An online site for parents offers more than just baby talk. Its users are intelligent and feisty as Jaine Blackman reports

In the dead of the night when you are breast-feeding at 2am and you are finding it all a bit much, there is always some one to talk to.” That’s just one of the reasons why Wallingford mother Camilla Preece (“I’ve been there – every new parent has”) got involved with Mumsnet, the UK’s second largest website for parents.

The site offers people – and realistically we’re talking mainly women – the chance to share advice and information on parenting, products and other issues.

But there’s more to it than that.

It’s campaigned for better treatment of miscarrying parents; called for an end to the display of lads’ mags’ in children’s view; for local authorities to provide adequate short breaks for families with disabled children and to end sales representatives on maternity wards.

Started by Justine Roberts to help parents pool information and advice following a disastrous family holiday with her one-year-old twins nearly 15 years ago, the site has grown to have 4.8 million monthly unique visitors and 60 million monthly page views.

And while it might sound a bit mumsy, the site has a reputation of attracting well-educated women (“70 per cent have gone on to higher education”) with more than just motherhood on their minds.

The site has hosted webchats with celebrities and politicians and as well as the national campaigns has caused media storms in a teacup with forums discussing sex (who’d have thought women would be interested in that?!).

In fact Camilla, who was told about Mumsnet by a friend says: “I started using it before I was pregnant. I found the discussions very interesting with bright and intelligent women. A lot of people are mistaken that you are a mum and nothing else.”

Camilla is now a mum herself, she has a two-year-old son Leo, and as well as doing freelance public relations, she also runs the Mumsnet Oxford and Oxfordshire sites.

“Mumsnet Oxford is one of the many local sites Mumsnet launched at the end of 2012. I took it over in the summer of 2013 in addition to Mumsnet Oxfordshire.

“I got involved because I had previously volunteered to help organise mum meet-ups and when they launched the local sites they contacted me to see if I’d be interested,” says Camilla, 31, who moved to Wallingford in 2011 when her engineer husband Adam got a job in the area..

“I enjoyed running Mumsnet Oxfordshire so much that I jumped at the chance to take on Mumsnet Oxford as well and running both of them allows me to easily negotiate any crossovers.

“The main idea of Mumsnet Oxford is to support parents on a more local level, by putting them in touch with businesses, services, events and each other.

“We have a directory of events, services and so on that we encourage businesses to add themselves to for free. We also encourage our users to add reviews for these as we believe that peer review and word of mouth are one of the most important recommendations for parents.”

Businesses can also buy advertising and Camilla, who spends about two hours a day working on the site on a freelance basis, is paid on commission.

There is also the social aspect of the site.

“For those wanting to talk to other parents we have an online talk board which covers all kind of topics, though two of the most popular are ‘where to live'’ and ‘'what school’.

“It’s lovely to have online friendships. It’s no substitute for real life ones but it’s a very good supplement,” says Camilla, noying it’s of particular value to those isolated by heath issues or family commitments.

There is also a section dedicated to meet-ups.

“This is where we organise real life events for users interested in meeting others. We have a number of Local Ambassadors who are volunteers who run these events.says Camilla.

One upcoming event is a networking meeting (see panel right). So not very mumsy at all. “In the end we’re as good as our users,” says Camilla. “And Mumsnetters have a reputation as being feisty, intelligent, witty women which is what gives it such value as a resource.”