What to expect from whattoexpect.co.uk

If there was one source of information for expectant parents that I knew about before becoming pregnant, it was What To Expect When You're Expecting. The iconic book was conceived by Heidi Murkoff when she was pregnant with her first child and simply couldn't find the information she wanted. Fast-track to today and this pregnancy bible has sold over 17 million print copies with various other titles being added to the family of no-nonsense, tell you everything you need to know about birth, babies and parenting tomes. They even made a film of the same same, which is worth a watch for a chuckle but still a bit too much of a Hollywood take on this parenting malarkey for my liking.

My husband bought me the book as soon as we knew we were expecting and I dipped in and out of it over the course of those nine months. However, with pregnancy fatigue hitting in the evenings when I actually had the chance to read, I could only handle snippets and soundbites of information and the internet quickly became my main source of baby related information. I do want to get What to Expect the First Year but still I rely on the online world for the answers to my questions. Why? Because when I want to know something, I want to know it now and it's much easier to use my phone to access this information than looking it up in a book which never changes or has any input for real people to offer each time I look at it.

The new era of What to Expect When You’re Expecting is here in the form of a UK website, www.whattoexpect.co.uk. The social media team approached me to see if I would like to take a look and share my thoughts on this online resource for new and expectant mums.

Divided into pregnancy, baby and toddler sections, whattoexpect.co.uk offers advice for every step of the way including informative articles, useful tips and support through forums where mums and dads can chat to other people in the same parenting boat.

This site was launched earlier this year and you can see that it's still being developed but it has a all the essential pieces of information in one place with the reassurance that the name provides - it tells you what to expect when you are expecting and beyond. There are plenty of other resources online but aside from a few, you can never quite be sure of their reliability. Personally, I found the NHS website and email service fantastic, telling me all I needed to know when I needed to know it, and Babycenter is also very helpful. What I like about whattoexpect.co.uk is it's a trusted brand. The website is well designed, easy to navigate and useful - it's simplicity is its strength, you never have to look far for what you want as it's well executed and clear.

It's like a magazine, featuring content tailored just for you at the stage you are at and tools such as ovulation and due date calculators are a nice touch to help personalise the experience.

When you're expecting, it's true you don't know what to expect and the anticipation and worry can be a bit much at times which is why I believe whattoexpect.co.uk is another welcome edition to the resources we can go to for reassurance during this scary and exciting time in our lives.