Vision & Overview

The vision for BabyPeg is to become the #1 parenting web-platform for Australian parents. We are her to serve, to offer tools that encourage connection and community and information grounded in health and development goals before marketing spin. We have taken a leap of faith to develop this website for Australian parents with the clear intention and challenge to keep it free to use and access. Our ask in return, if you are enjoying BabyPeg, and need any Baby items, that you like/follow us and if you can click through the affiliate links, that will help us to grow. When you make a purchase through our links, this is akin to making a donation (only it doesn't cost you anything extra), it's a vote of confidence in BabyPeg that we would be grateful to receive. By reaching and listening to feedback from more parents and users, we will naturally grow and evolve the platform into better tools and technology. We hope to grow our content diversity by attracting experts who work in maternal and paediatric health and wellness specialities to impart their wisdom via this platform to benefit our users.

Key benefits for users

• Tools to help you prepare and cope with the life changes that a new baby brings. This includes the preparation activities, planning at each stage, decision making, where to purchase, keeping track of everything you have and what you still need or want, and connecting to support from friends and family for baby at each stage. With BabyPeg, members can access planning tools and real information and share it all with friends and family.
• Information includes buying guides to help make more significant purchasing decisions.
• All the content we create and products featured in BabyNew aims to consider the evidence (where applicable), developmental value, health & safety considerations, educational value and real reviews. We have chosen products for their merit and the convenience of our users.
• Any revenue we generate from product links will help develop the member section/tools to make BabyPeg a bigger and better resource for parents. We want to keep BabyPeg completely free for our users but are committed to doing this will minimal and unobtrusive ads.
• We want all our users to save time, money and enjoy the benefits of support and connection for all their family.

BabyPeg Creators

Hi, I'm Anna and I am part of a parenting team with my husband Dwayne raising 2 young boys, as well as our 3rd baby - BabyPeg. We are based in rural NSW, Australia. We appreciate and recognise the struggles that new parents have in balancing parenthood demands, including the huge learning curve and all the life and body changes involved. We have been there and saw others struggle. This is exactly why it has taken so long to get BabyPeg from idea stage, into reality. Our boys will always come first, so BabyPeg has been developed over many years around the needs of our children (who never cared for sleep much) and has involved over many late nights.

I have always wanted to help people and have been fascinated with the physical body including what we can do to contribute to better health. This is what originally drew me to study Occupational Therapy/Health Science and work for the past 15 years in the profession. Couple my therapist parent perspective with my husband's Primary Teaching experience and education, we were always going to overthink parenting and forge our own way of doing things. We were determined to do everything in our power to prevent for our children from experiencing any of the increasingly common learning and developmental difficulties we had both seen too much of. I now understand health as a much more holistic concept of integrating the whole mind, the body, and spirit. The parenting experience has been a life changing experience that has helped me reflect deeply on my own life, understand myself and want to improve myself for the sake of my children.

With so many questions to be answered, we embarked on a journey of discovery, consuming the information out there whilst being sure to tap into what felt right instinctively and on an emotional level. It was also clear to us with our professional backgrounds that the information out there relating to what products parents need is typically not linked to child development; nor the educational needs of babies at different stages. It is difficult for parents to separate clever marketing from reality and evaluate the real cost or benefit of their decisions. There are so many choices and decisions to make. It can get overwhelming very quickly.

So far in our 10 years of parenting, each stage has been challenging, and many lessons have been learnt - we have grown into more competent, empathetic people, with many more lessons to come. Life is more challenging  (probably an understatement) with children but better in so many ways, with more joy, meaning, and purpose.

We don't and won’t ever have all the answers by any means, as every child is different, every family is different & each family’s context changes over time. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to parenting, but when parents have the resources and support to help them navigate their own path, society can only become a better place.

You can find me on LinkedIn Anna Noud.

Conception

The seed for the BabyPeg website idea was born whilst trying to buy a baby shower gift for a friend. I wondered what she already had, what did she actually need and what would be something she would want for her baby but might not buy herself. With so many unknowns and other people also giving gifts at the same time, I got worried about double-ups or buying something that just wouldn't be used. Having already experienced the 'baptism of fire' that is the nature of becoming a parent, I already knew how confusing it was trying to figure out what the heck I even needed to buy for a baby, then how easy it was to waste $$ on things that were basically useless. Whilst making mistakes will be part of the parenting journey, nobody plans to fail when it comes to their kids. 

