Charting Multiple Schedule

One of the hardest parts of parenting twins and multiples is keeping track of who ate and slept when. It seems like babies are always crying and someone is always asking, "Now when did I feed her?" and "Didn't she just fall asleep??" Now, some new tools are here to help with tracking babies' feeding and sleeping schedules.

Sleep Patterns

Raleigh, North Carolina web designer Ben Macneill has developed something called the Trixie Tracker. Macneill's online database allows you to record your babies' sleeping patterns. It then takes this data and charts it for you. You get a graph, a "dashboard," and a summary of the day's sleep patterns.

MacNeill happily confesses that he is a data geek. "Once you find out what your baby's natural rhythms are, you aren't going to fight those rhythms. It augments your parental instincts." But for most parents, the most apparent benefit of Trixie Tracker is in not needing to depend on parental memory when it has been socked a whammy by sleep deprivation.

Medication Intake

MacNeill launched the online tool in 2006. Since that time, 10,000 parents have signed up with the website to get a helping hand with their kids' medication intakes, feeding schedules, diaper consumption, and of course; for tracking baby sleep cycles, its original purpose. Any parent who has tried to keep track of more than one child's antibiotic treatment schedule can relate to just how valuable this tool can be to harried mothers or fathers. The records accumulated on the website can also be printed out for the pediatrician or caregiver.

MacNeill named Trixie Tracker after his 6 year-old daughter. You can try the Tracker for a two-week free trial period. If you like it, you can sign on for a 6 month period at a cost of $24.95. Some parents share their password information with the children's caregiver, to help get a more rounded report of their children's day.

For parents who are on the go, MacNeill is in the midst of developing a mobile version of Trixie Tracker, but meantime, there are already some similar applications on the market. IPhone for instance, has applications that can record this type of children's data. One such application is called BabyBrain and it costs $4.95. This application was designed specifically to help parents with newborn twins and multiples keep track of feeding schedules. Total Baby by Andesigned, costs $4.99 and performs a similar function.