Technology

The postpartum app that every new mom needs.

Article & Photos courtesy of Well Rounded NY

There’s something about pregnancy that makes people go out of their way to be nice, areweright? But then baby comes and, well, the sweetness subsides. Which is such a bummer because you’ve just gone through one of the hugest physical and emotional transformations a human can go through, AND you’ve got a brand new baby at home.

To throw salt in our postpartum wounds, a new mom’s care often stops 6 weeks after baby’s arrival; the U.S. has some of the lowest paid maternity leave rates; 1 in 3 women have undiagnosed postpartum depression; and there’s no standard protocal to track postpartum maternal health outcomes.

How ’bout a little postpartum love?

Maternal health advocate and midwife Rebecca Egbert’s got your back. Her new app, Little Mother’s Helper, and its companion deck of cards (yes, you heard us right), is an educational self-care kit for women from 6-weeks postpartum through the first year. It’s filled with nuggets of wisdom, advice, tips and encouragement to make your journey a little bit more manageable, and organized by different areas of health: body, mind, heart and soul. The app and (deck) covers topics like the physiology of sex postpartum, “boob issues” (mastitis, engorgement, etc.) and even finding your mom wife. The words are few but meaningful, and the illustrations are adorable.

“I see the postpartum period as a crucial time for extra attention, because there is little to no emphasis on care. You’re left to discover the information and what helps on you own,” says Egbert. “If we start to focus on this period now, systemically, we will largely impact and improve the health and wellbeing of future generations to come.”

Below, Egbert shares some of those valuable postpartum nuggets of wisdom to help a new mom’s body, mind, heart and soul.

Body: For the first 4 months postpartum, refrain from doing high-impact activities, such as: running, horseback riding, high-impact workout classes, jump-roping, heavy weightlifting, and sex if it’s painful (there are plenty of ways to be intimate). These activities put a lot of pressure on your pelvic floor, increasing the risk of further weakness. This can lead to long-term or permanent incontinence and other issues. Consult a physical therapist, or trainer who specializes in postpartum recovery for exercise to help you retrain your pelvic muscle in early postpartum months.

Mind: Beyond receive professional care for maternal mental health issues, such as postpartum depression and anxiety, some things you can do everyday to help yourself follow:
● If your baby blues don’t go away within 2 weeks and symptoms intensify, get professional help.
● Get up each day and take a shower.
● Get out of the house and do something, even just one thing, just for you.
● Talk about your feelings and experiences with your partner, friends, and family.
● Allow yourself to do less.
● SLEEP when the baby sleeps! Get adequate rest.
● Be really clear with your partner about how they can help you with chores around the house.
● Eat enough food, drink enough water, take care to get good nutrition
● Make time to get outside and get your Vitamin D!
● Get acupuncture and massage to help your anxiety.

Heart: Being new parents has a steep learning curve. One way to strengthen your relationship is to delegate tasks and responsibilities equally during the first year. Delegate tasks so that you both know you’re in this together, such as chores, negotiating drop-off and pick-up committing to that schedule, and negotiate who does the grocery shopping, arranges childcare, etc. Delegating early will prevent resentment and stress resulting from unspoken feelings of inequality.

Soul: As you filter through the volumes of advice you’ll get, remember to allow your heart to guide you to do what’s best for you, your family, and your baby. Intuition can’t be measured; it goes beyond science and into the soul. The secret: Trust that quiet voice deep inside. Trusting and believing in yourself is key!

This article is by Jessica Pallay, courtesy of Well Rounded NY. Conceived with love by former magazine editors Jessica Pallay and Kaity Velez, Well Rounded NY aims to be the singular pregnancy resource for city-savvy moms-to-be. Through reviews, profiles, expert Q&As, local guides and more, Well Rounded curates the New York City pregnancy and helps its readers come to terms – and term! – with pregnancy in the city.

5 ways to make keepsakes out of your favorite pictures of your kids.

Article & Photos courtesy of Well Rounded NY

Like most parents, I love taking pictures of my daughter and capturing the special moments in our lives. Over the course of the last three years, I’ve taken thousands of photos that have been unceremoniously thrown into a neatly organized cloud – sound familiar? Finding the time and energy to bring the photos to life in a creative way is definitely where I fall short, but thankfully there are so many options available for busy (and tired) parents.

