---
title: "Use Cami before your baby is born · Cami Help"
description: "Choose My child is on the way and enter your due date. Home counts down to it, times contractions, and lets you record the birth when your baby arrives."
url: https://camibaby.com/help/expecting
language: en
updated: 2026-11-06
---

# Use Cami before your baby is born

Choose My child is on the way and enter your due date. Home counts down to it, times contractions, and lets you record the birth when your baby arrives.

Most of Cami is for the days after the birth. Before it, Home shows the countdown, the contraction timer and your family.

## Set up Cami while you’re expecting

1. Open Cami, tap **Get Started** and choose **My child is on the way**. A short note explains what Cami offers before the birth. Tap **Continue**.
2. Pick your role.
3. On **When are you due?**, enter your due date.
4. On **What will you call them?**, enter a name. A nickname is fine; you can change it later.
5. Finish setup and create your account, as in [Set up Cami for your baby](https://camibaby.com/help/getting-started).

In Cami 1.2, this choice says My baby is on the way.

Already use Cami for an older child? Add the new baby from the child’s name at the top of Home: tap it, choose **Add a Child**, then pick **Expecting**.

![Home before the birth: the countdown to the due date, the Record the Birth button and the Contractions row.](https://camibaby.com/help/expecting/home.webp)

## Time contractions

1. On Home, tap **Contractions**.
2. Tap **Start Contraction** when a contraction begins.
3. Tap **Stop Contraction** when it ends. Cami starts a rest timer until the next one.
4. When you’re done, tap **Finish Session**, then **Finish Session** again to confirm.

![The contraction timer during a session: a contraction running on the big Stop Contraction button, the last hour's figures and chart, and Finish Session.](https://camibaby.com/help/expecting/contraction-timer.webp)

For each contraction, Cami shows when it started, how long it lasted and how far apart it was from the one before. Intervals are measured from the start of one contraction to the start of the next. **Last hour** sums up the past hour, and **History** lists every contraction in the session.

- Tap a contraction in **History** to fix its start time or length.
- The session is shared: anyone in your family can see it, and the timer also shows on the Lock Screen. See [Timers on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island](https://camibaby.com/help/live-activities).
- Finished sessions stay in the Timeline.

**Important**

The timer only records what you enter. It does not assess labor. Follow the plan your care team gave you, and call them if you’re unsure.

## Record the birth

1. On Home, tap **Record the Birth**.
2. Set the birth date. Add the birth time, weight, length and other details if you have them.
3. Tap the checkmark to save.

![The Record the Birth sheet with birth date, birth time, birth place, due date, measurements and sex, each with an Add button.](https://camibaby.com/help/expecting/record-birth.webp)

Home now shows every tracking row, ready for the first feed, diaper and nap. Your contraction sessions stay in the Timeline.

### I only see Contractions on Home

That’s expected before the birth. The other rows appear after you tap **Record the Birth**.

### The due date changed

Tap your child’s name at the top of Home, open their profile, and change the date under **Birth Details**.

## Related articles

- [Set up Cami for your baby](https://camibaby.com/help/getting-started): Open Cami, tap Get Started, answer a few questions about you and your baby, and create your account. It takes a few minutes.
- [Invite your partner, a grandparent or a nanny](https://camibaby.com/help/invite-family): Open More, tap Invite, and send the link or let them scan the QR code. They join your family and see everything you have logged.
- [Timers on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island](https://camibaby.com/help/live-activities): When anyone in the family starts a timer, it shows on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. Choose which in More › Settings › Live Activities.

## Still need help?

Write to us and a person reads it, usually within a day. From the app, Get Help attaches the details that help us fix it, and our reply shows in Cami.

In Cami: **More › Help Center › Get Help**

[Email us](mailto:hello@camibaby.com) · [Report a mistake on this page](mailto:hello@camibaby.com?subject=Report%20a%20mistake%20on%20this%20page%3A%20%2Fhelp%2Fexpecting)