Becoming a parent? New acronyms you have to learn
Becoming a Parent Felt Like Joining a Secret Club… With Way Too Many Acronyms
Before becoming a parent, I thought I was pretty internet-savvy.
I work in tech. I understand AI jargon. I can survive corporate acronyms.
But nothing — and I mean nothing — prepared me for entering pregnancy forums, parenting groups, Reddit threads, and mom Instagram pages only to feel like I was decoding military secrets.
As someone from tech, I thought I’d escaped acronym overload after going on maternity leaves. Turns out parenting communities said, “hold my baby bottle.”
"My LO is EBF but we may switch to EFF and DH thinks CIO is the only way our FTM self will survive."
Excuse me… what?
At 2 a.m., while sleep deprived, hormonal, and desperately googling “why is my baby making dinosaur noises while sleeping?”, the last thing my brain needed was an alphabet puzzle.
And somehow every parenting platform assumes you already know these terms.
Here are some of the acronyms that made me pause, laugh, or aggressively open Google tabs:
Family & Relationship Acronyms
Because apparently even family members needed abbreviations.
DH — Dear/Darling Husband
(Every time I read this, my brain says “Da** Husband.”)
DW — Dear/Darling Wife
OH — Other Half
SO — Significant Other
MIL — Mother-in-law
FIL — Father-in-law
DS — Dear Son
DD — Dear Daughter
DC — Dear Child
LO — Little One
Pregnancy & Trying to Conceive Acronyms
TTC — Trying to Conceive
BD — Baby Dance
Why are we making sex sound so awkward?
DTD — Doing The Deed
BFP — Big Fat Positive
BFN — Big Fat Negative
DPO — Days Past Ovulation
OPK — Ovulation Predictor Kit
LMP — Last Menstrual Period
MC — Miscarriage
CP — Chemical Pregnancy
IVF — In Vitro Fertilization
IUI — Intrauterine Insemination
EDD — Estimated Due Date
New Parent Status Acronyms
Because apparently parenting levels need labels too.
FTM — First Time Mom
FTD — First Time Dad
FTP — First Time Parent
(And yes, the first time I saw FTM, I thought “why are there so many female-to-male pregnancies being discussed?”)
STM — Second Time Mom
TTM — Third Time Mom
2u2 — Two Under Two
2u3 — Two Under Three
3u3 — Three Under Three
Feeding Acronyms
A whole language dedicated to how babies eat.
BF — Breastfeeding / Breastfed
(Yes, this one can also mean boyfriend depending on which corner of the internet you’re in.)
EBF — Exclusively Breastfeeding / Breastfed
FF — Formula Feeding / Formula Fed
EFF — Exclusively Formula Feeding / Formula Fed
EP — Exclusively Pumping
BM — Breast Milk
(Which my brain absolutely did not read correctly the first time.)
BLW — Baby-Led Weaning
LC — Lactation Consultant
Allergy & Medical Acronyms
Things I wish I never had to Google at midnight.
CMPA — Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy
MSPI — Milk Soy Protein Intolerance
NICU — Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
GD — Gestational Diabetes
SPD — Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction
IUGR — Intrauterine Growth Restriction
PP — Postpartum
PPA — Postpartum Anxiety
PPD — Postpartum Depression
Birth Acronyms
VBAC — Vaginal Birth After Cesarean
CS / C-section — Cesarean Section
Sleep Acronyms
A category that somehow deserves its own dictionary.
CIO — Cry It Out
MOTN — Middle Of The Night
STTN — Sleeping Through The Night
WW — Wake Windows
EMW — Early Morning Waking
DWT — Desired Wake Time
And if someone tells you their 8-week-old is STTN… scroll for your own mental health.
If you’re a new parent currently pretending you understand these abbreviations in mom groups…
I see you.
And if I missed any wildly confusing parenting acronyms, drop them below — let’s build the ultimate parenting dictionary together.
I'm Rohini — first-time mum, figuring it out without a local village, and sharing the unfiltered reality of motherhood over at @themomlife.unfiltered.
If this resonated, I'd love to hear your story in the comments. Also, do check out my other blogs.
