Web links: Parenting Web sites

Conventional child-rearing advice that was once passed down by rumor, and then books, now disseminates through the Internet. Online communities, bulletin boards, ask-a-doctor advice columns, actual pediatricians, and healthcare professionals all proliferate on the Web. As do well-meaning parents without medical training, and a few questionable folks trying to sell their book. Contemporary Pediatrics' first podcast deals with how to talk to parents who have educated themselves on the Internet. These popular sites below most likely are where they're getting their info, and include who's ensuring the site sticks to good advice.

Ask Dr. Sears.com http://www.askdrsears.com/
Billed as America’s first family of pediatricians, and authors of "The Baby Book." Experts: Father William Sears, MD, mother Martha Sears, RN, and sons James M. and Robert W. Sears, both MDs as well.

Cafe Mom: http://www.cafemom.com/
Mothers can share advice about childrearing. It and sister site http://clubmom.com/ are perhaps best known as where television personality Meredith Viera got her start.

Dr. Phil: http://www.drphil.com/articles/category/4
Talk show host Phil McGraw, PhD, opines on just about every topic under the sun on his Web site, including parenting.

Dr. Spock: http://www.drspock.com/
Dr. Benjamin Spock died in 1998, but his site still goes strong. Experts include: Lynn Cates, MD (infectious diseases and immunology), Marjorie Greenfield, MD (pregnancy and birth), Robert Needlman, MD (behavior and development), and Mary Silva, MS, RD (feeding and nutrition).

Elizabeth Pantley: http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth
Parent author of books on sleeping through the night.

Family Education: http://www.familyeducation.com/
Run by media company Pearson, which also runs sister site http://teachervision.fen.com/ and the child sites http://FEkids.com/ and http://funbrain.com/

The Happiest Baby: http://www.thehappiestbaby.com/
A series of books and DVD to help make a baby or toddler the happiest one "on the block." Expert: Harvey Karp, MD.

iParenting: http://www.iparenting.com/
Part of a media octopus that also makes parenting-advice books, magazines, radio shows, and over 40 other specific-issue Web sites.