Can I Use This Website?

Hi A.!

This is M. the site moderator. Welcome to Mamapedia! Yes you are certainly welcome to use the site. As long as the questions you ask of the community are good questions I am confident that you will find Mamapedia to be a wonderful resource for good advice and valuable information on parenting related issues. Even without posting a question yourself you can search our database of past questions and responses to find the answers to many questions commonly asked by new moms. Taken as a whole, our community of Moms are an amazing bunch who always seem to be able to provide constructive, insightful, and wise responses to well asked questions based on their own diverse perspectives and collective years as moms themselves. Again welcome A. -we're glad you're here!

-M.
Moderator

Welcome to Mamapedia!

As you are aware, this is a public forum and there are many differing opinions. Don't let the opinions that you personally don't agree with stop you from seeking advice. You can get some good advice and ideas here.

I also hope you have a strong support system because right now you need it in order to keep yourself mentally healthy as well as healthy for your baby.

Best wishes to you!

Welcome to Mamapedia!

Of course you can use this site, there is no reason not to. You're about to be a mom, and this site is for moms.even pregnant moms. We've all been new moms, in some shape or form, be it through pregnancy or adoption and we've all needed help, regardless of our age.

I hope we can make you feel welcome and supported. Do you have a specific need or question we can help you with? Of so, do a new post and we'll do our best to help.

Again, welcome to the site!

Hi A.! Welcome! Just to prepare you 90% of the answers you'll get will be kind and helpful. 10% might be a little harsh or hurt your feelings with the unfiltered responses. If you know that going in, you'll be ready.

A., welcome to Mamapedia. You are welcome here for all kinds of parenting questions, but if you look over the prior questions, you will see that there are some men who are members, and not every question has to deal with parenting. We deal with etiquette, household advice, and a range of other topics.

Here are some hints that have helped others to eliminate confusion:

If you aren't familiar with the abbreviations used here, please ask. For example, MIL is mother-in-law, DS is darling son, DH is darling husband, and so on. There are more so do ask.

Also, if you want to add information to a question you ask, please edit your question by writing ETA (edited to add) at the bottom of the question itself. Please do not answer your own question in the same way as everyone else is answering it - your added info will not be seen by all the people responding, and the subsequent answers you get won't be as on point. You'll keep getting questions about "can you explain...?" or "what about....?" - you'll feel you answered those, but if you don't put it in the place people will look for it, you'll get frustrated. If you do add info, then go back a while later and re-read prior responses to see if the other moms added more info that would be helpful to you. If they update, you don't get an email prompt as you do when an original response is posted. If you have a "resolution" to the problem, you can put it in the "So What Happened" (SWH) section.

You can't answer individual people unless you private message them.

Let us know if you need more help!

Welcome A. :)

Sure can. The more info you can provide (except don't add personal details like names, etc.) the better we are at being to help you with your precise concern or question. So a little background information is helpful - you'll just find the answers are more related to your situation.

Sometimes we share what's worked for us and what hasn't - and it might not all apply to you. And sometimes people won't agree with what you think or are saying, and will try to set you right (well meaning). Just take it with a grain of salt.

Lovely online community of women. And at 16, I'm sure your perspective will be valued too if you want to answer questions we ask as well :)

Of course. There are moms of all kinds here - including moms-to-be.

Welcome to mamapedia!

Yep. The site is open to anyone, really.

Your life is in for a huge change. Hopefully you have family to support you through this.

Yes you can, but you need to be talking to the people in your own family, not just to a bunch of strangers. You are very, very young to be having a baby and you need family support. Don't use the internet as a replacement for that.

You will get some great advice here. Congratulations.

Of course you can, welcome A.. Just remember that you will get a lot of conflicting advice from time to time depending on the topic so in the end follow your gut and do what you feel is right :)