Netmums is a website for parents in the United Kingdom, established in 2000. It operates as a network of local sites, and offers information to both mothers and fathers about

parenting Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and educational development from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a biologica ...

. The Coffee House web forum launched in 2004 for mothers to chat, make friends and exchange advice online. As of 2012 the site included over 150 local websites, 500 national meet-up groups for mothers and 1,500 bloggers in its network.

History

Netmums was founded by Siobhan Freegard, Cathy Court and Sally Russell who met at playgroup in

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England * Harrow, London, a town in London * Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) * ...

, north west

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 2000. Freegard was born in Bristol and started her career as a marketer for hospitality provider

Keith Prowse The Keith Prowse company originated from a partnership in 1830 between two musical instrument makers who opened a shop selling their goods. It later became a theatre ticket agency and music publisher; after a merger with the Peter Maurice company ...

. She has written for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper, and has appeared on the panel television shows ''

Loose Women ''Loose Women'' (known as ''Live Talk'' from 2000 to 2001) is a British talk show that broadcasts on ITV weekdays from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. The show focuses on a panel of four female presenters who interview celebrities, talk about aspects of ...

'' and '' This Morning''. Co-founders Court and Russell worked in

food technology Food technology is a branch of food science that addresses the production, preservation, quality control and research and development of food products. It may also be understood as the science of ensuring that a society is food secure and ha ...

and environmental sciences respectively. Netmums started off as a single local site, then gradually grew to cover other local areas, all of which were originally maintained by volunteer site editors using

Adobe Contribute Adobe Contribute (formerly Macromedia Contribute) is a discontinued specialized HTML editor. As its name implies, it is intended to contribute content to existing websites, including blogs. It includes plug-ins for Internet Explorer and Firefox t ...

and

Adobe Dreamweaver Adobe Dreamweaver is a proprietary web development tool from Adobe. It was created by Macromedia in 1997 and developed by them until Macromedia was acquired by Adobe Systems in 2005. Adobe Dreamweaver is available for the macOS and Windows oper ...

web editing software. In 2009 the website was included in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' newspaper's ‘Top 50 Websites and Blogs for Parents’, and the business was estimated to be worth £50 million. Cathy Ranson was

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

from 2010 until she left in March 2015, replaced by Annie O'Leary. By 2011, the number of registered members of the website reached 1 million. and shortly after this, the three co-founders sold their company to European group

aufeminin Aufeminin is a digital media group based in Paris, France, founded in 1999. It is 78.43% owned by the TF1 (Télévision Française 1 S.A) and is publicly traded by Euronext Paris in compartment B. (MNEMO : FEM). The group operates in 21 countri ...

, originally retaining control over the Netmums brand, but later leaving the site to pursue other work. In March 2012, Netmums and marketing data company Cint created a panel of 4,000 participants to gain market insight on mothers with babies. In September 2014 Rimi Atwal, formerly of

Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (), trade name, trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations, ...

, was appointed

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. In the

2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

Netmums founders Freegard, Court and Russell received

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

s from the Queen for Services to Families. In 2013, Netmums announced advertising sign-ups with

Stiefel Laboratories Stiefel Laboratories Inc. was an American dermatological pharmaceutical company, with its global headquarters in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. It makes products such as Duac and Oilatum. Stiefel was acquired by GSK plc at a price of ...

' Oilatum and

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Kids, as they revealed a 46% increase occurred on ad spend on the site from April 2012 to April 2013. In 2016, Netmums made a post-tax profit of £1,518,962 on a turnover of £5,064,760 (down 33% from 2015).

Content

Netmums lists crafts and activities for families in the school holidays and weekends.

Birthday party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

ideas for children are offered, including planning, making invitations, party themes, recipe and food ideas, and details of local caterers, venues, entertainers and cake makers. The pregnancy section contains support, advice and tips, and listings of local hospitals, birth centres and pregnancy classes in each area. Members can also subscribe to a weekly pregnancy email and a short email antenatal course, as well as monthly emails with support and advice for parents of children under the age of one. It covers sleep support, baby development, health and support for parents, plus discussions with health professionals. Netmums offers support and advice for mothers with

postnatal depression Postpartum depression (PPD), also called perinatal depression, is a mood disorder which may be experienced by pregnant or postpartum women. Symptoms include extreme sadness, low energy, anxiety, crying episodes, irritability, and extreme cha ...

, with lists of local support groups, information and live support from parents in its Coffeehouse forum. There is also childcare information for mothers going back to work after having a baby. This includes listings for childminders, nurseries and other services. In 2008, Netmums launched a Parent Supporters service on the Coffee House forum. The social support element of the site later received a grant from the UK

Department for Children, Schools and Families Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education. DCSF was repl ...

to support online counsellors and

health visitor Health visitors are professional individuals engaged in public health work within the domestic setting, predominantly found in countries with state-funded health systems. They are distinct from district nurses, who provide clinical healthcare, do ...

s. Netmums subsequently expanded the Parent Supporter scheme further, though the government funding was later gradually reduced and then finally withdrawn.

Campaigns

In 2009, Netmums called publicly on the UK government and primary care trusts to take account of the concerns of parents, and the organisations that represent their needs and views, and to reverse this decline. In 2010 Netmums conducted an

online survey With the application of probability Sampling (statistics), sampling in the 1930s, surveys became a standard tool for empirical research in social sciences, marketing, and official statistics. The methods involved in survey data collection are any o ...

of 5,900 mothers asking which issues mattered most to them, and which were likely to affect their voting decisions in the 2010 general election. In 2011 the website helped local parent groups campaigning to preventing closures of 250 children's centres in the UK. Netmums endorsed the "Energy Bill Revolution" campaign in 2012 to support reduction of energy waste and increased energy efficiency in the home, calling on the

UK government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

to fund energy efficiency programme with the aim to bring 9 out of 10 homes out of

fuel poverty Household energy insecurity refers to a household's inability to meet its energy needs. Household energy insecurity is a broad framework that includes a household's inability to afford energy costs as one of several factors in a household's ability ...

. In the same year Netmums conducted a social survey which concluded that one in seven women describes themselves as

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

Netmums campaigned for improvements in maternity services for over two years. This included demands for better support for postnatal depression and depression during pregnancy. Netmums also conducted studies looking at different aspects of postnatal depression and anxiety. Over a period of three years, Netmums conducted three studies on different aspects of postnatal depression and anxiety. In June 2014 the Family and Childcare Trust and Netmums launched a programme of activity looking into issues affecting families in the UK. This included how family friendly the UK was as a nation, holiday childcare, flexible working, parental leave and childcare in general.

Books

Netmums has published nine books: *''Feeding Kids'' (2007), *''How to Be a Happy Mum: The Netmums Guide to Stress-free Family Life'' (2007), *''Toddling to Ten: Your common parenting problems solved'' (2008), *''Your Pregnancy: The Netmums Guide to Having a Baby'' (2009), *''Baby's First Year: The Netmums Guide to Being a New Mum'' (2009), *''Baby Sleep Solutions'' (2010), *''Getting Ready to Start School'' (2010), *''You and Your Tween'' (2011), *''The Ultimate Baby & Toddler Q&A: Your 50 Most Common Questions Answered'' (2012),

References

External links

* {{official website, https://www.netmums.com/ Online companies of the United Kingdom Internet properties established in 2000 Parenting websites Online support groups