Back in 2019, Jenny Best stayed up all night for two weeks, but it was not because she was tired of raising four-month-old twins and a toddler.
The Brooklyn public relations consultant and former ballerina of the New York City Ballet couldn't sleep because she was thinking about her "really great idea."
She wants to create a "Baby Food Wikipedia", an online database to help parents introduce solid foods to their children.
Her plan is to create such resources and use them for free. Then, see if she can create a linked application and website business that charges users for access to a large number of relevant healthy baby food recipes.
But how to improve her image and let moms and dads all over the world know what she is doing? With the help of a qualified dietitian, she wrote about her journey of feeding and weaning three children on Instagram.
Ms. Best quickly attracted a large number of followers. She posted videos of her twins trying new foods and tips on solving picky eaters.
"There is no business plan. My investors are zero," she said. "But when I started to push it to the world, I got a lot of real-time feedback from my mom."
Fast forward to March 2020. On the eve of the global pandemic, she launched her application and website, Solid Starts, which includes a free food database called First Foods.
"At first, I was destroyed by [bad timing]. How do you do business in a pandemic?" Ms. Best said. "But our participation is very high, because everyone plays mobile phones at home."
By October 2021, Solid Starts has attracted 1 million followers on Instagram, and the app has been downloaded by tens of thousands of people in 180 countries.
Ms. Best hopes to turn Solid Starts into the world's leading authority on infant feeding. She added: "During a pandemic, never underestimate a mother who owns a mobile phone."
Although "mom bloggers" who record family life have long been the main content of social media, the market is growing for moms (and dads) who don’t just share ideal content.
Instead, their goal is to share wise advice in specific areas, such as feeding, childbirth, baby first aid, or toddler behavior. And thus create a connected business.
Solid Starts is just one of a dozen parenting Instagram accounts, followed by 30-year-old first-time mother Bridey Wood from Melbourne, Australia. She gave birth to the baby at the end of 2020, and she first looked for information on Instagram that previous generations might have found in doctors’ books or flyers.
"[Becoming a new mother] is when you are at a loss and don't know who to talk to," Ms. Wood said. "I want someone to provide me with information in a simple format."
Mallory Whitmore, the mother of two children who lives in Nashville, Tennessee, said the pandemic means that many young parents have limited interaction with their families and healthcare professionals. She explained that as a result they are increasingly turning to social media, especially Instagram, for information and contact.
"New mothers have been playing with their phones, especially in the middle of the night," she said. "Instagram is accessible 24/7, so you can get answers quickly."
When the pandemic hit, Ms. Whitmore decided to abandon her education and research career and pursue an infant feeding certification. Then, she launched her Instagram account The Formula Mom in August 2020, offering advice on infant formula and feeding. Then a Facebook page appeared.
"I really just want to help people," said Ms. Whitmore, who saw a gap in non-judgmental, reliable information about infant formula in the market.
She often shares her experience with postpartum depression and the stigma she felt when she tried to breastfeed. Ms. Whitmore added that traditional channels such as medical treatment can be “dreading”.
The Formula Mom now has partnerships with many infant formula manufacturers and sells digital bottle feeding guidelines through its website. Ms. Whitmore said that as a result, her current income is twice that of her last full-time paid job.
Parenting coach Kristin Gallant and her best friend and child therapist Deena Margolin also achieved great success during the pandemic. Fed up with the "perfect" influencers they saw on Instagram, the couple launched their childcare account Big Little Feelings in March 2020.
"We thought,'This is a pandemic. I'm hungry and tired. I don't have makeup and my house is a mess. Where is that mom on Instagram?'" Ms. Galante said.
Big Little Feelings now has more than 2.1 million fans, and they generate income through a networked online parenting course called Winning the Toddler Stage.
Dr. Mona Amin, a Florida pediatrician behind the Instagram page PedsDocTalk, has extensive experience in child health and development through her clinical practice. But equally important to her presence on Instagram is that she is willing to share information about her daily life with her husband, toddlers and family dogs.
"It's great to see a trusted person with a degree experience ups and downs similar to yours," she said of her 157,000 Instagram followers. "This makes you less lonely in your journey as a parent."
Dr. Amin now sells an online digital course called "New Mom Survival Guide" through her website, and also earns money through affiliate links to her favorite parent and baby products. She now also hosts the PedsDocTalk podcast.
She believes that social media makes it easier for people who don’t have the time or money to visit experts to solve daily parenting problems. However, she warned that well-intentioned influencers could spread misleading advice or medical information to followers who trust them.
"I often feel that I need to protect my parents from these misinformation, because I know it will get them into trouble, feel that they are making a mistake or that they are a bad parent," she said.
It should be emphasized that any parents of young children who have concerns about themselves or their children should contact their doctor first.
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Returning to Solid Starts, Ms. Best said that social media presents another huge logistical challenge-followers will feel so closely connected with their favorite content creators that they increasingly rely on them 24/7 Provide advice and education.
"I used to sit in bed at 4 in the morning and reply to every direct message," she said. "At first, there were 50, and then 100. Then I thought,'Oh, I've been doing this for four hours'."
In order to reduce sleepless nights, she eventually began to use a software system to filter the 100,000 direct messages that Solid Starts received every week.
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