What app can childminders in Ireland use with parents?
What childminders write down for parents today, how Tusla registration is changing the job and how a shared tracker takes the end-of-day text off your plate.
In short
Lullagram lets a childminder log feeds, naps and nappies straight into the family's own Lullagram tracker, so both parents see the day live on their own phones. There is no separate diary to photograph and no end-of-day text to write. The childminder plan is 4.99 euro a month with the first 30 days free, and carer access never shows the family's pregnancy, fertility or private notes.
- Most childminders today keep parents up to date with texts, WhatsApp messages or a paper daily diary.
- Tusla registration for childminders is being phased in; check tusla.ie for the current rules and deadline.
- Parents can only use the National Childcare Scheme subsidy with a Tusla-registered childminder; see ncs.gov.ie.
- Carer access shows baby logs only, and the family can switch it off at any time.
- It works on Android and on any phone through the web app at lullagram.ie/app.
If you mind a child in Ireland, you already keep a record of the day: when the bottle went down, how long the nap lasted, what came out the other end. The question is where that record lives. For most childminders it lives in texts, a copybook or their own head, and it gets retyped for the parents every evening. Lullagram takes a different approach: the childminder logs straight into the family's own baby tracker, and both parents see it the moment it happens.
What do childminders record for parents today?
Ask around and you will hear the same three answers: texts, a paper diary or nothing written at all. A text thread is handy until it is three weeks long and someone needs to know whether the rash cream went on before or after lunch. A paper daily diary travels in the baby bag, gets wet, gets forgotten and only one parent ever reads it. And memory, with a baby on your hip and two toddlers at the table, is not a filing system.
None of this is a criticism of childminders. The record keeping is a side effect of caring well: parents want to know the day, and you want them to have it. The problem is purely the medium. The day gets logged twice, once in your head and once for the parents, and the second copy always arrives late.
Do childminders in Ireland have to register with Tusla?
Registration for childminders is being phased in, and some childminders must already register depending on how many children they mind. Check tusla.ie for the current rules and the deadline that applies to you. Relatives minding a child do not have to register.
Registration brings inspections and paperwork, but it also puts childminding on the same professional footing as other early years services. A clear written record of each child's day fits naturally with that direction: it is good practice, and it is the kind of thing parents increasingly expect.
What does the National Childcare Scheme mean for childminders?
Parents can only use the National Childcare Scheme subsidy with a Tusla-registered childminder. That makes registration worth real money to the families you mind for: once you are registered and have an NCS arrangement in place, the subsidy comes off what the parents pay. The scheme details, and the childcare search parents use to find registered providers, are on ncs.gov.ie.
For parents weighing up a childminder against a creche, our guide to finding childcare in Ireland covers the options and the questions worth asking.
How does Lullagram work for a childminder?
Lullagram is the Irish baby tracker that families already use at home: feeds, naps and nappies logged in a tap, shared live between both parents. Carer access extends that same tracker to you.
- The family invites you from their own Lullagram account.
- You log the day as it happens: start the feed timer when the bottle goes in, tap the nap when the baby goes down, log the nappy at the changing mat.
- Both parents see it live on their own phones. No photographed diary pages, no end-of-day text novel.
- The evening pickup gets easier. The parent collecting can already see when the last feed was and how the naps went, so the handover chat is about the child, not the logistics.
If you mind for more than one family, each family's tracker stays separate. You see each child only through that family's invitation.
What does the childminder see, and what stays private?
Carer access shows baby logs only: feeds, naps, nappies and the day's summary. It never shows the family's pregnancy, fertility or private notes. Lullagram also has sections for trying for a baby, IVF and pregnancy, and none of that is ever visible to a carer. The family can switch carer access off at any time, and everything they shared stays theirs.
That boundary matters in both directions. Parents can hand over the baby day without handing over their private life, and you are never shown anything you should not see.
How much does Lullagram cost for a childminder?
The childminder plan is 4.99 euro a month, and the first 30 days are free, so you can try it with a family before paying anything. The family uses their own Lullagram account: the baby tracker is free for 7 days and then 4.99 euro a month per household, and the trying for a baby, IVF and pregnancy sections are free.
Lullagram is made in Ireland, with data stored in the EU. It runs on Android through Google Play, and on iPhone and any other phone through the web app at lullagram.ie/app.
How do I set it up with a family?
Start at Lullagram for childminders. It walks through the invitation from the family's side and yours, and the first 30 days cost nothing. If the family is new to Lullagram too, they can start their own free week at the same time and you will both be logging the same day by the afternoon.
Sources and guidance
Registration and subsidy information in this guide comes from Tusla and the National Childcare Scheme. It is general information for childminders and parents in Ireland. Links checked 6 November 2026.
I've used the app since my now 3 month old was born and it's honestly brilliant. Very handy when me and my husband were doing handovers, no one needed to be woken up or questioned! Great resource for the public health nurse when we had concerns about feeding etc, it was all recorded in the app. It's also really refreshing to have an app like this geared towards parents in Ireland.