathing; severe abdominal pain; a fit; fever with being too weak to get out of bed; a fall or a blow to your abdomen; or the baby moving less than usual — call the same day for a reduction you have not seen before, and never go to sleep ignoring it.

After the birth, the same rule, and these count too: bleeding that soaks more than 2 or 3 pads in 20–30 minutes, or bleeding that is increasing rather than settling; fever, shivering, belly pain, or a foul-smelling discharge; pain, redness or swelling in one calf, or breathlessness or chest pain; severe headache with visual change; and — just as urgent — feeling not yourself, frightening thoughts, or anything that makes you unsafe to be left alone. Do not leave yourself alone with the baby if any of that is true.

For the baby in the first weeks — call the unit or your local emergency number now, without waiting for a fever to appear:

• Not feeding at all, feeding poorly, or noticeably fewer feeds than before
• Hard to wake, floppy, or only moves when you touch them
• Breathing fast, grunting, sucking in between the ribs, or going blue
• A temperature of 38 °C or above — or a temperature that is low or keeps changing. A normal temperature does not mean a newborn is fine.
• Throwing up green or bile-coloured
• Pauses in breathing, a weak or high-pitched cry, or a bulging soft spot
• Fewer wet nappies in 24 hours than their own pattern, or far less than half their usual feeds
• Anything at all that makes you feel this is not right

The decision tree, for the days when you are running on no sleep:

1. Is any red flag above present, for you or the baby? → Call. Now, not after the next feed.
2. No red flag, but something is nagging? → Write the time and the exact words in the log, phone your maternity unit, and let them decide. "Something felt off and I can't say why" is a legitimate reason to call.
3. No red flag and no nag? → Feed, count, write four lines, sleep.

One thing I need from you: which country or city you're in, so the red-flag lines above can name your actual maternity unit and out-of-hours number instead of a generic one.

This is not a diagnosis and not a treatment plan. I can't tell you whether your baby is feeding well, or whether anything in your pregnancy needs a change — only a clinician who examines you and your baby can, and the numbers above are general guidance, not a threshold that applies to your family. If anything here conflicts with what your maternity unit told you, theirs wins.

Coverage note — 未确认 / cannot confirm: the nappy, poo and weight figures above are from one NHS page (Source: NHS, "Breastfeeding: is my baby getting enough milk?", checked 5 October 2026, nhs.uk/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/breastfeeding-problems/enough-milk/). The red-flag lists for you and for a newborn come from the WHO and Royal Children's Hospital emergency guidance on file here (Source: rch-cpg / who-iris). Your local unit's own discharge numbers and phone numbers are 未确认 — I could not look them up without knowing your country.

Success in the next 24 hours is small and real: one app running, two deleted, four fields on the fridge, a wet-nappy reference made once, the handover script saved in your phone, and your unit's out-of-hours number written on the bag. Nothing here promises an easy night — but by tomorrow you will be recording four numbers a day instead of arguing with three apps.