PICU Essentials vs Take a Bite Timer

This app was designed to be used as a practical handbook for rotating residents, advanced practice providers, and fellows. It is based upon 20 years of PICU practice, and while much of the content describes practice or protocols here at UFHealth/Shands Children’s Hospital, it could be applied in most settings. This app is now in use in over 50 countries. All content is peer-reviewed, and content is reviewed for currency every 1-2 years and as needed. All proceeds from this app go toward maintaining and developing the app itself. Privacy Policy: https://skywave.io/picu-privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://skywave.io/picu-terms-of-use/

Some kids need reminding. Every. single. bite. "Take A Bite" is the mealtime timer that does the reminding for you, in your kids own voice, so dinner can stop being an endurance test. Have them record one short message — "take a bite, please!" — pick how often it should play, and then start the meal. When the countdown runs out, your child hears their message. When they take a bite, they tap the timer itself, and the countdown starts again. If they beat the timer, they get a celebration and some "banked time". No in app purchases and no advertising. HOW IT WORKS • Record your reminder in your own voice. Or a grandparent's, or a favorite cartoon impression. • The timer IS the button. The countdown ring fills most of the screen, and tapping it records a bite along with a fun "chomping" animation. • Beat the clock and bank bonus seconds. A bite before the reminder plays earns whatever was left on the timer, with confetti and a cheer to go with it. • Reminders needed is the score, a number a five-year-old can act on. Set an allowance (three by default), and the screen turns from green to orange to red as they are used. • Silly Mode, if you want it. Turn it on and each unanswered reminder comes a little sooner, a little louder and a little faster, until it is comically insistent. AFTER THE MEAL • Pause any time (potty break? need to pour some more milk?), then carry on with one tap — the countdown picks up exactly where it left off. • Every finished meal is saved: reminders needed, bites, bonus seconds, how long it took, and average response time. • A chart shows the trend meal after meal, plotted against the goal each one was actually judged by. • Finished a meal too early? Easily resume it on the main screen for up to fifteen minutes. • Edit, delete or merge past meals — a sitting split across two entries becomes one, with the math done properly. MORE THAN ONE KID For families with more than one child that need a little nudge, you can log meals per child, switch between them with a tap, and see each one's own chart and history. Kids are just names — there is no account to set up and nothing to sync a profile with. Your data is stored privately and securely in your own iCloud storage and synced across all your devices logged in with that Apple ID. MAKE EVERY SOUND YOURS The reminder, the countdown warning, the time's-up "oh no!", the chomping sound and the celebration can all be replaced with your own recording, right inside the app. The built-in sounds are there if you would rather not. PRIVACY Your recordings stay on your device. Your children's names never leave it. There is no account, no sign-in, and nothing to subscribe to. Meal history syncs privately through your own iCloud account, so the same meals appear on your iPhone and iPad. Custom sounds stay local to each device. BUILT PROPERLY Designed for iPhone and iPad, with full support for Dynamic Type, VoiceOver, and dark mode. Take A Bite was made by a parent who was tired of saying the same four words all through dinner. It will not make your child love broccoli. It will make dinner shorter, easier, and — some nights — a game they are trying to win.