Frequently asked questions

Q. I liked the old website, why did you change it?

A. We liked our old website too, and you’ll find that all of the old features are there – it’s just that some of them look a bit different. With the new site, we wanted to provide much more information for mums, to help them through every stage of pregnancy, and with their baby or toddler, especially in feeding and nutrition. We are also bringing you lots of new features, that wouldn’t fit on the old site. Hopefully you’ll love this new website as much as our old one (if not a little bit more)!

Q. What’s happened to Neighbourhood Mums?

A. Neighbourhood Mums was such a popular feature of our old site we decided to make it even better!

Coming soon - Cow & Gate Friends takes the same great idea of letting you send messages to other mums and mums-to-be but allows you to make friends with anyone on our website using their nickname. Simply hover your mouse over it and a menu will appear.

If you’re looking for someone who lives near you, someone at the same stage of pregnancy or someone with a baby the same age as yours, you can search on our Friend Finder tool – the same way you could on Neighbourhood Mums.

You can then manage all your friends and send them messages within the My Cow & Gate Friends section of your personal My Cow & Gate area.

Q. The forums look different, I’m confused!

A. Don’t worry! Whilst they might look a little different, the forums are still laid out in the same way. We’ve still got our Mums and Mums-to-be forums, with all the same great categories as before. We’ve even brought all your forum posts with us so that you can carry on with the threads you were chatting on before.

The only difference you’ll find, is the great new forum, Birth Clubs. Here you can talk to mums-to-be with a similar due date to you, or to mums with babies born in the same month as yours. Using this new forum means you won’t need to worry about losing contact with people as your pregnancy progresses and your baby grows. 

Q. There’s so much information, where do I start?

A. We’ve laid out all our useful information in easy-to-read categories which you can get to in a variety of ways.

Our stage menu along the top of every page is a quick way of getting to all the content which is relevant to your trimester in pregnancy or the age of your baby. Once you’ve chosen your  stage, you’ll find information from all the topics around the website in one handy place.

If you’re looking for information related to a specific topic, you can use our menu bar on the left hand side of every page to navigate through. Once you’ve chosen Pregnancy, New Mum, My Baby or My Toddler, you’ll see the information laid out by topic.

Once you’ve found an article you’re interested in, you’ll see links within the page for other pieces of information which might help you. You’ll also find a ‘Related articles’ box next to all of our articles, where we’ve recommended other articles you might find useful. 

Q. I don’t understand, what is my ‘My Cow & Gate’ area?

A. This is the area of the site that is yours, and allows you to manage how you use the website, and your Cow & Gate Friends (once this is live). From My Cow & Gate, you can easily access your forum contributions, Mums’ Stories, bookmarks and preferences, and you will shortly be able to make friends and email them.

You can access My Cow & Gate - once you are registered and logged in - by clicking on the My Cow & Gate link at the top of the page. If you are logged in, you will also see a blue box on the right hand side of your personalised homepage, which gives you a shortcut to the messages, friend details and preferences in your my Cow & Gate.

Q. I don’t understand, what is ‘Mums are talking about…’?

A. This is one of our great new features. You’ll find ‘Mums are talking about…’ throughout the site. The words in the box show what mums are talking about in our Forums and in Mums’ Stories, and the bigger the word is, the more it is being talked about! If you click on any of the words, you’ll be taken to information written by other mums about that subject, either in Mums’ Forums or Mums Stories.

Q. I don’t understand, what is ‘Who’s online now’?

A. Another of our great new features! ‘Who’s online now’ shows the nicknames of everyone who’s logged into our site, now and recently. Like the rest of our site, if you click on someone’s nickname, you’ll be able to make friends with them, send them a message and read their profile.

This is a great way to keep in touch with your friends, every time you come back to our website and check if they’re online to continue chatting. 

Q. Someone’s written something offensive on your website, where do I report it?

A. Next to every piece of information which is provided by one of our members, you’ll find a ‘Report this comment’ link. If you find something displayed on our website which you find offensive or would like to draw to our attention, use this link to tell us.

Q. I’ve had my beautiful baby now, how do I update my details?

A. Congratulations! We hope both mum and baby are doing well.

If you go to My Details, within the About my family screen you’ll be able to change your due date to your baby’s birth date.

While you’re there, don’t forget to update your profile and why not share your experience of the birth or just tell everyone how you’re getting on as a new mum, in Mums’ Forums and Mums Stories? 

Q. How do I get in touch with one of your experts?

A. There are three ways to contact our team. You’ll find 3 buttons near the top of almost every page saying Call Us, Email Us, Live Chat as well as the phone number. Clicking on these will take you through to the different ways to contact one of our experts and our opening times. 

Q. What are Mums’ Stories and how do I get involved?

A. Mums Stories is one of our great new features which allows you to share your experiences of any aspect of your pregnancy, labour or being a mum. You can tell everyone about something funny your baby does, how emotional you felt when you saw them for the first time, or even what happened when you went to meet your midwife for the first time. 

Q. I’ve seen RSS around your site, what does it mean?

A. The RSS button is a way that you can get all your favourite Cow & Gate content direct to your desktop. If you click on this from within areas in the site such as Mums’ Forums, every time someone adds to the threads, you’ll get that information delivered straight to your computer.

You’ll need to download a feed reader if you don’t already have one. You can get these for free from various websites but you’ll need to download one which is suitable for your operating system. 

Q. What are my subscriptions?

A. Your subscriptions are the options you’ve signed up to when you joined. As a member you automatically get access to posting in Mums’ Forums, sharing your experiences in Mums Stories and making new friends with My Cow & Gate Friends.

The other member benefits are optional and you can change whether you are signed up to these within the My Subscriptions part of your My Cow & Gate area. 

Q. Is there an easy way for me to see if anyone has replied to my forum post?

A. You’ve got lots of options. You can either go back to your thread through the normal way by finding it within the Forums. If you go to your My Cow & Gate area, you’ll find links to all the threads you’ve participated in by selecting the My Forum Contributions link. Or you can also set up an RSS feed using the RSS button at the bottom of the forum thread so that you get responses straight to your desktop.

Q. I read someone’s story and loved it. Is there a way I can tell them?

A. Members love to be told when people like their stories so we’ve given you lots of ways to tell them.

You can post a comment using the box at the bottom of the page, which will appear underneath their story.

You can send them a private message by hovering your mouse over their nickname and selecting the relevant option too.

Or if you think you’d get on well with this person, you can send them a friend request using the menu when you hover over their nickname. You can then add your own message to tell them you loved their story and you think you’d be good friends. 

Q. Where can I find out about Cow & Gate products?

A. We have a whole section about Cow & Gate products which you’ll find in the left hand menu. If you have any questions about any of the Cow & Gate products, please get in touch with our team. 

Q. I work for a company who would like to get in contact with Cow & Gate, is there an email address?

A. Please use the Contact Us form, so that we can pass your query onto the correct department to get back to you. 

Q. I was a member of Neighbourhood Mums before, do I need to do anything?

A. You don’t need to do anything to continue using Cow & Gate Friends in the same way, just as soon as we've finished setting it up. Your privacy setting for your profile will have been carried forward.

You might like to take the opportunity to change things though. You can update your profile with more information to tell people about you or change your privacy setting. This can all be done from within your My Cow & Gate area. 

Q. I’ve got a question about your website which isn’t covered here, what do I do?

A. If you’ve got a technical question regarding the website, you can contact our technical team here. 

Q. I love your new website, but other sites I’ve seen let you upload photos. Why can’t I show everyone my new baby here?

A. We’re working on that right now and very soon you’ll be able to share your photos, so keep an eye out!