Hand Off Care Between Caregivers
Give the next caregiver the recent facts and the right app access so you can hand over the mental load, not just the baby.
Product, care, and family perspective
In this story
New word? Find a plain-language explanation in Words in this guide.
Before you start
A caregiver is anyone looking after your child. A handoff is the moment one person takes over from another. Use this guide before a partner, grandparent, or sitter takes a shift. App access lets them read or save the information you allow; it does not replace explaining your child's needs and any clinician's instructions directly.
Share the same child profile first
Separate accounts can still work from one child record. The child's owner manages this under Settings > Children > Care circle. A caregiver only sees the areas included in their invitation, so missing Log or milestone information may be a permission issue rather than an app error.
- Open Settings and choose Children.
- Select the child, find Care circle, and tap Manage access.
- Invite the caregiver and choose only the permissions they need.
- Ask them to accept the invitation and confirm the shared child appears in their app before the shift starts.
Log the last few events before the shift
Before you go off duty, check that the recent feed, sleep or wake, diaper, and medicine events are in Log. Correct a wrong time now if it would change the next caregiver's decision.
Tap Log, the calendar icon second from the left in the bottom navigation. This opens the selected child’s saved care events.
Log. Log opens the selected child’s care timeline, where you can review and correct saved events.
Check the child’s name, then use the calendar at the top-right to choose the day you want to review.
Child selector. Keep the same child selected when you check a saved event.
Calendar. Choose the date of the event you want to find.
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Open Log and scan the latest events.
In Log, scroll through the selected day to find the event. Tap its colored block to open the details and correct a known mistake.
Sleep event. The two times show when the recorded sleep started and ended.
Nursing event. Read the saved start and end times before relying on the handoff.
- Finish any timer that is no longer active.
- Use Day note under More in Quick log when one exception needs to be visible.
- Leave routine details in Log instead of repeating the whole day in a text.
Give a thirty-second handoff
A useful handoff has three parts: what happened most recently, what is likely due next, and anything unusual. Ask EchoMom to summarize the recent period when you are too tired to assemble that list yourself.
- Say the most recent feed and wake time.
- Say what the next caregiver should watch for or do next.
- Say the one concern, preference, or unfinished task that cannot be inferred from Log.
Let the off-duty caregiver be off duty
The practical value of shared care is not more notifications. It is giving one person a protected stretch of rest while another person can see enough context to act. Agree who is responsible, mute unnecessary alerts, and use EchoMom as the shared record until the next handoff.
What to remember
- The next caregiver usually needs the last feed, last wake, active timers, and what is due next.
- Invite them to the same child profile with only the permissions their role needs.
- A reliable handoff can help the off-duty parent truly stop monitoring and take a sleep shift.
Care basics and sources
For every sleep, place babies on their backs on a firm, flat, level sleep surface designed for infants, without pillows, loose bedding, or soft toys. Share a room rather than a bed. An app timer cannot check that a sleeping baby is safe. NICHD: Safe Sleep Environment.
Notice your baby's hunger and fullness signs. A baby does not need to finish a bottle to match an amount in the app. Follow the feeding advice given for your child. CDC: Signs Your Child Is Hungry or Full.
A saved dose is not an instruction to give it again. Check the medicine and directions each time, use the correct measuring device, and ask a pharmacist or clinician if unsure. Confirm what another caregiver has already given; a log may be incomplete. FDA: Read the Label.
Words in this guide
Hover over an underlined word, tap it, or use the Tab key for an explanation. Press Escape or tap outside to close it.
- milestone
- A skill a child develops, such as smiling, speaking, or walking. An app observation is not a developmental test.
- permission
- What someone or something is allowed to do. Caregiver permissions control access to a child's information; phone permissions allow features such as the microphone or notifications.
- handoff
- When one person takes over caring for the child from another. Sharing recent feeds, sleeps, and other records helps them know what happened.
When typing is too much
Use your voice to update a care record.
Ask EchoMom to record what happened or find a saved entry. Check the details before relying on a record.
Open EchoMom
