Baby log: feeds, diapers, sleep and crying, kept on your own device

Diapers in the first week

The Office on Women’s Health (OWH), a federal office, says you can tell if your baby is getting enough milk by the number of wet diapers in a day and by whether your baby is gaining weight. This is its chart of the typical numbers, which it credits to the American Academy of Pediatrics. One day is 24 hours, and OWH says it is fine if your baby has more.

• Day 1: 1 to 2 wet diapers. The first bowel movement usually occurs within 8 hours after birth, and is thick, tarry and black.
• Day 2: 2 wet diapers and 3 bowel movements, still thick, tarry and black.
• Day 3: 5 to 6 wet disposable diapers, or 6 to 8 cloth ones, and 3 bowel movements, looser and greenish to yellow.
• Days 4 to 7: 6 wet diapers and 3 bowel movements a day, soft or loose, and yellow.

OWH says the absorbency of disposable diapers may make it harder to tell if the diaper is wet, to use the chart as a guide, and to talk to your child’s doctor if you are concerned about your child not getting enough milk. It also says that after the first day a baby will feed a lot, at least 8 to 12 times or more in 24 hours, and that very young breastfed babies do not eat on a schedule. We read this on OWH’s page Making breastmilk on October 9, 2026. They are that office’s words, shortened; we added no numbers of our own, and this page does not compare your counts with the chart: it does not know how old your baby is.

How it works

• Right now has six buttons. One tap keeps a feed at the breast, a bottle, a wet diaper, a dirty diaper, a sleep or a stretch of crying, with the time it is now. Above them the page says how long it has been since the last feed and the last diapers.
• Add the details, under the buttons, is for how long it lasted, how much was in the bottle, something from earlier, or a note.
• What I kept lists the entries, newest first. Change puts one back in the boxes; Remove takes it out.
• The last 7 days counts each day: feeds, wet diapers, dirty diapers, and the sleep and crying you put minutes on.
• Print my sheet makes a one-week table with your notes and room for your questions.

What this page can’t do

• It measures nothing. It only knows what you tap and type, and a feed nobody wrote down is not in the counts.
• It does not say whether your baby is getting enough milk, sleep or anything else. It does not know your baby’s age or weight. Weight is checked on a scale at a visit, not here.
• It does not diagnose anything, in your baby or in you, and it is not medical advice.
• It cannot remind you. It has no alarm and sends no message, so it cannot wake you for a feed.
• It is not shared. Two people on two phones keep two separate logs; the page cannot join them. If more than one person looks after the baby, use one device, or keep the paper sheet where everyone can write on it.
• The log does not move to another phone or computer by itself. Print it, download it, or use My data on this device to carry a backup across.
• You do not have to write everything down. If keeping the log makes the days harder, stop; nothing here depends on it.

Where the idea comes from

Counting diapers and feeds is ordinary advice for the first weeks: OWH’s chart above is meant to be used that way. For crying, MedlinePlus says a baby’s health care provider can often diagnose colic by asking about the baby’s medical history, symptoms, and how long the crying lasts (Colic and crying - self-care, read October 9, 2026). Many baby apps keep such a log on a company’s computers. This page does the counting and keeps nothing anywhere but here. It is not any clinic’s official form, and no doctor, nurse or lactation consultant has looked at it.