The Sleep Log 2.0 app

Sleep is often a major issue in the first few years of parental leave. While this settles down for many families after a while, it is often the case that the nights have to be short and often interrupted over longer periods.

If the help of a specialist is then sought (which is highly recommended), they usually cannot work magic either. Specifically, it is first necessary to find out what the affected child's day and night rhythms are before it is clear where to start. In addition to sleeping time, this usually includes eating habits, when the child is put to bed and how often it cries.

So you're given a sheet of paper and then usually asked to keep a meticulous log for a fortnight. One more task in a situation where you are almost certainly already overworked.

Even with the best will in the world, filling out a sleep log like this is usually quite a challenge. It is often in another room, has already been crumpled up several times and is beautifully decorated, in the best case only with coffee stains. If an entry is due in the middle of the night, there is definitely no pen to hand and it is also a stroke of luck to get the right line when you are half asleep.

If you're lucky, the whole thing will be done after one attempt, the specialist will give you the necessary tips and your family will find peace again. However, it may well be that several attempts and therefore several protocols have to be completed.

As we were in the latter position ourselves, we came up with the idea of implementing this entire process via an app and it has been available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store since March 2021.

You may already have guessed that digitally recording such a log via an app has many advantages, not only for the parents but also for the people analysing it. Sleep and crying times as well as the number of meals are automatically added up per day and analysed in a visually appealing PDF (based on the paper version designed by Zurich Children's Hospital). It can then be sent by email, SMS or WhatsApp, for example, or simply saved and printed out. This also saves extra time and costs at the next midwife or doctor's appointment.

The Sleep Log 2.0 is deliberately designed to be very intuitive and can usually be used immediately after downloading without the need for operating instructions. You can also find all the functions here in the 2-minute YouTube clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nmXFVxKnZcor see above).

Effectively, this means you can record your child's bedtime, sleeping, crying and eating habits at the touch of a button for an unlimited period of time. And what if I don't have my device to hand at the moment? That's no problem either, as each entry can be entered, adjusted or deleted manually.

In order to ensure data security, it was very important to us that all data collected is only stored locally. This means that the only place where anything is stored is on your mobile device. This also has another advantage because the data can also be recorded in flight mode. This means that you don't have to feel uncomfortable placing a device with Wi-Fi reception next to you on the bedside table because of possible radiation.

Of course we hope that you are, or will be, blessed with a child who sleeps through the night. However, if you find yourself in a situation where such logging becomes necessary, we are convinced that you will save at least some nerves, time and money if you use the digital sleep log 2.0.

We, the coding dads, are always happy to receive questions, input and feedback from our users and are constantly trying to implement these and thus optimise our app even further.

Severin Baschung and Marc Friedmann

Links to the app:

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