- An application that can record various data related to childcare, such as "feeding," "elimination," "baby food," etc.
- A lot of ideas to support childcare that tends to be solitary, such as "making memories" and "words of praise.
- Information sharing and notification functions" provide strong backup for childcare by couples and relatives.
The "Breastfeeding Notebook" introduced here is an application that allows users to record various childcare-related data, starting shortly after childbirth. Information can also be shared between spouses and relatives, and the app is packed with other innovations to support childcare. The app won the Excellence Award in the "BabyTech® Award Japan 2020 Breastfeeding and Eating Category. The BabyTech.jp editorial staff interviewed Kazunori Ikude (hereafter, honorifics omitted) of Karada Note Corporation, the developer of "Lactation Note," to learn more about the app, its development process, and future development.
(We spoke to...)
Body Note Co.
Kazuki Oide
Support childcare not only by "recording data," but also by "making memories" and "words of praise.
Editorial:Thank you very much for your time today. Could you begin by giving us an overview of the "Lactation Notebook" and its features?
Birth and Appearance:Although this application is called "Breastfeeding Notebook," it can record not only the time and amount of "breastfeeding" and "milk by bottle," but also general childcare data such as "elimination," "baby food," "snacks," and "body temperature. The application can be shared not only by mothers but also by fathers, grandparents, and grandparents.
Overall, "Nursing Notebook" features a cute design.
Editorial:There are so-called "childcare record apps" from other companies, but what are the features of "Breastfeeding Notebook"?
Birth and Appearance:One feature not found in similar apps is the ability to record "I did it! and "memories" are recorded in a set of photos. First time Daddy Paddled Me! My debut in the bathtub," "I'm early! Crawling! You can change the title freely, so you can use it as a family diary. We also have an application for grandparents called "MagoNote," to which the contents of "I did it! can be shared with them. Although "Breastfeeding Notebook" can also be used for sharing, we created this separate application in response to requests from users who did not want to share detailed daily childcare records with their grandparents (......), but still wanted to share photos and other memories. Because "MagoNote" specializes in sharing "I did it! The advantage of "MagoNote" is that it is very simple and easy to operate because it specializes in sharing "I did it!
*(Editor's note: The "Done!" functionality was discontinued in December 2022.
I've got it!" More and more fun family memories are being added to the
Editorial:It is true that cute pictures of grandchildren would be more appreciated than detailed child-rearing data. By the way, a feature of "Breastfeeding Notebook" is that when I actually used it, I was surprised to see a message saying "Congratulations on your first breastfeeding! I was surprised to see a message saying "Congratulations on your first breastfeeding! Isn't this also a rather unusual feature?
Birth and Appearance:Looking at Twitter and social networking sites, we often hear that childcare is rarely praised for moms, and that it is taken for granted ...... that they do it. So we introduced the app in the hope that it would support moms and give them peace of mind, even if only a little.
Editorial:How many variations of compliments are there?
Birth and Appearance:Messages will appear at the right time according to the record of breastfeeding or bottle-feeding. Also, "Happy 1 month" and "Happy 3 months" images will appear on each month's birthday until the child turns 1 year old.
Editorial:This is another great feature of many apps that only record childcare.
Such a nice "compliment" is displayed.
Extensive renewal was carried out to encourage more people to use the product for a longer period of time.
Editorial:Can you tell us how this application was developed?
Birth and Appearance: When this app was released on July 30, 2014, the company was offering several apps related to pregnancy and childcare. The "Lactation Notebook" was one of that series (Editor's note: The company has released a series of other function-specific apps, including a "baby food app" and a "labor pain record app"). Until three years ago, when I joined the company, "Lactation Notebook" was, as the name suggests, an app that specialized in breastfeeding. The contents that could be recorded were no different than today, but the main contents on the top screen were related to "breastfeeding.
Because we pushed out only "breastfeeding" in this way, there was a tendency for the application to be used only by mothers ....... In fact, we added a "sharing function" before the renewal of the app, but because the screen when the application was launched on the shared father's side was also a "breastfeeding timer" and the like, we received feedback that the shared side did not know what to do or what to look for. In addition, since breastfeeding only lasts for a few months from birth to the start of weaning, users had the impression that the app was for use from birth to about the 5th month of life.