The question was, what is the best way to bring everyone together around celebrating that baby's pending arrival and support the parents to get what they need? Baby registries existed but they have many fundamental problems. Many people are turned off by gift registries that seem to demand certain items be bought from a certain store for a certain price. What if your friends already have that item or a better version that they can lend or give you as a quality hand-me-down? How do we make having a baby more eco-conscious rather than blind consumerism which can be at the detriment of the family's health and development? How can grandparents who are excited about their grandbaby's arrival get involved where everyone's wishes and boundaries can be clearly shared and everyone's journey is respected? 

As a seasoned overthinker, the first conceptual ideas for BabyPeg emerged. Around raising 2 beautiful souls, working, renovating, grieving a pregnancy loss at 12 weeks and becoming a motherless mother at 32, living in a caravan, homeschooling, pandemic life and everything life has thrown at us over the past 7 years, BabyPeg has emerged and now exists in the world. It is not perfect (which annoys me as a perfectionist virgo sun sign), but that is ok because it will evolve with the needs of members, but it is here as a service to help in some small way in the parenting journey. 

If you are still reading this, BabyPeg exists for you or maybe you can spread the word to someone that can benefit from it. We look forward to growing our offerings whilst you grow through the lessons that parenting gifts you.

How it works

As a member of BabyPeg, you have your 'My BabyPegs' section where you can:

Get & Stay Organised 

On your BabyPegged page is a customisable wishlist, a checklist and inventory tool all-in-one. You can save (Peg) any number of items including products & services you need, want or have. You can also keep website links to refer to later. Knowing what you have and still need, helps you in your minimalist pursuits, avoiding the waste around excess baby stuff, including the environmental impact, wasted time & money.

Plan 

Your BabyPegged page can be viewed by age stage to plan into the next stages of what you have and what you still need. Alternatively, you can view all items listed from newest to oldest and filter these by category or peg type. Not just for the newborn stage, it's great for getting organised with the everyday items as well as upcoming birthdays & Christmases for the first 2 years (and beyond). On your BabyAbout page, you can write down your thoughts, add photos and document how your baby is growing. 

Connect to your Supports

You can securely share your BabyPegged and BabyAbout pages with anyone you choose. Keep your supporters up to date with information about your family, helping them follow your baby's progress. They can pledge and comment on items just like a gift registry or gain endless inspiration for unique gifting and sharing hand-me-downs. You can record gifted items and items loaned to you then set reminders to send thanks and/or return the loan item/s.

The BabyPeg concept step-by-step:

1. SIGN UP to create a login to access your My BabyPegs page. This will give you access to 3 exclusive member sections (BabyPegged, BabyAbout & BabySharing)in addition to the BabyLife and BabyNew sections.
2. You will be prompted to verify your email address, then directed to a set password screen. Tip: try manually typing a password rather than using the automated strong password suggested by your browser. You will need at least 8 characters including at least 1 capital letter, lower case, number and special character eg. @Babyp3g. This is to keep your account secure with a strong password. 
3. Within BabyAbout, you can add information about your family and baby, including your values/likes are & your baby's details such as due date, birth date, & personality. This will keep you on track with thinking about how your baby is changing, and also help those who you later share with to get to know your baby.
4. Browse through the BabyLife guide, which explains each stage of development arranged into the various activities your baby, and what you will be doing, to decide what you might need.
5. Start Pegging products or services to your BabyPegged page to organise what you have, want and need. Add as little or as much detail as you like. If you find a website link you want to peg to refer to later, assign a keep peg. There are 3 ways to peg:

• When browsing products or blogs within BabyNew or BabyLife, select the 'Like it? Peg it now!' button. All information is generally pre-filled, but you can make edits and then go ahead and save.
• Use the Google Chrome Browser to download the 'Peg Me - BabyPeg' extension button and pin it to your browser. When browsing any website and on finding something you want to peg, select the extension button, fill in the details, and save.
• On your BabyPegged page, select the '+ Add New Item' button to add any item or service. This is great for recording items you already have or have been handed down, or asking for help such as a meal train.

5. You then have a choice, go to BabySharing to add and invite friends and family to see your BabyAbout & BabyPegged pages, or just keep it for yourself. On each pegged item you can set the visibility to shared (visible to invited visitors) or private (hidden from visitor view).
6. Enjoy the process of nesting, growing with and enjoying your baby with the support of your chosen village. 
7. Give back to the BabyPeg community with recommendations and reviews of the products/services you think deserve to be trending (or avoided).

What are you waiting for? Start to Discover, Peg, & Grow today.

Watch the Introduction video link for how to get started once you become a member. When you are signed in, you can find more help topics & videos by clicking the  button next to your member profile name (top right of the screen).

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