A-Z of Parenting Terms (Glossary of Terms)
Welcome to a whole new language...
Becoming a parent is pretty full on, let alone learning another language. At This Dad Can we've got it covered. Here's our Parenting Glossary of Terms- A new language & its definitions.
The information and advice presented on this website has been reviewed by medical professionals. They should not, however, substitute for the advice of your personal physician or other trained health care professionals. You are advised to consult with health care professionals with regard to ALL matters that may require medical attention or diagnosis and to check with a physician before administering or undertaking any course of treatment.
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| Word | What it is |
| Adoption | A way of providing a permanent home and family to a child who can't be brought up by their birth family |
| Amniotic fluid/ Waters | Waters around the baby in the womb |
| Antenatal | Before birth; during or relating to pregnancy |
| Baby Massage | The process of rubbing an infant's muscles and stroking the infant in a manner specifically designed for them |
| Bottle Feeding | Feeding your baby with a bottle containing breast milk or formula |
| Breast engorgement | Breasts which are painfully overfull of milk |
| Breast Pump | A device for drawing milk from a woman's breasts by suction. |
| Breastfeeding | Feeding on the breast |
| Breech | Baby lying bottom down in pelvis |
| Burping | Encouraging the release of air from the baby's stomach through the mouth |
| C-Section/ Caesarean section | A surgical operation for delivering a child by cutting through the wall of the mother's tummy |
| Cephalic | Baby lying head down in pelvis |
| Cervix | The narrow neck-like passage forming the lower end of the uterus |
| Changing Table | A table often used to change the baby's nappy |
| Childproofing | Making safe, designing to prevent tampering or opening by children |
| Colic | Severe pain in the abdomen caused by wind or obstruction in the intestines and suffered especially by babies |
| Colostrum | The milk made by the mother when the baby is first born. It is clearer than normal milk |
| Conception | When you get pregnant by either having sex or IVF. |
| Contractions | When the tummy muscles start to squeeze, so the baby can be pushed out |
| Epidural | An injection into the back to take away pain during childbirth. It makes everything numb below the waist for a few hours |
| Episiotomy | A small cut sometimes made by doctors near the vagina to help the baby be born |
| Expressing | Getting the milk out of mum’s breast to feed to the baby later (by hand or pump) |
| Ferberising | A technique invented to solve infant sleep problems. It involves "baby-training" children to self-soothe by allowing the child to cry for a predetermined amount of time before receiving external comfort |
| Fertility | The ability to conceive children or young |
| Forceps | A tool sometimes used by doctors to help babies come out the vagina |
| Foremilk | Is the breast milk your baby gets at the beginning of each feeding when your breasts are full |
| Formula | Shop-bought baby’s milk (not from mum’s breast) |
| Fostering | Bring up (a child that is not one's own by birth) |
| Health Visitor | A health care professional (either a nurse or midwife) who has trained to care for children and their families from birth to around 5 years old |
| Hindmilk | The high-fat, high-calorie breast milk that your baby gets toward the end of a feeding |
| Hormones | A chemical substance produced in the body that controls and regulates the activity of certain cells or organs |
| Hypnobirthing | A coping strategy for labour and birth using relaxation, visualisation and self hypnosis techniques |
| Inducing | Artificially triggering labour |
| Jaundice | A medical condition with yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes, arising from excess of the pigment bilirubin and typically caused by obstruction of the bile duct, by liver disease, or by excessive breakdown of red blood cells |
| Labour | From when contractions start to when the baby comes out |
| Latch-on | Baby get its mouth into the correct position around the nipple. |
| Maternity | The period during pregnancy and shortly after childbirth |
| Meconium | Baby's first few poos. Usually black or dark green in colour. |
| Midwife | Literally means 'With Woman' A midwife is a health care professional who has trained to care for women, their babies and families during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period |
| Milk Duct/ Lactiferous ducts/ Galactophores/ Galactophorous ducts/ Mammary ducts/ Mamillary ducts | The tubes that carry breast milk from where it is made in the glandular tissue of the breast out to the nipple. |
| Milk Supply | Breast milk being produced to meet the baby's growth needs |
| Mucus/ Plug/ Show | Sticky vaginal mucus that keep cervix closed in pregnancy. Comes away towards end of pregnancy and when in labour. |
| Nappies | A absorbent material, or towelling wrapped round a baby's bottom and between its legs to absorb and retain urine and faeces |
| Neonatal | The first month after a baby is born. Often used in association with services that specialise in the care of babies born early, with low weight or who have a medical condition |
| Nipple confusion | Confusion between the different types of sucking used when breastfeeding and when using artificial nipples |
| Obstetrician | A doctor who specialises in Pregnancy and Birth |
| On-demand feeding | Feeding your baby whenever they signal they are hungry, rather than according to a set schedule |
| Paediatrician | A doctor specialising in children and their diseases |
| Paternity Leave | A period of time that a father is legally allowed to be away from his job so that he can spend time with his new baby |
| Percentile/ Centiles | A way in which a baby can be measured and compared to the general population |
| Perineum | The area between the vagina and anus, that stretches during birth and is assessed for stitches following birth |
| Placenta | A flattened circular organ in the uterus of pregnant ladies, nourishing and maintaining the fetus through the umbilical cord |
| Postnatal | Relating to or denoting the period after childbirth |
| Postnatal depression/ Postpartum depression | Depression suffered by a mother following childbirth, typically arising from the combination of hormonal changes, psychological adjustment to motherhood, and fatigue |
| Premature/ Prem | Born more than 4 weeks early (less than 36 weeks old) |
| Prolactin | A hormone released from the anterior pituitary gland that stimulates milk production after childbirth |
| Puerperal period/ Postpartum period/ Postnatal period | The period beginning immediately after the birth of a child and extending for about six weeks |
| Reflux | Your baby effortlessly spitting up whatever they've swallowed |
| Registrar | This is a type of senior doctor who sometimes looks after mums and babies in hospital |
| Skin to skin | The baby's skin against mum or dad's skin |
| Spontaneous rupture of membranes | Waters breaking naturally |
| Surrogate | A woman who becomes pregnant usually by artificial insemination or surgical implantation of a fertilised egg for the purpose of carrying the fetus to term for another woman |
| Suturing | When stitches are performed |
| Swaddling | Wrap a baby in garments or cloth |
| Sweep/ Stretch and sweep/ Cervical sweep/ Membrane sweep | A way of trying to start labour. A finger is commonly used to separate the amniotic sac from the uterine wall and cervix by making circular, sweeping movements |
| Teething | Grow milk teeth. Commonly associated with the time the teeth break through the gums |
| Thumb sucking | Placing the thumb into the mouth and rhythmically repeating sucking contact for a prolonged duration |
| Trauma | Deeply distressing or disturbing experience |
| Umbilical cord | Flexible cord-like structure containing blood vessels and attaching the fetus to the placenta during gestation |
| Uterus/ Womb/ In utero | The organ in the lower body of a woman where offspring are conceived and in which they gestate before birth |
| Variflo feeder | A particular form of nipple for bottle feeding |
| Water breaking | When water comes out of vagina. This often means the baby is about to be born |
| Weaning | The process of your baby taking food from a source other than your breast. Introducing it to what will be its adult diet and withdrawing the supply of its mother's milk |