Expectant & New Parents Gush and Fret On the Internet - S Singh

It's one more way parents can gurgle about their babies. Expecting and having a baby possesses an all-consuming quality that renders parents unable to think of much else. It's a joyful experience, and one that the Internet now lets you splurge on. Planning a baby, weekly pregnancy updates, due date calculators, ultrasounds, the pregnant body, gender predictions, labor techniques, baby stuff like health, food, clothes, games, gear, names - Web sites have it all. And parents are indulging: "With a baby around, there's so much to do and think about. To that extent, the Internet is a welcome source of information!" says Crystal, mother of a one-year-old. The experience begins with conception. With a whole new life inside the woman, nausea, cravings, aversions, mood swings and a range of physical changes take place. The various articles in this website gives a good idea of what's happening and why. In plain text, the site offers reliable information on various stages. The section on 'Your Pregnant Body', for instance, lucidly explains the hormonal changes, the effects of pregnancy on your body and medical issues. The baby's health is of great concern. Your doubts could be resolved at KidsHealth. Their pregnancy section offers useful articles on 'Preparing for the pain of childbirth' and 'Looking at your newborn'. You can even send in your own queries.

Healthy Me discusses issues like eating for two, prenatal exercises, fetal development, teething and introduction of solid foods to the child. Specific diet queries can be sent to nutrition counselor, Joanne Larsen, at Dietician.com. However, unless you're looking for specific health information, it's often better to surf the more comprehensive baby portals. Says Sharon, mother of two and a regular surfer, "At these sites you get to know of things you don't even know exist. While browsing through names for my second baby, I incidentally read about some interesting CDs for my elder daughter." IndiaParenting, possibly the largest indigenous site on the subject, has categories ranging from sex education and fertility through pregnancy to infancy and beyond. You might as well start with their site map. Apart from the sheer physiology of parenting, the site includes kaleidoscopic elements of child development. The Communities section is a good place for parents to discuss their children, Kidcentric opens e-learning avenues and Eshop offers the latest Indian games, CDs, books, quilts and other child paraphernalia. Send questions to a panel of doctors and access tools like a due date calculator, ovulation calculator, weight gain estimator, gender predictor and suggestions for party themes/ games. "The most popular sections though," reveals Anna James, a marketing executive with the site, "are the Baby Photo Contest and the Baby Modelling Club, where people send in their children's photographs, which we then forward to ad agencies looking for child models."  Another good place to find guidelines on topics like benefits and techniques of touch, infant food, colic, nappy rash and delays in milestones is the Johnson & Johnson baby site. It also forwards queries to the Indian Academy of Pediatricians. Foreign sites are also relevant since, as one father puts it, "Babies are the same everywhere!" Some of the better ones include Baby Center, Baby Corner, Zero To Three and Parents.com .

One of the best 'Expecting Parents' sections may be found at My Baby Connection, while the bulletin boards at Baby Center are worth a visit. If relevant diaries and personal stories of pregnancy are what you're looking for, you'll find several at Preconception, Breastfeed and iParenting. However, be careful with tips you get online. Check with your doctor before implementing anything. The information at most of these sites does come from reliable sources, but has a disclaimer nevertheless. Shares one parent, "When I posted my son's speech difficulties on one site, I got several replies allaying my fears. But later, it turned out that he did need a speech therapist."

Looking for new trends and developments in pregnancy and childcare? About.com is a good checkpoint. Topics range from 'Diapering decisions' and 'The power of imaginative play' to 'How to Protect your child from abductors and paedophiles'. You could also join one of the innumerable parenting groups online. If you're wondering what to name your newborn, visit BabyCenter's section for a repertoire of names from several languages/cultures, along with meanings and a thesaurus. Zoope, an informal site, also has a collection of multicultural names.  Indian ones are available at YourBabysName, BabyNamesIndia, IndiaA2Z and MaxPages (a thesaurus here too). Look for Iranian, European, Indian, Biblical, Hawaiian and Muslim names at Dmoz.

You can also launch your child into cyberspace by creating simple pages at sites like BabiesOnline.

After all, as Justin Sharp, product manager with Johnson & Johnson says, "One thing all parents love to do is show off their babies."