Guide to Commonly Used Jargon, Lingo, and Abbreviations in Pregnancy Message Boards

If you're newly pregnant you are likely looking up as many pregnancy resources as you can. Many pregnant women use online chats, forums, and message boards to ask questions and get encouragement from other pregnant women. When you first get online to find these resources, it may seem like the women participating are speaking a foreign language because of all the acronyms and internet jargon used. Here is a guide to the most commonly used online pregnancy and parenting lingo and jargon.

PG Pregnant or Pregnancy. This is the most basic one.

AF Aunt Flo. In other words, your period.

DH Dear Husband. Alternatives to this may be SO (significant other) or BF (boyfriend)

LO Little One. This is what you use to refer to your baby.

TMI Too Much Information. Anyone want to hear about the mucus plug?

HPT Home Pregnancy Test. The kind you pee on.

TTC Trying To Conceive. You may find this a lot if you're just trying to get pregnant right now.

BF Breastfeeding or Breastfed. While this can also mean boyfriend, you can typically tell if it's boyfriend of breastfeeding by the context of the post.

DD and DS Dear Daughter and Dear Son. These are most commonly used to refer to an older child/sibling.

ETA Edited To Add. Most forums allow you to edit a post. Often posters will let you know that they have edited something by adding in ETA.

BM Breastmilk. Don't get confused and assume this means bowel movement. That could really screw up your perception of a forum topic!

FF Formula Feeding of Formula Fed. This is used in contrast to BF, typically.

MC Miscarriage.

BFP Big Fat Positive. In regards to your HPT (home pregnancy test) showing a positive result.

CD Cloth Diapers or Cloth Diapering.

BD Baby Dance. You can figure out what that one means.

MIL, FIL, BIL, SIL Mother-in-law, Father-in-law, Brother-in-law, Sister-in-law.

CIO Cry It Out. This is one you may encounter as your baby grows up and you're trying to get him or her to sleep through the night.

EDD Estimated Due Date or Estimated Delivery Date.

IMO In My Opinion. Often will precede answers to a posted question.

ITA I Totally Agree.

L&D Labor and Delivery.