With the holiday gift-giving season in mind, we’ve compiled a list of awesome options for capturing and displaying timeless memories in the form of photo books, digital time-lapse videos, wooden calendars and more! Here’s 5 ways to make keepsakes out of your favorite pictures of your little ones.

1. Tweed Wolf Photo Book
   Tweed Wolf is a fully customizable “Do-It-For-You” photo album service. The album-creating process begins by using Tweed Wolf’s photo uploader (or mail in a flash drive) and then a team of experts steps in to “cull, curate, edit, design and produce” a gorgeous hardcover photo album. Tweed Wolf offers a one-of-a-kind keepsake and the opportunity for parents to cross an item off the to-do list without spending a lot of their own time (signature package retails for $270).

2. Artifact Uprising Custom Wood Calendar
   If you’re looking for a unique photo gift, look no further than Artifact Uprising’s customizable Wood Calendar. The 12-month photo calendar can be created directly from AU’s app and is placed on a 5 x 7 wooden clipboard with a magnet for easy hanging. The refreshingly simple, yet cool design is not only functional, but a beautiful piece of art to look at each day (retails for $29.99).

3. Jessa Flynn Productions
   What could be more timeless than a maternity, newborn or family video shoot? Jessa Flynn Productions creates stunning 1-5 minute videos to capture the unforgettable moments in your life. The final videos include color correction and are professionally edited with music. The video packages include two HD DVDs and an Instagram ready version to share seamlessly with family and friends (packages start at $500).

4. BlinkBuggy
   BlinkBuggy is a service for parents who want to digitally “capture, store, access, and share family memories.” BlinkBuggy’s latest TimeLapse feature allows you to upload weekly videos of your baby and turn them into a short video at the 1-year mark – the service will even remind you to take the videos! The BlinkBuggy family just launched a new photo-sharing app called BlinkPix that prints and ships 5 photos a month to two households of your choosing (BlinkBuggy subscription plans range from $0-$5.99 per month and a BlinkPix subscription is $9.99 per month).

5. Parabo Press: Accordion Zine Photo Magazine
   Parabo Press, a new app from the team at Photojojo, allows you to create unique and effortlessly cool photo prints straight from a smartphone. One of our favorite products is the playful and gorgeous Accordion Zine photo magazine that features 14 photos of your choice and a marble, gold-foiled-printed cover. The accordion design is great for displaying photos for any type of festivity, including birthday parties and baby showers.

This article is by Anna Julien, courtesy of Well Rounded NY. Conceived with love by former magazine editors Jessica Pallay and Kaity Velez, Well Rounded NY aims to be the singular pregnancy resource for city-savvy moms-to-be. Through reviews, profiles, expert Q&As, local guides and more, Well Rounded curates the New York City pregnancy and helps its readers come to terms – and term! – with pregnancy in the city.

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Article & Photo courtesy of Well Rounded NY

Planning for baby made a bit simpler with the help of this one app.

As any woman who is trying to conceive will tell you, when she decides that she’s ready to have a baby, she wants that baby now. After all, weren’t we always warned that we could get pregnant at the drop of a hat? But for many of us, things don’t always go as planned. A simple online cry for help brings up countless forums on prime positions, pregnancy tests and the dreaded two week wait, but very little of the info we all need to understand our bodies and fertility and do our best to get those families started.

There are countless apps in the market to track your period and determine peak days of ovulation so when a few friends recommended that I download one, I headed to the web to learn more. After experimenting with Fertility Friend and Glow, I found the perfect match with the simple and user-friendly design of Kindara. Not only does Kindara educate you on FAM, the Fertility Awareness method, but it also serves as a useful journal of your body’s changes throughout each monthly cycle (this is super helpful if you require fertility treatments in the future–your doctor will want to know as much about your cycles as possible!).

Once you understand the signs to look for (cervical fluid, cervical position and basal body temperature–I own this basal thermometer), you simply enter the data into your app and toggle to the chart to search for signs that your body is nearing ovulation. You might find that although you have a typical 28 day cycle, you aren’t ovulating until day 18 and have been timing things incorrectly all along. Or maybe your cycles are as inconsistent as can be and you want to visit your OB/GYN to find the right tips or supplements to help you regulate your ovulation.

