I don’t know how the human race has made it this far. After all, if the folks at Babble Soft are to be believed, we mothers need serious technological help if we are to meet our babies’ most basic needs.

Babble Soft’s latest product is Baby Insights (formerly known as “Baby Manager”) Web and Mobile software. Have you heard about it? According to the press release, this package “help[s] parents keep up with breastfeeding, pumping, bottle feeding, medicine doses, and diaper changes.” It also “keeps families connected and focused on the health and well-being of their newborns.”

Now, I can see that this software might be helpful for parents whose baby’s health is complicated by a short-term or long-term condition. It might also be reassuring for a parent who is nervous about leaving their child with a child care provider on a routine basis. But for the parents of a healthy newborn, I just don’t see it.

I didn’t know parenting a newborn was quite so complicated—and I have been through it three times now. Me? I just pay attention to my baby’s cues. When he fusses, I try to find out why. I check to see if his diaper is wet or dirty. I put him to the breast to see if he is hungry. I try to find a quiet place if he seems tired. I’ve read the testimonials on Babble Soft’s site, but I still don’t see how the routine “stuff” of day-to-day newborn life—the feeding, diapering, and sleeping—requires (or even benefits from) the addition of a computer program.

I don’t mean to criticize the good people at Babble Soft. I am sure their hearts are in the right place. It can be daunting to realize that, as a new parent, you are now responsible for meeting all of the needs of this new, vulnerable little person. This new, vulnerable little person who cannot speak. Who cannot tell you what he needs. I remember bringing my first son home from the hospital and thinking “Now what?”

But let’s re-think this assumption: My baby cannot tell me what he needs. He can’t? Or can he?

Here’s a little clue: That crying, it has a purpose. It happens because your baby wants to tell you something: I’m hungry. I’m dirty (or soggy). I’m tired. I need you. When we parents open our ears and open our eyes, before long, we’ll get to understanding what each type of cry means.

I think it’s good practice, too. Your new bundle of joy won’t be able to use words to tell you what he needs for months. It’s good to get in the habit of decoding baby’s cues early. It will lead to less frustration—for both of you—in the long run. (More satisfaction, too, as you spend time with your baby rather than your hot new software package.) And if it sounds a little time-consuming when you read it here … well, maybe it is. A little bit. But certainly less time-consuming than if I stopped at my computer to check in with Baby Manager (sorry, Baby Insights) each time before I checked in with my baby.

I am the first to admit it: Before I had my own children, I was probably the most tone-deaf aunt around. I never knew what my infant nieces and nephews “meant” when they cried.

What’s more, I am not SuperMom. And—shh, don’t tell him I said so—my husband is not SuperDad. We try really hard, but we’re just not perfect. Yet our children grow well. They’re healthy. They’re happy. Their newborn needs have been met. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?