Cyber Savvy Sites for Mothers
of Multiples
by Amy Schwimmer and Rachelle
Chong
Reproduced with permission from the
Diaper Rag (October 1998)
newsletter of
the San Francisco Mothers of Twins
Clubs
While many moms-to-be reach for the
traditional pregnancy bible "What
to Expect When You Are Expecting,"
others of us Internet mavens log on
to the Internet to mine cyberspace
for a broad variety of information:
pregnancy and parenting sites, twin
information and chat sites,
shopping sites for baby equipment,
doula information, and even
suggestions on what to name our
babies. Here is a survey of
favorite sites for you to enjoy the
next time you log on.
Pregnancy and Parenting Information
Sites Baby Center:
www.babycenter.com Our sources at
BabyCenter tell us it is the
leading web site in the
expectant-and-new-parent area with
some 5.5 million page views per
month internationally! BabyCenter
offers a great index of sites and
organizations, links to articles on
a wide variety of pregnancy and
baby issues, chat rooms, baby
names, bulletin boards, et al! You
can find articles by experts on
everything ranging from
preconception issues (e.g. effects
of caffeine, sexual positions,
donor eggs, surrogacy) to such
topics as teaching your breastfed
baby to use a bottle and how to
introduce solids into your baby's
diet. There are cheat sheets for
questions to ask at OB & pediatric
visits, articles on infant
month-by-month development, a free
newsletter, a daily pregnancy
calendar, etc. See below for info
on BabyCenter.com's online store!
ParentsPlace: www.parentsplace.com
This wonderful parent-founded site
contains a tremendous amount of
information on all aspects of
pregnancy and parenting. Highlights
include a bibliography to
children's literature, a live chat
and bulletin board on twin issues,
links to twin organizations and
services, and Multiples Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQs). On the main
site, try out the fun "interactive
pregnancy calendar" which gives you
a day by day customized calendar
detailing your baby's development.
Or check out the link to "Parenting
Twins or High Multiples" which can
be found at:
www.parentsplace.com/genobject.cgi/
readroom/multiples.html Parent Soup
at
"www.parentsoup.com" is another
good resource for parents. They
have chats, expert columns, and
"at
home dad" message boards.
Yahoo itself has a good site for
information, advice, and links for
pregnancy and birth issues. View it
at
"www.yahoo.com/health/reproductive_
health/pregnancy_and_birth".
Or try
"www.parenthoodweb.com" where you
can find some good information on
parenting and pregnancy, including
a recall alert area for those
buying baby equipment such as car
seats.
Expecting twin moms may be
interested in checking into the
site of Lamaze International:
www.lamaze-childbirth.com. It
features FAQs, pregnancy tips. and
how to find a local Lamaze
educator.
If you are looking for a
doula, go to the Doulas of North
America site for information on
local doulas to contact:
www.dona.com
To learn about au
pairs, try: www.aupairinamerica.com
or www.worldlearning.org
Shopping Online
Many twin moms and
expectant moms on bedrest love the
Net for its multitude of great (and
convenient!) online baby shopping
sites. Be sure to add in shipping
costs when shopping through the
Net.
Baby Bargains: Devotees of
Alan and Denise Field's book "Baby
Bargains" can log onto their web
site.
For updates, recall
information on car seats and other
baby products, a stroller features
chart, links to other sites, and
new baby bargain hunting tips. It's
at
www.windsorpeak.com/babybargains/de
fault.html.
Burlington Baby Depot:
Several Burlington Coat Factory
stores in the Bay Area have a "Baby
Depot" section offering a range of
discount baby goodies, and they're
on the web as well. This is an
especially great site for equipment
and large items such as strollers
and high chairs at very good
discounts. Go to "www.coat.com",
then select "Shop BCF Direct", then
select "Baby Furniture and
Accessories".
BabyCenter.com has
just launched an online store that
is amazingly "full-service." They
carry a wide range of pregnancy and
infant products, largely in
partnership, California-based Lullaby Lane—1,500
products so far, with plans to
expand in all categories. At the
end of September they will be
adding maternity clothing from
Pitterpat, a Bay Area-based
enterprise. In October/November,
print baby announcements will be
available, with 70 designs to
choose from, and a cyber-quick
3-day turnaround time from order to
shipping! Other features of the
BabyCenter store include a product
search, gift wrap, worldwide
shipping, and an upcoming baby
registry. Store manager Lauren
Kawasaki tells us that the store
prides itself on its customer
service center, where customers can
call/phone/or fax in questions
about any aspect of the products,
from how many layers are in a
Gerber cloth diaper to what the
difference is between alloy and
steel running stroller wheels.