After using Kindara for nearly one year now, I’m a huge fan of the simple daily data entry, alarm reminder to check your basal temperature / cervical fluid and the option to connect with other users, whether to view their charts or share your own as a way to learn more about each cycle. You can also add other measurables to indicate days when you had a few too many drinks (this can affect the next day’s temperatures) or to keep track of a vitamin or supplement you’ve added to your routine. The notes function allows you to add more detailed info (cramping on the left side? feeling really moody?) so that all the specifics you might need to know are in one place. An added bonus is keeping track of when you are intimate with your partner. If I notice that it’s been a number of days, I’ll go out of my way to make time for my husband and I to be together, no matter how many emails are waiting to be answered (or what time of the month it is!).

And according to FAM, keeping track of these changes in your body isn’t just helpful when you’re trying to conceive. It’s also a great tool for those looking for the opposite but not interested in condoms or the pill. While not 100% fool-proof, many women swear by timed intercourse as a natural form of birth control.

Whatever your path to becoming a mom or holding off on babies for now, you’ll go into it with a new and empowering understanding of your body. We’re wishing you well!

This article is by Liz Kerins Pacheco, courtesy of Well Rounded NY. Conceived with love by former magazine editors Jessica Pallay and Kaity Velez, Well Rounded NY aims to be the singular pregnancy resource for city-savvy moms-to-be. Through reviews, profiles, expert Q&As, local guides and more, Well Rounded curates the New York City pregnancy and helps its readers come to terms – and term! – with pregnancy in the city.

Article & Photo courtesy of Well Rounded NY

Bellybuds founder Curtis Williams explains why baby benefits from music while still in the womb, and gets us started with the perfect playlist.

Music is ever present in our day-to-day lives, and with today’s technology, we can listen to it anywhere. Many of our babies start taking music classes at just a few months old, so it makes perfect sense that we would want to start playing music to our little ones as early as possible. Especially considering the benefits.
As most moms can attest, there’s a pretty short list of things you can do to interact with the baby before birth. But playing music to baby in the womb is a great way to facilitate bonding. Listening to music is something that you can do together, and it’s really fun to feel baby respond to a song that she likes (especially if it’s a favorite of yours). This is also a terrific way for dad to bond with baby and to feel involved with the pregnancy, especially if he’s the one creating the playlist.

Now I’ve never been pregnant, but my wife has twice, and I know it’s definitely not the most relaxing experience. There’s so much to do to get ready for the baby, on top of your regular life, plus you’re probably tired, nauseous and more. Playing music to baby in utero gives mom a chance to relax and reduces stress. Just plug in, put on some easy listening or classical tunes, take a few deep breaths and have a couple minutes of “me” time.

There’s reason to believe your baby is benefitting too. A 2008 study suggests that the fetus responds with increasing speeds of habituation, leading them to believe that the baby is learning in utero. Why not help stimulate early development by playing baby some music?

While many parents-to-be are interested in how baby responds to music while in the womb, a 2013 study suggests that babies can learn a melody they hear while still in the womb, and recognize it after they are born. This means that if you start a routine early, playing certain songs to baby on a regular basis, you can play those same songs to baby once born to soothe and calm him. I think most parents will agree that anything that has the ability to stop a baby from crying is worth trying!

Finally, playing music to a breech baby might even help her to turn. Being told that your baby is breeched can be pretty overwhelming, especially if you have a specific birth plan. Playing music to baby in an attempt to get him to turn is something that you can proactively do. This very process worked for my wife, and we got the whole thing on video at the OB-GYN.

Now hit play.

“Rainbow Connection” by Willie Nelson
“You and I” by Dolly Parton
“All You Need is Love” by The Beatles
“Count on Me” by Bruno Mars
“Dream Baby Dream” by Bruce Springstein
Serenade in G major, K. 525, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”: II. Romanze: Andante, from Bellybuds’ “Mozart Mother and Child”
“Isn’t She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder
“Long Time Sun” by Snatam Kaur
“So What” by Miles Davis

This article is by Curtis Williams, founder of Bellybuds, courtesy of Well Rounded NY. Conceived with love by former magazine editors Jessica Pallay and Kaity Velez, Well Rounded NY aims to be the singular pregnancy resource for city-savvy moms-to-be. Through reviews, profiles, expert Q&As, local guides and more, Well Rounded curates the New York City pregnancy and helps its readers come to terms – and term! – with pregnancy in the city.

