websites for baby momma

February 7, 2008 2:18 PM

I am looking for great parenting websites (got a newborn) with an active, intelligent discussion forum, kind of like metafilter/ask mefi for parents. Thanks
posted by beccaj to Human Relations (9 answers total)

Best answer: I am not active there very much at all anymore, but altdotlife.com is where the women of IndieBride basically broke off to after they were done getting married and moved on to other phases of their lives. It holds pretty true to it's roots despite expansion and influx from everywhere, but is much more inclusive of a wider range of mothers and parenting styles than (s)mothering.com.

It does require registration.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:24 PM on February 7, 2008

What DarlingBri said. I don't even have kids, but sometimes go there to read stuff and hang out because the members are interesting. And I'm an information junkie.
posted by rtha at 2:27 PM on February 7, 2008

The UrbanBaby message boards can be interesting and helpful, but they are all anonymous so there is much more snark and trolling.
posted by mattbucher at 2:44 PM on February 7, 2008

The Mrs. has a bun in the oven and I have been half heartedly looking for the same. I have run across the following blogs that seem to have lively comment sections. YMMV.
Parent hacks, for dad try daddy types, and for style (or crazy expensive shit you don't need) Ohdeedoh has some nice discussions on kid clothes, furniture and all assorted hoo-hah. Good luck. I will be interested to see what turns up here.
posted by SMELLSLIKEFUN at 3:10 PM on February 7, 2008

Another alternative is IndieBride itself from which altdotlife.com spun off (they have slightly different philosophies). If you want to check out the relevant portion of IndieBride, it's the IndieMOM section of the forums.

Full Disclosure: Someone close to me writes a mom blog and wedding etiquette column for the site, though she's not paid by the site and has no financial interest in it. I don't read the forums, so I can't say how they are -- but since someone mentioned the altdotlife spin-off I thought IndieBride deserved a mention.
posted by The Bellman at 4:42 PM on February 7, 2008

nthing altdotlife.com. It's worth the registration! We're pretty friendly, and the parenting section is a large part of the boards. There's also a large fertility/pregnancy/birth section, for anyone who's looking for smart discussion on those topics as well.
posted by gingerbeer at 7:25 PM on February 7, 2008

There are some really smart, funny parents over at theperfectworld.us
(and they've got a special thread set aside for purposes of mocking mothering.com)
posted by moxiedoll at 7:30 PM on February 7, 2008

Urbanbaby, with the caveats mattbucher mentions. When my son was an infant, I learned more from those women than from the pediatrician. But yes, you have to cut through a lot of juvenile behavior. The Berkeley Parents Network has a higher level of discussion, but isn't as active. The advice archives are really helpful, though.
posted by cocoagirl at 7:33 PM on February 7, 2008

I really like www.mumsnet.com - but it is UK based.
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 5:08 AM on February 8, 2008