The calm way through your baby's first year.
Two taps to log anything, at 3 a.m., in the dark. Every caregiver on their own account. The Dutch timeline handled. And a Book that quietly writes itself.
Free. No subscription, no ads, no premium wall. If Cradle ever earns anything — like the printed book — 20% goes to charities for mothers in need.
Built for the nights, priced for a family.
Most baby apps are busy, bright and billed monthly. Cradle is the opposite on all three.
Night-first
Dark automatically from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m., big targets, no confirmations. Ending a sleep timer by accident is caught before it happens.
Calm by default
Solid surfaces, one accent, tabular numbers. No streaks to keep, no badges to earn, no comparison copy. Just what's true right now.
Partner accounts
A partner, a grandparent, the kraamverzorgende — each on their own account, seeing the same baby. One 6-character code to join.
The Dutch timeline
Consultatiebureau visits, RVP vaccinations and the admin deadlines, computed from the birthdate, in English or Dutch, as a calendar feed.
Predictions, on-device
The next feed and the next nap window from your baby's own recent rhythm — not a textbook schedule.
No subscription, ever
Every feature is open, for everyone. The only thing that costs money is the optional printed book, because paper does.
The system is excellent. The paperwork isn't.
JGZ visits, the Rijksvaccinatieprogramma, aangifte within three days, SVB, toeslagen, zorgverzekering within four months. Cradle knows the dates so you don't have to — and explains each one in plain English or Dutch.
- Consultatiebureau and RVP schedule from the birthdate, corrected for preterm babies
- Admin deadlines with what to bring and where to go, per region
- Written for every parent in the Netherlands — in Dutch or English, each term explained once, then used
- An ICS feed any calendar app can subscribe to
A logbook that turns into a book.
Notes, milestones, letters and photos, nudged by age-matched weekly prompts. At 7 days, 14 days, 1, 3, 6 and 12 months Cradle snapshots the Book into an edition and emails every caregiver the pictures. At one year, print it.
- Entries from anyone in the household, in their own voice
- Editions by email — a rhythm, not a feed
- Softcover or hardcover, printed in the Netherlands
Entries → editions → a printed book
Every edition is a keepsake on its own. The last one becomes the book.
Answers you can trust at 3 a.m.
A reviewed library of Dutch-sourced answers, in English and Dutch, comes first — free and unlimited. A safety check runs before anything else: red-flag symptoms get a fixed "call now" card, never a chatbot. Only then, if you ask something new, an assistant answers with its sources shown and a label saying AI wrote it.
- Never diagnoses, never doses
- Every answer shows where it came from
The pattern, not the number.
Seven, fourteen, thirty or ninety days at a glance: longest night stretch, feeds versus typical, the day–night rhythm forming. Predictions come from your baby's own recent gaps — recent ones weighted more, outliers dropped — and say how sure they are.
- "Learning the pattern · 3/5" until there's a baseline
- Wet-diaper count against the JGZ's six a day
- Pregnancy has its own stats: symptoms per week, kicks per day
Your baby's data is yours. Full stop.
No ads, no ad networks, no analytics scripts. The app talks to exactly one server, in the EU. Export everything as CSV any time; delete your account and every photo with one confirmation.
No tracking
Zero third-party requests. We can't sell what we never collect.
Export, always free
Every event, every entry, one tap to CSV. Photos come with it.
Hosted in the EU
Servers in Europe, backups encrypted and kept 30 days. GDPR/AVG erasure built in.
A fifth of every purchase goes to mothers who need it more.
20% of proceeds go to charities supporting mothers in need — you pick which one when you buy Cradle Plus. We publish the totals every quarter. One price, no subscription, and something good on the other end of it.
Short answers.
Isn't GroeiGids already this?
GroeiGids is the JGZ's own app: your child's growth curves and consultatiebureau appointments, behind DigiD. Keep using it — it's the official record and Cradle doesn't replace it. Cradle is everything around it: pregnancy week by week, tracking with predictions from your own baby, a partner with their own login, the full timeline including aangifte, kinderbijslag, toeslagen and kinderopvang with what to expect at each step, in Dutch or English, and the Book.
What does it cost?
Nothing. Every feature — tracking, partner accounts, the timeline, rhythm, the assistant, the library, the Book, export — is free, with no subscription and no ads. The only paid thing is the optional printed book at one year, because printing costs money; 20% of what Cradle earns on it goes to charities for mothers in need.
Does it work before the baby arrives?
Yes. With a due date, the home screen becomes a pregnancy view: week number, size comparison, a self-care grid, kicks from week 20, and the Dutch milestones (NIPT, termijnecho, 20-week SEO, 22-wekenprik, kraamzorg, erkenning). On the birthday it turns into the tracker.
Is there an app in the App Store?
Cradle is a web app you install from the browser — Share → Add to Home Screen on iPhone, Install on Android. It works offline for the shell and sends push notifications on iOS 16.4+. No store, no store cut, no forced updates.
Can my partner use it without paying?
Yes. Everyone in the household has their own free account; Plus is per baby, not per person.
Is it in Dutch?
English and Dutch, switchable any time. The library, the timeline and Ask carry both languages; the app chrome follows your choice.
Is this medical advice?
No. Cradle gives general information based on Dutch public-health guidance and tells you when to call your verloskundige, consultatiebureau or huisarts. In an emergency, call 112.
What happens to my data if I stop?
Export it as CSV, then delete the account — every baby you were the only caregiver of goes with it, photos included, immediately.