Nine Naturals loves moms and moms-to-be, but that doesn't mean we've forgotten about all the dads out there. In celebration of the upcoming Father’s Day, we are excited to share a wonderful new website that you are going to love introducing to the dads in your life: Fatherly.

Co-founders Michael Rothman and Simon Isaacs created Fatherly when they realized that, while there was an abundance of parenting content for moms, there was no specific material geared towards expectant dads! And so Fatherly, a parenting resource geared towards guys-who-happen-to-be-dads, was born. Guy-approved topics range from evidence-based relationship insights, parenting “hacks” for making Dad's life easier as well as more light-hearted dispatches from around the web. Fatherly is committed to making the parenting process easier, whether it’s offering a spot-on recommendation or a shameless laugh to help dads focus on spending more quality time with their kid and less time freaking out.

So, why would Dads love Fatherly? Because of entertaining, but also helpful, articles like this:

1) Wearable Tech is Coming For Your Kids: Perfect for the tech loving dad - six wearable pieces of tech to keep track, in every sense of the word, of your kids, from monitoring your baby’s breathing and sleep quality to keeping tabs on your toddler’s movement.

2) Hypnotize A Screaming Baby in Five Seconds: Find the perfect distraction to calm your screaming baby and give your ears some blissful peace. Guess what song and artist soothes this particular baby?

3) Baby Sitting + Weight Lifting = This: Newborn baby keeping Dad away from the gym? Keep in shape with tools found around the house. Replicate with caution (and, perhaps, consult with your significant other first).

4) Great Moments In Pro Sports Paternity Leave: Babies + sports = all of dad’s favorite topics in one article.

5) Get Kids To Bend To Your Will With This Simple Grammar Trick: Remember to ask them “to be or not to be” rather than “to do or not to do.”

Pass along to all the dads in your life and don't forget to sign up for the Fatherly Newsletter!

When it comes to information, the experience of pregnancy, especially your first pregnancy, is like drinking water from a firehose. You're seeking information, you're filtering information and you're deciding whose information is useful or not.

Pregnancy apps are a blessing for the modern pregnant woman! But which pregnancy mobile apps are helpful and informative? Which pregnancy apps meet your needs and interests?

We at Nine Naturals have some experience with pregnancy and some pretty serious experience with being tethered to our smartphones. So we decided to assemble a list of the best pregnancy apps for moms-on-the-go who want the best, most current information about their pregnancy at their fingertips.

1. Baby Time. Wondering if you're in labor? Created by doctors and nurses at Vanderbilt University, Baby Time tracks the intervals between your contractions, while also measuring their intensity. Doing this legwork for you makes preparing for delivery much easier. The app can make excellent predictions as to the stage of labor you are in at any moment.
2. 50,000 Baby Names. For every expecting couple, deciding on a name for baby is an exciting and sometime-fun / often-difficult item on the baby prep checklist. This app simplifies the name search with its extensive range of search options, including origin, meaning, and popularity ranking.
3. I’m Expecting. This might be the most essential app to download once your pregnancy has been confirmed. It populates a helpful list of tasks for you that you'll appreciate, from monitoring your symptoms to managing your birth announcements.
4. Pilates for Pregnancy. Mindful of your need to keep fit when pregnant, but short on time for the gym? This app comes to the rescue, with several Pilates-based workouts adapted to each trimester of pregnancy.
5. mPregnancy. A great app for your male partner in pregnancy! mPregnancy is the best mobile app for dads-to-be in everything they need to know about the baby on the way, in more masculine terminology that they'll appreciate.
6. Prenatal Smart. What foods should you avoid when pregnant? Which dishes are safe for a developing baby? Questions like these are answered with ease by this nutritionally helpful app.
7. My Pregnancy Today. Turn to this app for informative and detail updates on your baby's development from day to day. It employs great graphics and videos to not only monitor baby and your pregnancy symptoms, but also to connect you with other expecting mothers due when you are.
8. CineMama. This is a fabulous mobile app for moms interested in capturing cute pictures of their baby bump as it grows each day. The app tracks your bump and stores movies and pictures of your pregnant loveliness for each calendar day.
9. What to Expect. From one of the most renowned pregnancy brands, the What to Expect app provides personalized daily updates on the development of your baby and recommendations on how to take care of yourself during pregnancy. This app was our founder's top go-to apps during her pregnancy.
10. iPregnancy. This is the ideal app for meticulous tracking about anything and everything related to being pregnant. A good catchall app that addresses the gamut of pregnancy topics, it can even create 2D and 3D images of your baby as she develops.

