New Parents? One of the Biggest Pains is Remembering When Baby Ate and How Much
Honestly, when I was pregnant with my second child, I was driven crazy every day by feeding—how long on the left? Did I forget the right? How many milliliters total yesterday? All question marks. Until I found a small project on GitHub called breast-friend (such a lovely name, right?). It's a skill based on Claude, specifically designed to track infant feeding data. The best part is its integration with iCloud: data syncs automatically, and it generates beautiful dashboards.
At that moment, I thought, this is a lifesaver for lazy parents! So today I have to share it with everyone who is suffering from feeding records.
What Can This Skill Actually Do?
Let's get straight to the point: it's not just a simple counter—it's a complete feeding data management tool. You can chat with it directly in Claude, asking things like "How long did the left side take during today's noon feeding?" and it will pull the answer from your iCloud data. Or ask it to generate a heatmap of feeding frequency over the past week, super intuitive.
It supports recording:
- Breastfeeding (left/right side, duration)
- Bottle feeding (formula/expressed breast milk, milliliters)
- Mixed feeding (both breast milk and formula simultaneously)
- Baby's reaction after feeding (burping, spitting up, satisfaction, etc.)
- Special notes (e.g., "had a poop after this feed")
All records are stored in iCloud, so you don't lose data even when switching phones. Plus, it has an interactive dashboard that automatically draws line charts and bar graphs—super intuitive.
Installation? Really Super Simple
First, the prerequisites—you need a Node.js environment (if you don't have it, go to the official site and download it). Then open a terminal and run a single command:
npx skills add [repository-url] --skill supply(Replace [repository-url] with the actual GitHub repository address of the breast-friend project.) This command automatically downloads and installs the skill package. After installation, enable the skill in the Claude client, then authorize it to access your iCloud data (don't worry—it only reads feeding-related data).
If you haven't stored any feeding data in iCloud before, no problem—the skill comes with a manual entry interface. Click to create a new record, and it even supports bulk importing CSV files. When I first started, I manually entered all the feeding records I had jotted down in my notes app. It was a bit tedious, but once done, I never had to worry again.
Real-world Experience: It's Amazing
Before, I used a handwritten notebook to record feedings, but I always forgot. After using this skill, I just say to Claude, "Record a right-side feeding, 15 minutes, baby fell asleep after eating," and it automatically stores it. In the evening, if I want to check the daytime situation, I ask "How many feedings total today?" and it immediately gives me the statistics, along with a reminder like "Compared to yesterday, it decreased by 2 feedings. Consider increasing nighttime feeding frequency." Although the prompt is calculated by an algorithm, it's quite accurate.
The dashboard looks like this: a large timeline marking the duration and type of each feeding; below, a daily total feeding volume line chart, and a pie chart showing the proportion of left versus right breast usage. The best part is it supports filtering by week, month, or custom time periods, helping you analyze whether your baby is going through a growth spurt.
Some Tips and Notes
- Before first use, remember to check in iCloud settings that "Health" data synchronization is turned on. This skill reads data from iCloud Health or third-party apps (like Baby Tracker). If syncing is off, the skill won't retrieve historical data.
- When manually entering, try to be precise to the minute, because subsequent statistics are time-sensitive. For example, recording "fed for 15 minutes" makes average duration meaningful.
- If you and your partner both take care of the baby, you can share data under the same iCloud account. That way, when mom feeds, dad can see the record, and you never have to shout across the room "When did the baby last eat?"
- The skill includes a "Feeding Pattern Learning" feature. It automatically recognizes your baby's habits based on recorded data, such as "wakes up hungry at 3 AM every day," and reminds you to prepare in advance before that time. I thought this feature was pointless at first, but after a few days, I found it surprisingly accurate!
A Few Last Words from the Heart
Honestly, taking care of a baby is exhausting enough, and having to track feedings is really annoying. But this skill has saved me a lot of worry—it doesn't bother me, yet I can always access data whenever I need it. And because it's open source, you can even modify the code to add features (like integrating weight tracking). However, for most parents, just using it as-is is already great.
If you're also struggling with baby feeding records, give this skill a try. After all, technology is meant to help us laze around!
