Former Winnipegger Kim Westdal-Appelt and baby Aspen. "Babies want structure," she says. (Handout)

Baby Nanny Helps Mother Cope — Software Tracks Infant's Habits

By DAVID SCHMEICHEL

From The Winnipeg Sun, November 14, 2005.

Ever feel like you need a computer to keep track of your newborn's sleeping, eating and diaper habits? You aren't alone.

Former Winnipeg resident Kim Westdal-Appelt has developed the first software application in Canada to help new parents monitor trends in their infant's napping, changing, feeding and even fussy times.

Called The Baby Nanny, the software summarizes the data in easy-to-read reports and graphs, allowing parents to get a quick handle on their newborn's behaviour patterns.

Westdal-Appelt, now of Kelowna and owner of Mumcha Products, said she was driven to create the software after the premature birth of her daughter, Aspen, a year ago.

Identify patterns

"I wanted to be able to identify her patterns, to make life easier for both of us. But there was nothing available," she explained, adding keeping track of Aspen's activities on scraps of paper was a chore.

Westdal-Appelt contacted Winnipeg software design firm Terracor, and almost immediately the project was underway.

After a year of development and testing, The Baby Nanny was released in October. Before it was available for sale Westdal-Appelt was fielding calls from expectant mothers and parents of newborns.

"I knew there was a demand for a product like this," she said. "To be honest, I just developed The Baby Nanny to meet my own needs, but I'll be delighted if other parents find it as useful as I do."

Putting a baby on a sleeping and eating schedule increases a mother's feeling of success and reduces stress, said Westdal-Appelt.

"What babies want most of all is structure. When parents don't know their baby's routine, they don't know what their baby wants and the baby cries."

Coping with an unhappy baby can contribute to the "baby blues"-- a mild form of depression experienced by 50% to 80% of new mothers -- or the more debilitating postpartum depression, which affects 3% to 20%.

While the treatment of post-partum depression is publicly debated by actors Brooke Shields and Tom Cruise, Westdal-Appelt says her product offers a non-medical solution.

The Baby Nanny costs about $23. A free trial version for computers with Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP is available to download on the company's website. For more information, call Westdal-Appelt toll-free at 1-877-826-4110 or check out www.thebabynanny.com.

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