GroeiGids alternative: apps that do more than track growth

For many parents in the Netherlands, GroeiGids is the first app they install after their child is born. That's easy to understand: the app is officially recommended by the RIVM (the Dutch public health institute) and the GGD (the local public health service), gives reliable information about your baby's development, and offers growth charts that are also used at the consultatiebureau, the Dutch baby clinic.

GroeiGids is not a diary, though. It's an information app. For keeping memories, photos and milestones, and for sharing with the grandparents, you need something else.

What GroeiGids does and doesn't do

What GroeiGids does well:

• Tracking growth charts (length, weight, head circumference)
• Development information for each age stage
• Keeping track of the vaccination schedule
• Information about feeding, sleep and safety

What GroeiGids doesn't do:

• Store photos and videos
• Record milestones (first word, first steps)
• Share with a co-parent or grandparents
• Build a timeline your child can look back on later
• Keep drawings, school reports or other memories

For all of that you need an additional app.

Dutch diary apps that complement GroeiGids

Ouderliefde is the most complete Dutch alternative for the diary side that GroeiGids doesn't offer. Alongside its own growth tracker, you can upload photos, record milestones, keep drawings and school reports per school year, and share everything with a co-parent and grandparents. The grandparents follow along through their own secure link. In English and Dutch, with data on European servers.

Tinybeans is the international market leader in baby diary apps. Solid features for photos and milestones, but entirely in English and with data outside the EU. No growth tracker of its own. You'll find a comparison in our article on Tinybeans alternatives for the Netherlands.

Baby Diaries focuses on making a printable baby book. More of an end product than an ongoing diary. English-language.

GroeiGids and a diary app complement each other

Most parents use both. GroeiGids for medical information and growth charts, handy to take along to the consultatiebureau, and a diary app for memories and sharing with family.

That doesn't have to mean double work. Ouderliefde has its own growth tracker, so you can record length and weight in the same app as your photos and milestones. For the official growth charts and vaccination schedules you keep using GroeiGids. For your child's story you use Ouderliefde.

GroeiGids is excellent at what it does: official information and growth monitoring. If you also want to capture your child's memories and share them with family, you need a separate app for that. Ouderliefde is a Dutch option that combines photos, milestones and sharing with family. Many parents use both side by side.