For 9 Months And Beyond (babycentre.co.uk)

Member Name: t4mof

Product:	babycentre.co.uk
Date:	20/09/04 (511 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The excellent community section

Disadvantages: None

One of the first things I did after finding out I was pregnant was to search the Internet for relevant sites. I'm an information fiend. I wanted to know anything and everything that the next 9 months was going to bring.

Unfortunately, that's where most of the baby sites I found stop... but not Babycentre.

From day one the information on the site has been absolutely fantastic and 4 years on I am still a regular visitor and contributor. I've got through the sleepless nights, breastfeeding and first teething troubles and now I've got temper tantrums, fussy eating and potty training to cope with as well as a second baby and Babycentre has been with me every step of the way.

Babycentre.co.uk is exclusively sponsored by Johnson’s Baby so expect to see many adverts for their products. These adverts are not intrusive though and their sponsorship has enabled the site to continue their excellent service without introducing a membership charge, so I for one am happy.

~ ~ ~ Home Page ~ ~ ~

The home page is well laid out and easy to navigate. The site is spilt into 6 sections – Personal Page, Getting Pregnant, Pregnancy, Baby, Toddler and Community and you can jump to any one of these sections by clicking on the link on the home page.

There is a link to Today’s Features which are also listed at the bottom of the home page. These do change regularly but you will start to see the same articles on rotation. There is a dilemma of the week where you can post your own comments for another member who needs help. For example, somebody who has been trying to get pregnant for two years and now she is getting depressed – can you help her keep her spirits up? There are articles on when is the right time to take your baby swimming, reviews on over-the-counter medical remedies for pregnancy symptoms and links to baby name polls. The features are articles that can be found elsewhere on the website but are highlighted on the home page.

At the top of the page is a question related to pregnancy which you can then click on the link to find the answer. Questions include Should You Stand On Your Head? and from this you can find out the best sex positions for conceiving (apparently missionary is best!)

On the right hand side of the home page are two boxes, one containing links to Popular Areas such as Birth Stories, Ask The Experts, Buying Guides etc and the other includes links to Interactive Tools which generally are more helpful when trying to get pregnancy and incorporate an Ovulation Calculator, Due Date Calculator, Ovulation Predictor and Conception Timing. There are also links to go to your personal page or change your member profile. Changing your member profile includes options to alter your email address, add on a second child’s due date, check a box to receive newsletters and change your password. This is the information that you have to give to set up a Babycentre account and become a full member. As a full member, you have access to the Community, Ask the Experts and Birth Announcement sections. It is free to join and is the best way of making the most of this website.

On the left side, you can take part in the Poll of the Day. These are changed daily but again are rotated, so you will see the same polls repeated if you hang around for long enough. The polls are pregnancy, baby and toddler related and the kinds of questions found here are Did you drink during pregnancy?, How old was your baby when you stopped breastfeeding?, What helped you fall asleep while pregnant? Once you have clicked on your answer, you will be taken to the results and then you can see other polls that have appeared on the home page.


~ ~ ~ Personal Page ~ ~ ~

In the middle of the home page is a date panel, where you can enter your due date or baby’s birth date. This will then take you to a page which gives you personalised information on your stage of pregnancy or age of child. You can also ask the computer to remember you so that when you next log in you have immediate information about the developmental stage of your baby on the home page.

Another way to access your personal page is by clicking the top link on the left hand side. The personal page is split into 3 paragraphs: How’s your baby growing; How’s your life changing; Parent Tip. There is a link for you to share your own tips and then a list of other things to consider this month. It also gives some good advice about what to expect from your child, how to encourage development and includes links to other relevant pages on the site.

I found the personal page helpful while pregnant and afterwards as it gives you interesting snippets of information as well as reminding you of products you may need to buy or things you should be thinking about. Another good feature of all Babycentre’s articles are the links that take you to more information. Every now and then a word or phrase is underlined and this can be clicked on to go to a more specialised article.

~ ~ ~ Getting Pregnant ~ ~ ~

The Getting Pregnant page includes everything you need to know if you are planning on having a baby. There are links to the Ovulation Calculator, articles relating to trying for a baby, fertility problems and nutrition and the community boards which are of relevance – Actively Trying, Thinking of Conceiving, Trying for another baby to name just a few.

~ ~ ~ Pregnancy ~ ~ ~

From this page, you can sign up for free personalised emails. These are sent weekly and are again linked to your stage of pregnancy. There are several articles linked to antenatal health, labour and birth, work and childcare and much more.

Clicking on one of these links will take you to a page full of questions that you may have on that subject. For example go to the Work and Childcare section and you will discover your employment rights, health and safety issues and your childcare choices amongst other things. Answers and advice on everything that you may worry about or not know while pregnant will be found in this section. It is invaluable.

And while you're pregnant you can click onto the Pregnancy Calendar which gives you a daily bitesized piece of information relating to checks you should be going for, changes in your body and what you should be eating among other things.

~ ~ ~ Baby ~ ~ ~

The nine months is up and you are faced with the challenges of a newborn. Now you can sign up for personalised emails specifically for your baby’s age and again the list of articles related to everything you need to know about caring for a newborn baby is immense. There are again links to relevant community boards, such as First Time Parents, Working From Home and Postnatal Depression so you can link up with other parents who are in the same situation as yourself.

Find out how to conquer breastfeeding, catch up on sleep and what immunisations you can expect your baby to have.

~ ~ ~ Toddler ~ ~ ~

But of course, they don’t stay babies for long and before you know it your newborn baby is walking about, talking and being very mischievous. Yes toddlerhood has arrived and Babycentre is there again with advice on potty training, toddler development, healthy eating and a whole host of other things.

Message boards you can link to include Toddler Tantrums, Potty Training and Travelling with a Toddler.

~ ~ ~ Community ~ ~ ~

Without doubt, my favourite part of the site is the excellent community section. Many other baby websites have message boards but I've never found them as well organised as the one on this site. The major plus point is that you can go to the message board specifically for mums-to-be due during the same month as you. This of course means you are all going through the same stages of pregnancy at roughly the same time and can share stories and experiences. And when you think you're the only one suffering, post a message and you can be as sure as anything several other people will sympathise and know exactly what you're going through! Some good relationships are built up over the nine months but the postings do tend to die off once the babies arrive. And when your message board is 5 years old, it is removed from the site altogether. However, it is becoming more common for members of these boards to set up separate "meeting places" on MSN or Yahoo Groups where photos can be shared and chat rooms added to extend the community on Babycentre.

There are also other message boards for specific circumstances such as Parents Over 35, Bilingual Babies and Stay at Home mums. Dads are also not forgotten - there's a message board especially for dads-to-be so they can share they're concerns and experiences.

You do have to be registered to be able to post messages on the boards but it is the one part of the site that I couldn’t imagine being without, even now.

There really are so many good things about this site that the only way to benefit from it is to visit it and hopefully I’ve given an overview of the types of things you will find there. There is definitely something for everybody who is expecting a baby or bringing up a young child.


Capital letters courtesy of: http://www.chuckleweb.co.uk/fixit.php

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