A Mom's Guide To Basic Motherhood Acronyms

By Esther Rachel Lai. - 7/18/2016


Welcoming a newborn into your life is a tricky (and messy...and fulfilling...and sleep-depriving...not to mention, hectic, tiring, crazy, stressful, satisfying, joyous...you get the drift) process even for experienced moms and the dawn of the internet has been a really great support to modern moms such as myself thanks to motherhood forums, Google and informative parenting and pregnancy sites. However, with the introduction of quick and easy access to much needed information, it also brings about a whole new internet lingo as well. If you've been on motherhood forums, facebook groups and the like, you would have noticed that moden moms these days speak in what seems like code (e.g. "Hi, I'm a FTM and a SAHM, I just started my BF journey and I don't DL my LO but bottle-feed instead. I'm confused about how to store my EBM because my LC says one thing and CL says another, can anyone here enlighten me please?). There's a zillion and one shortforms and acronyms plastered all over each thread or post and I'm sure that like me, you probably would have turned to Google to decipher these acronyms more than just once and sometimes, to no avail.

So today, I've decided to compile a list of commonly used acronyms in the world of motherhood to help other clueless & confused moms like myself (yup, don't worry, you're not alone)! I know that there's actually a lot more to add to this list but I figured I should just stick to the more common ones that I've stumbled across on forums/groups so you ladies won't be too overwhelmed. Even though it's just a "basic" guide to the language of motherhood, it's already quite a handful of acronyms so brace yourselves & without further ado, here we go!

BC - Birth control
BF - Breastfeeding
BFM - Breastfeeding mom
BLW - Baby-led weaning
BM - Breast milk
CL - Confinement lady
CS (C/S) - Caesarean
DD - Dear daughter
DH - Dear husband
DL - Direct latch
DS - Dear son
EBF - Exclusively breastfeeding
EBM - Expressed breast milk
EDD - Estimated due date
FBM - Frozen breast milk
FF - Formula fed
FIL - Father-in-law
FM - Formula milk
FTWM - Full-time working mom
FTM - First time mom
GD - Gestational diabetes
IFC - Infant Care
JTS - Just to share
LC -Lactation consultant
LO - Little One
MC - Miscarriage
MS - Morning sickness
MIL - Mother-in-law
ML - Massage lady
NIP - Nursing in public
OB/GYN - Obstetrician/Gynecologist
PG - Playgroup
PTWM - Part-time working mom
SAHM - Stay-at-home mom
SO - Significant other
TIA - Thanks in advance
VBAC - Vaginal birth after caesarean
WFHM - Work-from-home mom
WM - Working mom

& there we have it! A not-so extensive guide to the peculiar language of modern, tech-savvy moms! Hope this comes in handy and erases all the question marks floating above your heads! Do let me know if there's any commonly used acronyms/abbreviations that I missed out so I can update the list for all the mamas out there!

  • Share:

You Might Also Like

0 comments