If you’ve spent even a short amount of time in a pregnancy forum or Facebook group, you’ve likely run into a wide range of acronyms and terminologies relating to pregnancy, babies, relatives, other members and birth.
Both Baby Dust and Sticky Dust are terms that you may often read in TTC (Trying To Conceive) and pregnancy conception groups online.
Sometimes they also appear in early pregnancy groups, usually during the first or second trimester.
They’re often used as good luck terminology at the end of post comments or as a sign off, just as terminology such as ‘all the best’, ‘kind regards’ or ‘over to you’ is commonly used in some forums or emails.
Baby Dust is a term meaning good luck with conceiving a baby and a hope that it will happen soon. Most often used as a general sign off in conception groups.
Sticky Dust is a term meaning good luck with a current pregnancy, in hopes that it ends with a healthy baby.
This is commonly used when a mother has had a previous miscarriage.
This is more likely to be used when members of the group or forum have had previous fertility issues with which the poster can empathise and wishes to show support for.
Sticky Baby Dust is a term meaning good luck with conceiving a baby and a hope that it will “stick” – as in, the pregnancy will last and won’t end with bad news or a miscarriage.
This is one of the strongest sign-offs and is a combination of well wishes for the pregnancy, based on the original poster’s history.
This term is more commonly used in groups where mothers are trying to conceive a ‘rainbow baby’ – a term given to babies who are born after a previous miscarriage, the rainbow after the storm.
Susannah is a certified Birth Doula through Childbirth International and the founder of Trimester Talk. With a background in journalism and digital strategy, she combines evidence-based research with real-world knowledge to create accessible content about pregnancy and parenting. She’s a mother of two and stepmother of two more, all of them now teenagers.