When my family was expecting, I started to look for baby tracking software I could host myself. I didn't want to share my data with anyone else and wanted to easily integrate with my data, like I did with my MatrixPortal case. I came across Baby Buddy which is a web-based tracker for babies' sleep times, feedings, diaper changes, and more. It has an easy-to-use REST API and lets me poke around directly in its database for other things that the API can't do.

It worked great, but the last thing I wanted to do was fumble around tiredly with a phone or laptop while trying to do something quick with my hands full, like save a feeding or diaper change. So I came up with BabyPod: a device that would only do simple things for baby tracking, have a battery that would last for days, and have an easy to use interface. The name is inspired by an iPod's click wheel because that's the main interface: a rotary encoder.

The software is written in CircuitPython and it went from a simple project to a big one. I added support for working offline by saving data temporarily to an SD card, so it would still work while we were away from Wi-Fi. I continually tweaked the UX based on real-world experience. I printed several BabyPods and put them throughout the house, and tweaked the hardware design with each new iteration.

Eventually I published both the hardware and software to GitHub. It was very rewarding to see people building their own and submitting issues!

The main technologies I used:

• CircuitPython for all the code running on the ESP32-S3
• Baby Buddy running on a home server
• OpenSCAD for the 3D model
• Fritzing for the wiring diagram

See the GitHub hardware repository to build your own and the software one for the source code that runs on it. Below, I listed the Adafruit components that go into it. At first I used Adafruit's 20x4 LCD with a backpack, but the LCD by Sparkfun draws faster, takes up less space, uses less wiring, and is CircuitPython compatible, so I switched over to that in later versions of the hardware.