Which is your favorite app? Did we forget to include your favorite one? Let us know in the comments!

Babies Ruin Bodies (WeSeekJoy): A lovely ode to a post-partum body.

Oral Care During Pregnancy (BoldSky): "Don't forget to brush your teeth" becomes a lot more important when you are expecting.

Dads “Get Pregnant” for Hilarious Calendar (Babble): Wisconsin dads pose in realistic home birth scenarios. It's funny, it's an unambiguous quake in socially acceptable portrayals of masculinity and it's for a good cause. (Buy it here!)

Full-body pregnancy simulator will help train medical personnel at local hospital (KSBY): Cool scientific advancement that medical personnel are now using to better train for pregnancy and childbirth!

8 Things Every Pregnant Woman Secretly Wishes Her Husband Would Say (TheStir): "Yes, honey, I'll skip the game and we can watch the birthing DVDs from your midwife." What mom-to-be wouldn't want to hear that from her husband (and more)?

Your iPhone and iPad can really come in handy during pregnancy and with a newborn. Here's our review of the 8 best free apps for Pregnancy and Baby, in our humble opinion.

During Pregnancy:

1. CineMama - This app was just recently released. It allows you to keep track of your growing bump by allowing you to store your baby bump photos by calendar day!

There are a ton of pregnancy apps out there, but we found two apps from the popular pregnancy resources - What to Expect When You're Expecting and BabyCenter.com - to have the best content. These apps will keep you current on your baby's growth and development in the womb. They will send you an alert every week to tell you about how your baby is growing and developing inside you. It's fun to have this information at the tip of your fingers so while waiting in line or on your commute to work you can scan these for information about pregnancy and your baby. They're also great resources for health and diet during pregnancy.

2. Pregnancy Tracker from What to Expect When You're Expecting - Apart from providing helpful information about your pregnancy, you can keep a photo log of your growing bump through this app.

3. My Pregnancy Today from BabyCenter - Not only is there a day-by-day tracking of your baby's progress, this app has a helpful weekly checklist to keep you on track with health, nutrition and preparing for your baby's arrival! It also has cool videos on birth and newborn care.

4. Full - Term Labor Contraction Timer - Better than a stopwatch, this free app will help you time and record contractions, including start time, end time, and frequency. This is a great app to upload on your husband's phone as well!

After Baby is Born:

5. iBabyLog - This app is great for keeping track of your newborn's schedule - it covers feeding, diaper changes, nap times, pumping and sets reminder if you are putting your baby on a schedule. For working moms, the best part is that this information can be synced to different devices so if your caregiver inputs information, you can get updates throughout the day on your iPhone or iPad at work.

6. White Noise - Newborns find a lot of comfort in white noise and it helps soothe them, since it replicates the sound they heard while in your belly for 9 months. This free app provides different white noise sounds like rain falling and ocean waves, which you can play while out with your baby and you don't have your sleep sheep handy.

7. iSitter - This is a brilliant free app that allows you to simulate a baby monitor. All you need are two iPhones or iPads or one of each. This app allows you to sync two of these devices so that you can leave one in the crib with the camera pointed at the baby and take the other device with you to monitor the baby's sounds and movements. It's great for travel when you don't want to bring the monitor with you.

8. 23Snaps - Don't feel like sharing your baby photos with the entire world on Facebook? 23Snaps let you create your own private social network to share photos of your baby with close friends and family.

9. Amazon Mobile - Need diapers, wipes or need to restock on Nine Naturals? Use the Amazon app to order quickly everything you need right to your doorstep.