There are certain times in every newborn, infant, or toddler’s life where it may be helpful or even vital for parents keep some kind of record of their child’s eating, sleeping, or eliminating patterns.
For example:
- Newborns: If you’re keeping track of your newborn’s wet and soiled diapers to make sure they are getting enough breast milk / formula and that their bowels are working properly
- Sleeping: If you’re trouble-shooting with your child’s sleeping habits and are trying to determine when and how much sleep they are getting and what kind of effect it has on their behavior, later sleeping, etc.
- Potty Training: If you are practicing elimination communication with your baby or potty training your toddler and are trying to find patterns in when they need to go, or to record successes / misses (accidents)
- Introducing Food: If you are starting solids with your baby and want to keep track of what foods were introduced and when and to note any reactions your baby may have had
- Health Issues: If you need to keep track of your baby’s eating, sleeping, or eliminating habits for health reasons, such as trying to isolate a food allergy or for other medical purposes
So as you can see, there are many reasons why a parent would want or need to keep track of things like this, and this log is a compact, simple, and clear way to do that.
I have used something similar to this several times over Damien’s (12 months) life, such as when he was very first born I would (somewhat sporadically) try to keep track of when and how long he nursed on each side and how many wet and soiled diapers he had each day, when he was about 3-4 months old and I was trouble-shooting with his sleep patterns to try and get him to sleep through the night, and now I have been using it in potty training. It’s not something that needs to be used all the time, but for certain life periods it has been extremely helpful.
The sheet contains an entire week of little logs on one page. The top half is the little charts (logs), the bottom half is an area for taking notes, and there is also a second page you can print on the other side that makes room for additional note-taking.
Infant & Toddler Eating, Sleeping, and Elimination Record / Log
I hope this log is helpful to some of you – I know that when all those other little details of life are going smoothly, it frees up time and energy to be able to devote to teaching, playing, and exploring with your little one. Happy learning!
“On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records…”
Esther 6:1
Damien is currently 12 months, 3 weeks old
