Mum’s the word with web help (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Mum’s the word with web help

8:06am Tuesday 30th June 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
•  

The arrival of a newborn baby can be as daunting as it is exciting. Babies don’t come with an instruction manual – most parents and carers learn as they go along.

But one Ilkley mum is hoping her new website will help take the fear out of childbirth, while giving advice, support and ideas to those going into parenthood for the first time.

Jess Robinson hit on the idea of launching a social networking site for mums while on maternity leave. Her son, Frank, was born last November.

Like many working women, the chartered accountant wasn’t used to spending her days at home.

“After a few weeks of sleepless nights, I thought it would be nice to get out and about and find some classes,” she says.

Difficulty finding baby-related classes led Jess to look at collating information about activities and events in her home town of Ilkley and surrounding areas.

“I thought it would be useful to put them all together for the local area so mums have one place where they can go to find the information,” she says.

Most parents take time to adjust to a new routine. Tending to the needs of a new-born is totally different to dealing with the demands of a full-time job.

“It is a kind of different rhythm being at home and up in the night as opposed to just working in the day time, so it has been good for me to do something else,” says Jess.

With the help of her partner, Jess created the website, moormums.co.uk and launched it in February. “It was a good learning experience as well,” she says.

Jess was already part of a social group of mums, but was aware that other mums may not have the benefit of family and friends living close by.

She kept in touch with the women in her ante-natal class. They meet up once a week and, through their meetings, Jess learned about other activities and events in their areas, Otley, Guiseley and Bingley.

“They found out about information in their areas and we pooled the information together,” she says.

By logging on to the website moormums.co.uk parents can access a wealth of information and activities in those areas. There are currently 26 classes running throughout the areas. Baby massage, baby ballet, baby reflexology and French for toddlers are just some of the activities you can take your child to.

The site also has information on various groups where parents and carers can meet, baby-related events and pram-friendly cafes.

“There is also a tips section with anything from using real nappies to expressing milk. Anything specific to having a new baby,” explains Jess.

The discussion forum enables parents and carers to swap handy hints and gain helpful advice and support.

Jess says some new mums can feel isolated if they don’t have the confidence to go out and meet new mums. “But you can meet somebody online and two of you can go to a group as opposed to going by yourself,” she adds.

She is delighted with the response to the website. Between 40 and 50 people are logging in daily and are spending time looking around the site.

“I think the site is already a success because it is jam-packed with relevant local information for new mums and it is easy to navigate,” says Jess.

She is currently developing the website’s pregnancy section where mums can share their birth stories.

“At the moment, we are developing the pregnancy section with birth stories, pregnancy classes and top tips on what to buy to be ready for your new baby. There has been a lot of demand to both read and share birth stories, probably because of the uniqueness of these experiences,” says Jess.

She says the idea behind sharing birth stories is to allay the fears of mums-to-be. Sharing experiences, she believes, increases mums-to-be confidence too. “It is more for pregnant ladies who get quite nervous about giving birth.”

Later in the summer, Moormums are planning to run a beautiful baby competition and they’re also asking mums to vote for their ‘best buggy.’ Jess hopes to focus on toddler classes too, as well as reviewing local nurseries and childcare facilities and expanding the site’s baby-friendly walks section.

“When you are a new mum you’ve never had any experience of this. It’s all new and you don’t know the ropes, so it’s useful to have somewhere where you can find all the information by someone who has been through it themselves,” says Jess.

For more information visit moormums.co.uk