The title of the site is "Parenting". Is this limited to child interaction? Are questions regarding the pregnancy period relevant (Aside from serious medical questions, of course). Example questions off the top of my head (fleshed out in reality) might be:

  • How can I best handle X symptom?
  • What might help when water is a cause of Nausea?
  • ???

While they aren't "parenting" directly, it is the first stage of being a parent. Thoughts?

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Pregnancy questions should be included. It may be a matter of semantics, but it is probably healthy to start parenting prior to childbirth.

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    I think it is a very good thing that people considering becoming parents proactively come to this site, so we should offer whatever advice we can and, in time, they'll come to contribute themselves. – JBRWilkinson Mar 30 '11 at 22:27

My gut reaction is that "how can I best alleviate swollen ankles during pregnancy" is off-topic (because it's not really related to raising children), but "I drank alcohol before I found out I was pregnant, how likely is my child to suffer FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) and what can I do now to mitigate the risk or prepare for the possibility" is on-topic because it involves the welfare and raising of a child.

Logically, I know that that's a really fidgety place to try to draw the line, so I'd opt for blanket exclusion or inclusion of pregnancy questions with equal satisfaction -- either one has merits, and both are cleaner, easier-to-enforce standards than the natural (to me) one.

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    I don't feel that the swollen ankles question is off topic. It is certainly about raising children, focusing on the health of the mother prior to the birth of the child is acceptable in my world. Now I do feel that the question should be worded more appropriately such as "I am currently pregnant and am having problems with swelling and water retention. Does anyone have suggestions on how I can alleviate this problem before it becomes something more serious." – Amy Patterson Mar 30 '11 at 13:49

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