Privacy Policy

Who We Are

NewMums.com (“we”, “us”, “our”) is an information website aimed at new mums in the United Kingdom. We are the data controller for the personal information collected through this website.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, you can contact us at:
Email:

support@newmums.com

What This Policy Covers

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and share your personal information when you use NewMums.com, in line with UK data protection law (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

By using this website, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Information We May Collect

We may collect and process the following types of information:

• Information you provide directly: Contact details if you email us or use a contact form (such as your name, email address and any information you include in your message), or information you provide if you subscribe to a newsletter.
• Information stored locally: When you use our interactive tools (trackers, calculators, planners and an unpublished Baby Gift List), the information you enter is stored in your browser's local storage on your own device and is not sent to our servers.
• Published Baby Gift Lists: If you actively choose to publish a Baby Gift List, we store the list name, welcome message, list items, product links, approximate prices, quantities, priorities and notes needed to provide the shared list. This includes items you have marked as already owned or sorted, which are stored but are never displayed to guests.
• Guest reservations: A guest may optionally provide a first name when offering to help with an item. That name is shown on the shared list and to the list owner so people can see that the item is being taken care of. A guest may also add an optional short message of up to 200 characters. That message is stored with the reservation and is shown only to the list owner — it is never displayed on the guest page to other visitors.
• Security and abuse prevention: We temporarily store a one-way hash derived from an IP address to apply publishing and update limits. We do not store the raw IP address in the Baby Gift List data.

Browser Storage and Your Privacy

NewMums.com is designed with your privacy in mind. Our interactive tools (such as trackers, calculators and planners) and your unpublished Baby Gift List use your browser's local storage (localStorage) rather than sending their contents to us. This means:

• Your private working data is stored on your own device.
• It is not sent to us unless you deliberately publish a shareable Baby Gift List.
• You have full control — you can clear this data at any time through your browser settings.

When a guest reserves an item on a published list, we set one first-party functional cookie called nml_guest. It contains a random token that lets the same browser recognise and undo its own reservation. It lasts for up to 12 months, is not used for advertising or analytics, and does not contain the guest's name or list contents.

We do not currently use analytics tracking or advertising cookies. The functional reservation cookie is used only to provide the guest feature the visitor requested. If our cookie use changes, we will update this policy and provide any notice or consent options required.

How Published Baby Gift Lists Work

Your Baby Gift List remains private on your device while you build it. Publishing is optional. If you choose to publish, NewMums creates:

• A guest link that displays the information you chose to put on the list.
• A separate secret management link that allows the owner to load, update or remove the published list without creating an account.

Anyone who receives the guest link can view the published list, including its welcome message, items, notes, product links and reservation status, but not any private messages guests have left for the list owner. Do not include private, medical, financial or address information in a published list. Keep the management link private because anyone with it may be able to manage the list.

The list owner can update or unpublish the list at any time. Unpublishing removes the server copy and stops the guest link from working; the private browser copy remains on the owner's device unless they delete it separately.

How We Use Your Information

• To provide, maintain and improve the website and its content.
• To publish and display Baby Gift Lists when a user requests this, manage reservations, and allow list owners to update or remove their published lists.
• To respond to your enquiries and messages.
• To send you newsletters or updates if you have chosen to subscribe (you can unsubscribe at any time).
• To monitor website usage and help protect the security and integrity of the site.
• To comply with legal obligations or respond to lawful requests from public authorities.

Legal Bases for Processing

We rely on one or more of the following legal bases under UK data protection law:

• Consent: For example, when you sign up to a newsletter.
• Legitimate interests: To run and improve our website, provide account-free published lists and guest reservations, prevent abuse, respond to enquiries, and keep the site secure, provided your rights and freedoms are not overridden.
• Legal obligation: Where we are required to process data to comply with a legal requirement.

How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information with:

• Service providers: Hosting providers and email service providers who help us operate the website.
• People given a published-list link: Information deliberately included in a published Baby Gift List is visible to anyone who receives its guest link. If a guest supplies a first name when reserving an item, that name and the reservation status are visible to the list owner and other visitors to that list. Any message a guest adds is disclosed only to the list owner.
• Public authorities: Where we are legally required to do so.

If our website or business is sold or transferred, personal data may be transferred as part of that transaction, in which case we will seek to ensure your rights continue to be protected.

International Transfers

Some of our service providers may be located outside the UK. Where this is the case, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that your personal information is given an equivalent level of protection, such as relying on adequacy regulations or standard contractual clauses approved under UK data protection law.

How Long We Keep Your Information

We keep your personal information only for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including for any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

• Private browser data: Remains on your device until you clear it, reset the relevant tool, restore a different backup, or your browser removes it.
• Published Baby Gift Lists: Remain available until the owner unpublishes them. Lists with no activity are automatically deleted after 12 months.
• Guest first names, messages and reservations: Remain with the published list until the reservation is released, the owner removes or unpublishes the list, or the list is automatically deleted.
• Functional guest cookie: Expires after 12 months or can be removed earlier through the visitor's browser settings.
• Hashed abuse-prevention records: Are retained only briefly and stale records are automatically removed.

Your Rights

Under UK data protection law, you have rights including access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection, and data portability. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at

support@newmums.com

Children’s Privacy

NewMums.com is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 18.

Links to Other Websites

NewMums.com may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites.

How to Complain

If you have concerns, please contact us first so we can resolve the issue. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.