After what feels like a two year-long labour birthing an oversized porcupine, my app has finally launched. It has been a something of a trying time and I fear I may have turned into what’s known as a shouty person, but The Night Feed is here at last and I’m so proud of it.
A sanctuary for the sleep-deprived, The Night Feed is meant to be a comforting place to go when you’re feeding a baby in the small (lonely) hours. Articles to keep you amused, discussions to keep you connected, there’s just enough to keep you awake when you need to be without exciting you so much that you can’t drop back to sleep.
And although lots of the content is baby-related, it’s not to say that you won’t enjoy popping in there for a virtual cup of tea if you don’t have a tiny alien-like being clamped to your person. If you enjoy my more random posts on here then you’ll certainly enjoy them on the app – I have dozens of film and book reviews lined up and none of them are remotely sensible – and there’s going to be beauty, fashion and lifestyle content from special guest contributors.
On a more practical note, if you do have the aforementioned tiny alien-like being clamped to you, you will undoubtedly find the app tools quite useful; there’s a feed timer that records useful things such as how long your baby fed for, which boob they fed from or how much formula they took and there are sleep sounds to lull you (and the baby) back into dreamworld.
Although I have to say I didn’t have dreams for months, when I was doing the night feeds. I don’t think I ever slept long enough to enter the REM stage. Which was actually a blessing in disguise, because my default dream is such a boring one. (Involves a suitcase that keeps opening and a flight that never seems to board. I told you it was dull.)
I sincerely hope that people enjoy The Night Feed; I’ve been working on it for over two years now and it’s exactly what I wanted when I was up through the night with my own babies. It’s exactly what I would want now if I was up through the night, except thankfully my two are currently sleeping through. So I’ll be mostly logging on during the day. Come and find me – it’s the members’ club that’s always open!
You can download The Night Feed on both iPhone and Android – click here for download links. It’s a one-off £3.99 with no in-app purchases to make or monthly subscriptions. Just download and get stuck in. If you have feedback, suggestions or would like to contribute in any way then please use the feedback section in the discussions tab or send an email from the contact page here.
Thank you so very much for your support, it’s always appreciated! And I’ve just seen that I’m in The Times, too, which is incredibly exciting. I’m getting up very early tomorrow to go and buy a paper!
If you’d like to read the article then please click here.
NB: make sure you set up an account if you want to message, comment or join in with conversations – the app will email you a verification code so check junk mail if it doesn’t appear in your inbox.
You look gorgeous!
Congratulations Ruth! What an achievement. I’m pregnant at the moment and will be using the app when baby no.2 arrives in March. With baby no.1 I had a good friend going through exactly the same thing, feeding all night, but it can be really lonely and dispiriting without someone to chat to/ help you stay awake. Love all the more personal content on the website these days too.
Angela
Thanks so much Angela! xx
I am really excited for you – when I was breastfeeding the kids, I read a ton of murder stories and thrillers. The only thing I could process back then, but surely not the best to get me back to sleep…
Anne from “Doctor Anne” (former Linda, Libra, Loca)
I’m really pleased for you – as a barren Karen I’ll never need the app but I saw my sister and friends go through it, and we can see how hard you worked, and I squealed when I spotted you in the Times yesterday! Well done.
Congratulations. My eldest is 26 and twins are 23 but I’m getting it anyway. I love all the content you put out and don’t want to miss anything. I also vividly remember the dark, isolated (how I felt, anyway) nights of feeding my babies and am so happy that moms today will have something like this to keep them company. Well done!
Thank you so much!
xx
Kalyna, same :)
Not twins though, I’m in awe of anyone who has more than one baby at a time. It was hard enough with one! And congratulations Ruth, so cool, I will be downloading too, which is a little odd because my kids are both grown up too, but I’m fascinated.
Well done Ruth!!
Congratulations Ruth! What an achievement!