Phone toll-free 1-877-551-BABY, fax
4152845169, or press "Shopping" on
the BabyCenter.com home page.
Internet Baby: Another good
shopping site devoted just to
discounted baby stuff:
"www.internetbaby.com". They offer
a multiples discount for purchases
totaling over $250 if you buy more
than one of the same item. The
discount is 5% on the additional
item.
Baby Catalog of America:
"www.babycatalog.com". If you join
their Baby Club for $25, you and
three "associate" members (the
grandparents or friend) get 10% off
everything.
Premiewear:
Baby clothes for tiny
premies are at www.premiewear.com
FourDee is a company founded by
twin parents that sells only twin
baby products such as Nursemate
nursing pillows, Connect Two
stroller accessories, twin bouncer,
and a twin baby bather. Find it at
"www.fourdee.com".
e-toys: Self-billed as the web's
largest toy store, this playtime
emporium can be found at
http://www1.etoys.com/html/et_home.
Gymboree: This popular
clothing store just put up a
colorful website at
www.gymboree.com. It features a
nice online Gift Center where you
can order gift certificates as
presents, toys, and complete
layette sets that can be mail
ordered and sent for you.
Discounts for Multiples
One place
to find a list of discounts offered
to parents of multiples by
companies can be found on the
Capitol Area MOTC site. Go to
www.geocities.com/heartland/estates
/9261 and choose "discounts".
Another listing can be found at
twin parent Sue Shayler's personal
page if you go to
http://pages.prodigy.net/twingles/t
wins.htm at Parenting Multiples and
click under "Free Stuff."
Twin Organizations and Information
The National Organization of the
Mothers of Twins Club has a site at
"www.nomotc.org". This site
features many articles about twins,
twin tips, club links and a
bulletin board. One new feature of
this site is a "Fathers Site" for
dads of twins! You can also link to
local MOTC sites.
For twin
information, try the Little Ones
Marvelous Multiples page at:
www.littleones.com/familyguide/mult
iples/. It has a useful feeding
schedule spreadsheet to download,
survival tips, and a multiples
reading list.
Baby Names
You can even use the Net to help
you name your twins!
The best site
is Parent Soup's Baby Name finder:
http://bnf.parentsoup.com/babyname/
.
If your taste in names run to
soap opera names (always the
trendiest names), Shakespearean
names (Hamlet, Juliet and Othello?)
or the 1997 popular names list, try
"www.babynames.com" for fun.
Finally, Parentzone has a baby
names area:
www.parentzone.com/parents/names.htm.
Exciting New Site Find Award: TheMiningCompany.com Maybe you've already found The Mining Company site on your own but if not, you've got to check this one out. So named because "we mine the net so you don't have to," this site has "real people" guides to a plethora of fun and useful areas. A fabulous subsection is Travel, within which you can find great tips on traveling and travel destinations for grown-ups as well as for families. Or go to the Family area and choose one of many subtopics, including Crafts for Kids, Focus on Girlscouting, Penpals, Fatherhood, Family Internet, and of course, Parenting of Multiples, with links to lists, articles, FAQ's, etc. on such topics as freebies (GREAT freebie multiples lists!), breastfeeding multiples, fertility, sibling rivalry, etc.
Miscellaneous Good Stuff
If you're going on a trip and leaving your twins behind, you can download a medical release for a long term baby-sitter by going to www.MOSTonline.org/free/index.htm.
Children's Literature Web Guide:
www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html. To order a free National Highway Safety Traffic Administration brochure on "Buying a Safer Car for Child Passengers" go to www.nhtsa.dot.gov or call 1-888-DASH2DOT.
Family Travel: Loads of sites in this area, including: Travel With Kids; The Family Travel Forum; the travel section of Family.com; the Great Outdoors Recreation Pages (GORP); Indoor Playgrounds, for rainy days.
The information in this article is not a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice. Please consult with your health care advisor about specific questions or problems This article may be printed out for personal use but may not be reproduced in any other manner, including electronic, without prior written consent from the authors. For more information,call 415-440-twins or log on to our web site San Francisco Mothers of Twins Club
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