LONDON, March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Research has revealed that new mums are spending an astonishing FOUR hours looking for advice online every day. Whenever baby naps, mum is logging onto the internet to get find out more about feeding, sleeping, development, health and shopping.

And more often then not, they are consulting other mums for advice on their baby's well being.

The poll of 3,000 mums, conducted by parenting club Bounty revealed 43 minutes a day are spent talking to like-minded people in forums and chatrooms.

In fact, 36 per cent of those polled rate other mum's advice more highly than recommendations from health visitors and midwives and 39 per cent would prefer to conduct their own research online rather than asking their own mum for guidance.

A further 42 minutes are spend trawling the web for sites which can give advice on baby's development - 49 per cent of mums admit they have gone online just to check their own baby's behaviour and progress is normal.

Another 39 minutes are spent visiting health websites to get medical advice about teething, milk spots, rashes, colic, reflux and other common childhood complaints.

More than half of mums always look up their child's medical symptoms online before visiting the doctor or health visitor, and 24 per cent have even printed off information from the internet to present to the doctor.

Approximately 51 minutes of the day is spent looking at parenting websites, another 42 minutes are spent shopping, whilst 41 minutes are spent reading reviews for the best baby equipment and home wares.

Faye Mingo, spokeswoman for Bounty said: Women feel more empowered if they can sort out their own problems and the internet makes this possible. They feel more confident in their ability to look after their children if armed with information, and often the best kind of advice can be given by people who have been through similar experiences.

Everyday we have approximately 18,000 mums using our forums - and topics vary from trying for a baby to potty training and relationship concerns. For some reason, new mums prefer to go online to get advice than turn to their own mum - this might be because they don't want to ask for help but also advice has changed over generations. The internet is the perfect resource to help out with funny questions, and can often offer peace of mind if used properly.

The poll also revealed that women are turning to the internet during their bid to conceive - 24 per cent claimed to start using the internet more when they were trying to get pregnant.

And 26 per cent used the internet to research ways of getting pregnant. A fifth of women chatted in forums to other people in the same position as them when trying to conceive, and an astonishing 33 per cent told internet friends they were pregnant BEFORE telling their partner.

Faye Mingo continued: We live in the information age and mums are breaking with tradition to find the help they need because often their family and friends don't live nearby. Ultimately the reason they are sharing their concerns and experiences with complete strangers is because these women are in a similar situation and online provide a new sense of community.

Breakdown of Time Online Parenting websites 51 minutes Forums and chatrooms 43 minutes Advice on development 42 minutes Medical advice 39 minutes Shopping 42 minutes Reviews 41 minutes Total 258 minutes or 4 hours and 18 mins

For further information please contact Lisa Penney on +44(0)1707-294000 or email lpenney@bounty.com