Therefore, we renewed the application in its current form with a timeline (time axis) so that not only mothers but also fathers can use it for a long time after the breastfeeding period, and with other menu buttons. This is the history of the renewal.
Editorial:So you have made a big change in the impression from a "single-function app" to a "multi-function app"? What was the evaluation as a result?
Birth and Appearance:Immediately after the renewal, some users who were accustomed to the old simple screen commented that it was more difficult to use and that the buttons were easier to press than before. However, as a result, both the number of users and the duration of use have increased since the renewal, and we believe that this change has been well received.
Top screen of the former "Lactation Notebook
Information sharing and notification functions" support various aspects of childcare
Editorial:What are your users' impressions and how many downloads have you received?
Birth and Appearance:About 70% of our users are mothers, and we would like to increase this number to about half for fathers and half for mothers in the future. Some of the positive comments include, "It's simple and intuitive," and "I use it because the icons and other features look prettier than other child-rearing record apps. As for areas for improvement, some users said they would like to be able to print and bind the records they keep with the app. Some said that they chose the app ...... after comparing it with other childcare record apps that do this, and some said that being able to print and bind the records was a motivator for them, so we would like to work on this in the future.
Editorial:Do you have any comments from daddy users?
Birth and Appearance:Even when they are at work, they receive notifications when they feed their children or change diapers, so even when they are away from home, they can see the flow of childcare and feel like they are participating in childcare. Another commented that when she leaves her child with her father and goes out, she receives a notification of his childcare record, which gives her peace of mind knowing that he is taking good care of her child.
Editorial:Yes, it is reassuring!
Birth and Appearance:One use that we had not envisioned was the use of a "memo column" for each of the various "care (feeding, elimination, etc.)" items. Originally, we had imagined that users would write down the situation when they took care of their child, such as "I left a little rice" for meals, or "The poop was loose" for elimination, etc. However, we found that fathers are writing messages such as "Good job" in the memo column of the childcare record kept by mothers... However, we found a post on Twitter by a user who said, "Dads are writing messages like 'Good job! This is exactly the kind of communication that is possible because we share the same app, and I thought it would be nice to officially include such reaction and comment functions in the app .......
Each item has a "memo field" that can be freely filled in.
Editorial:How about comments from grandma and grandpa users?
Birth and Appearance:Mom users commented that it was nice to be able to share childcare data with their own mothers.
Editorial:If you share the "Lactation Notebook" with your own mother, you can get advice when you have problems with childcare!
To encourage even more people to use the "Breastfeeding Notebook," we want to promote the use of the system by fathers.
Editorial:What are your plans for the future?
Birth and Appearance:It's about improving the cognitive aspect of "Breastfeeding Notebook. People think it is mainly used by mothers, so we would like to raise awareness that it is a childcare application that can be used by anyone, including fathers, grandparents, and grandmas. We are still in the planning stages to increase awareness among fathers, but the appearance and design of the app gives the impression that it is for mothers only, so we are considering a design that is a little more father-oriented.
What I personally would like to see is a function that allows communication between fathers and mothers who share the application. Currently, I think there are still many fathers who install "Breastfeeding Notebook" at the behest of their mothers and just look at it (......). I would like to help fathers take action and get involved in proper childcare.
After the interview
As one would expect from a product that has been in release for seven years, its ease of use is down to the smallest detail. I never felt any stress while using it. The ease of viewing the text and icons, the ease of inputting data, and the fun of adding photos of memories to the "I did it! and the fun of "I did it!" as the user adds more photos to their memories, the company's desire to support child-rearing as much as possible can be felt. The company is also planning to add a communication function between app sharers in a future update. This app may become even more indispensable for child-rearing couples!
Breastfeeding Notebook Official Website
https://corp.karadanote.jp/archives/application/%e6%8e%88%e4%b9%b3%e3%83%8e%e3%83%bc%e3%83%88
