They are treasured by parents, but a leading GP has described baby health books as dingy, outdated and in need of a digital upgrade.  

Newly elected RACGP Queensland chair Dr Cathryn Hester wants to move from the longstanding paper books to an online version that can be easily shared with other health professionals.  

“It does feel like we are caught in the distant past, using a dingy red book to record notes,” Dr Hester tells 6minutes.  

Baby books — colloquially known by their colours in different states — record details about children’s development from each checkup and vaccination until around the age of five.