FAQ

1. How does BabyPi work?

BabyPi uses machine learning to learn your baby's patterns and rhythms. Machine learning is a rapidly growing field that is being applied to increasingly complex tasks, from recognizing faces and language to controlling self-driving cars. Many advances in this area have come through mimicking the human brain with artificial neural networks which "learn" in ways very similar to humans. BabyPi uses such artificial neural networks to learn your baby's sleeping, feeding and diaper changing patterns and gradually becomes more accurate as it has more data to learn from. In other words, the app knows how tired your baby is in the same way that you do - by learning from their past behavior. Since your baby's patterns can change quite rapidly as they develop, we currently use up to one month's previous data for this learning process.

2. How do I synchronize accounts?

Once you have created an account for your baby using your email and password, you can use this information to log in from the app on any phone or even from your desktop computer by going to www.babypiapp.com. Simply download the app for your phone and instead of registering a new account, choose "login" from the menu to log in from your existing account.

3. How do I use the Dashboard?

The Dashboard shows you your baby's status at a glance. Tap any place on the sample Dashboard below for help.

4. How do I use the Log Chart?

The Log chart shows you your baby's history at a glance and enables you to add or change events with a tap. Scroll forward and backward in time by swiping left of right. Zoom in or out with two fingers. The red line is the current time. Tap any place on the sample Log chart below for help.

5. How do I use the timers?

The timers are designed to be used with a single hand. You can press and scroll up and down on any of the timers to adjust the time or you can tap for a single increment.

6. How do I log my baby's sleep?

We've made logging as simple as possible. You can log a previous sleep event by tapping the round awake/asleep button. You can also time and log sleep live by long pressing the round awake/asleep button when they sleep or wake. You can also just tap the appropriate time and place on the log chart to quickly create or change an event at any point.

Note that if your baby is awake for less than 10-15 minutes between sleeps, it's best to log this as a single long sleep. If your baby "dream feeds" without really waking up, we recommend logging a single sleep event (i.e. don't bother logging that they woke up and then slept again).

We've also recognized the difficulty of keeping track of night sleep and made a simple solution. Simply log one long sleep from when you put them down until you wake them up for the day. Then tap the long sleep on the log chart and you'll be able to give an estimate of how long baby was awake in the night. Notice that the sleep displays as slightly red if this is the case.

7. How do I log my baby's feeding?

As with sleep, you can log a feed event by tapping the feed button. You can time a feed by long pressing the button when they start and end a feed. You can also just tap the appropriate time and place on the Log chart to quickly create or change an event.

With feeding we're mainly interested in how much baby ate rather than simply time spent feeding, although these are usually closely related. As a breast-feeding mom, you probably have a good idea of how much they ate and we recommend you developing a consistent pattern for logging this. If, for example, you feel that they were on the breast for 15 minutes, but only drank the volume that they would usually drink in 5 minutes, it makes more sense to log a 5 minute feed. You can also use the estimated milk volume as a guide for this, especially if you express and have a good idea of the volume your baby is drinking. You can log this quickly via the Log chart once baby is finished feeding.

If baby is bottle fed, we have an option in the settings which will translate time into milk volume. Using this you can enter the exact volume (not being concerned about time spent feeding). The important thing in logging for BabyPi to learn your baby's patterns is consistency. We don't recommend logging short "snacks", as you mainly want BabyPi to learn when baby is ready for a regular feed.

From four months onwards BabyPi allows you to also log solid feeds. This you can log simply in terms of time spent eating or you can again come up with a consistent pattern where a 5 minute feed is a small feed, a 10 minute feed a medium and a 15 minute a large feed. If you'd like you could measure spoonfuls and then log consistently (one minute equals 4 spoonfuls?) BabyPi will learn the pattern of when you give solids and when you give milk and by pressing and holding on the prediction text, it will even tell you what they would usually have at this point in their routine.

8. How do I log diaper changes?

A single tap on the round diaper button will log a diaper change at the current time. If you want to log a poop or a general note, press and hold the button for these options. You can also log a diaper event with a simple tap at the appropriate time and place in the log chart. We recommend logging a poop whenever there is a significant poop in the diaper. BabyPi will learn how often you change the diaper and even how often your baby poops and give you a warning if baby may be close to getting constipated.

9. Why are my predictions not accurate?

BabyPi is dependent on your input to know the significant events in your baby's life. If you fail to accurately log these, it will unfortunately be the case of "garbage in, garbage out". Also please be aware that it takes time to learn your baby's patterns and that there are obviously events about which BabyPi can have no knowledge that may impact predictions. You can see how much data is currently being used to make predictions by pressing and holding on the prediction text. Feel free to also contact us on the contact page if you would like someone to look into your specific case.

10. Is BabyPi medically approved?

We don't currently have professional medical endorsement, and in a case of concern for your baby we recommend you see a medical professional. The medically safe averages are based on research referenced on kellymom.com and www.parentingscience.com. As with any statistical averages, your baby may be outside the norm and still be ok, but we would recommend checking this out carefully. If you are not carefully logging volume of milk drunk as a breasfeeding mom (but only time spent feeding), we would not be too concerned about the volume estimation as this is very difficult to estimate.

We are studying the data we receive through our users with the hope of giving sound statistically based medical advice. We hope, for example, to give warnings when baby's are teething (change in sleep, feeding, poop patterns) or when they might genuinely be sick etc. These changes will also be detected through an artificial intelligence / deep learning process.

11. What do I do if my baby is in the red and refusing to sleep or eat?

BabyPi is basically telling you that usually in their routine they would be ready to sleep or eat at this point. If they're fussing and not wanting to sleep, it may be that their routine is changing or there may be other factors involved (new environment, noise, sickness, pain etc.) In most cases if they've been in the red for 15-30m they should eventually sleep. Sometimes baby's can "push through" without having their usual nap - BabyPi will adjust its predictions at this point. If their routine is changing, just keep logging their sleep and it will take BabyPi a few days to learn their new habits. It will continue to give you useful guideline feedback to their current tiredness (or hunger).

12. Do I need to log sleep, feeding and diaper changes for BabyPi to work?

No, we've deliberately kept these independent so you can choose, for example, to only log sleep and still get predictions based only on this. Since these are all closely related though, BabyPi's predicive power can be increased through logging these together. This investigation will be part of the ongoing improvements to the app.

13. From when can I start using BabyPi?

You can start using BabyPi any time after birth, but its predictions become most powerful once your baby settles into a routine from 2-3 months onwards.

14. Can I request a feature?

We would value any feedback on how you use the app and what could be improved. We will work towards adding popular feature requests. Visit our contact page to get in touch :)

15. What does BabyPi cost?

BabyPi is currently free as far as complete logging and synchronization of data across devices is concerned. In order to keep BabyPi ad-free, we have a small subscription charge of $1 a month ($5 for 6 months, $10 unlimited) to receive predictions.