Every parent knows the scene. Your child stands with their back against the wall, you draw a little pencil line and write the date next to it. A few years later the door frame has a whole row of lines, from toddler to teenager. Primitive, but it works, and seeing the difference gives you an incredible feeling.
These days there are digital options that add to that growth record. Apps where, alongside height and weight, you also keep track of milestones, motor development and language development, with the photos alongside, all in one place.
Growth data disappears if you don’t keep it yourself
Paediatricians and the Dutch baby and toddler clinic (consultatiebureau) ask for it at every visit: weight, height, head circumference. Those figures matter medically, because growth charts pick up problems early. But the clinic keeps those numbers for its own records.
In five years you’ll want to know how tall your child was on their second birthday. How much they weighed in their first week. Details like these vanish quickly if you don’t actively record them.
"Tracking growth" also goes beyond height and weight. A child develops along several tracks at once:
- Motor milestones (rolling over, sitting, standing, walking, cycling)
- Language development (first words, sentences, learning to read)
- Social development (friendships, school life)
- Emotional growth (fears, self-confidence, character)
Together, those tracks tell the story of how your child became who they are.
Apps for tracking growth
There are apps that focus specifically on growth tracking, and apps that track growth as part of a wider memory system.
Growth chart apps (medical focus)
Apps such as BabyGrow and My Child’s Growth are all about entering height, weight and head circumference, and show growth charts based on WHO standards and the Dutch TNO growth charts. Handy for parents who want to follow the medical figures outside clinic visits. The downside: there’s no room for photos, stories or other milestones.
Baby diary apps with a growth feature
Apps such as Ouderliefde combine growth data with the wider story of your child’s early years. Height and weight appear as measurements on the timeline, among the photos from that period, the milestones you noted and your notes on special moments. That way the growth figures sit within the life going on around them.
That gives a much richer picture than numbers alone. You see that your child went from 72 to 82 cm in six months, but also the photos from that period, the first steps taken right in the middle of it, and what they looked like just before and after the growth spurt.
The milestones parents most want to record
0–6 months: first smile, rolling over, lifting their head, first sounds, back to birth weight, doubled birth weight
6–12 months: sitting without support, standing with help, crawling or bum-shuffling, first words, first teeth, pincer grip (thumb and index finger)
12–24 months: first steps, first two-word phrases, drinking from a cup, putting shoes on with help, climbing stairs
2–4 years: potty training, riding a tricycle or balance bike, drawing people, naming colours, playing with other children
4–6 years: learning to read and write, first day at school, friendships, sport and hobbies
Each of those moments is worth capturing, as a story rather than a checklist.
Tracking growth with the whole family
An app has one big advantage over a notebook: you can share it with the people who care too. Grandparents who live further away can see how big your child has grown. The other parent in a co-parenting arrangement has access to the same information. A godparent can follow the timeline.
In Ouderliefde you create a secure sharing link for your family. It contains a long random code, so it can't be guessed and isn't found by Google. You decide who has the link and can revoke it at any time.
More on how co-parents can keep memories together: keeping memories when you co-parent.
How to start, even if you’re already behind
Choose one place. An app, a notebook or a mix of both, as long as it’s one central place. Nobody keeps up tracking in five different apps or on scraps of paper for years.
Add past data. Do you have the little health booklet from the clinic? Enter the measurements from the past months or years. There’s no need to start from zero if you already have the figures.
Link it to photos. A number on its own says little. The same number with a photo of how your child looked that day says everything. That combination is what you’ll want to look back on.
The door frame is lovely, but the app lasts longer
Pencil lines on the door frame stay behind when you move house. Clinic booklets get lost. A baby diary app is on your phone and in the cloud, and you’ll still be able to open it in twenty years.
Ouderliefde is a Dutch app built for exactly this: tracking your child’s growth and life on one private timeline, with photos, notes and milestones. Everything is stored on European servers, fully GDPR-compliant, and shared with whoever you choose.
Want to try it yourself? The first 7 days are full Premium, for free:
Or read more about the baby milestones you won’t want to forget.