Is My Baby Growing?

 by Adri Douma

 As a mom to a new baby, my favorite part of doctor visits knowing if my baby is growing by getting my baby weighed and measured to keep track of his growth. When I heard I could weigh my baby with the Withings Smart Kid Scale whenever I want, without a long wait surrounded by coughing kids at a doctor’s office, I was thrilled!  The Withings Smart Kid Scale can also connect via WiFi or bluetooth, allowing you to easily track your child’s growth on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch (coming to Android soon), which answers the all to familiar question of  “is my baby growing?”

Is My Baby Growing?  There’s an App for That!

And Withings has an app that works with the Smart Kids Scale.  The Withings Baby Connect App connects to the Smart Kid Scale to accurately track your children’s growth. You can use the app to track their weight, height, bottles, breastfeeding, and milestones.

The app syncs with the scale to automatically add new measurements and also reports your child’s weight for age percentage.

If you enter your child’s height, it can also calculate his/her BMI.  The app allows you to track the growth of up to 4 children, and assigns the weights automatically. You can even track the growth of twins, although the weights may have to be manually assigned to each child. Syncing the app via bluetooth for the first time was pretty easy, except that the app actually updated the scale, which did take a while. But it’s nice to know that the scale can be updated through the app, so the scale itself won’t become outdated.

And since the baby cradle can be easily removed, you can use it as a floor scale up to 55 lbs. When weighing my 3 and 5 year olds, the Withings scale gives more precise readings with less fluctuation than the other scale we own.

Withings Smart Kid Scale

Features

• Tracks weight in kg., lbs., or oz.
• Provides a stable and secure cradle to place your baby on
• Easily converts to a stand-on scale for older children up to 55 lbs.
•  Features position control technology ensures your child is balanced properly on the scale
•  Can track up to 4 children with the app
•  Syncs automatically
•  Stores your children’s weights through Withings forever
•  Has the ability to share your child’s weight through the app
•  Tracks your child’s weight percentiles based on the size of other children of the same age and gender
• Allows you to log your baby’s feedings
• Includes 4 standard AAA batteries
• Package contains retractable tape measure

Pros

• Easy set-up
• Lightweight, yet safe and stable
• Has a very nice, modern look
• Large, easy-to-read display screen
• Convenient to transport
• You can recalibrate the scale to add a blanket for your baby to lay on, making it reliable and comfortable
• Measures in different  weight calculations – .02 lbs/10g/ .4oz
• Can accurately weigh a squirmy baby… or a wiggly child!
• Percentiles are based off of the World Health Organization’s growth charts

Cons

• Not Android supported (coming soon) and requires iOS 5.0 or later
• The user manual includes only basic set up, although the website is very helpful
• The cradle may be outgrown quickly by larger babies

The Withings Smart Kid Scale is available through Amazon for $179.95.

A Mom’s Perspective

I love this Withings scale! I no longer need to wonder is my baby growing?  It is so convenient that the scale syncs with the app to automatically log each weigh-in. As a busy mom, it’s not always easy to remember which child weighs what, let alone remember to store that information. The Withings app does just that!

One of my favorite features of the scale is that it reports weights in lbs and oz, just like a hospital or pediatrician’s office. As a breastfeeding mom, it’s hard to know how much my baby is getting at each feeding. But simply by weighing my baby before and after a feeding, I can see  how many ounces of milk he’s getting. When I first got the scale, my baby was taking in a little less than 5 oz a feeding and now that has gone up to 6 oz. I find it very reassuring that my supply is increasing as my baby is growing. This is even more important to monitor when you are actively trying to lose the baby weight!

This scale would be an incredible tool for parents whose child has low weight or slow weight gain that requires more monitoring. You can even email your child’s weight updates straight to the pediatrician through the app!

I think Withings has a great product! I would love to see Withings add the ability to track the baby’s sleep patterns and solid foods as well. It would really make Withings Baby Connection the one-stop baby app!

How would you use a connected scale like this?

*  I was given a Withings Smart Kid Scale in exchange for my honest opinion.   All opinions are my own.