A new baby monitoring tool created by the pseudonymous maker “Triceratops Labs” offers a simple way for parents to track their newborn’s habits. Using just eight buttons and a Raspberry Pi Zero W single-board computer, the device logs essential activities like breastfeeding, bottle feeding, diaper changes, and bath time.
The tool, called a “baby logger,” helps parents track key activities during the first few months of their baby’s life. “I wanted to create an open-source solution since you only need this for a few months,” explains Triceratops. The tracker logs various functions, including breastfeeding, bottle feeding, wet and dirty diaper changes, sleep, wake, bathing, and crying.
This project builds on previous work. Six years ago, developer Tommy Gober created a similar device with three buttons. This, in turn, was based on an earlier project by the maker known as “tenmonkeys.” Triceratops’ version expands on these ideas by adding more specific metrics, like tracking wet and soiled diapers separately, and distinguishing between breast and bottle feeding.
The design is straightforward: eight labeled buttons are connected to a Raspberry Pi Zero W via its GPIO (general-purpose input/output) header. When pressed, each button sends data to a Python script, which logs the action in a database. The data is then displayed on a web page, allowing parents to analyze their baby’s activities later.
The project is open-source and fully documented on Triceratops’ Hackaday.io page. The source code is available on GitHub under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
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