The Internet is a noisy place that offers parents an inconsistent but massive menu of help. Now a mom has entered the blogosphere who is not only a strong writer, but also a doctor, which means she can offer useful advice on ear infections, Tylenol dosages and other questions that keep parents up at night.

Since Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson began writing Seattle Mama Doc last November, she has carved out an important niche as a thoughtful pediatrician and mom, who doesn’t waste too much of her readers’ time staring at her own parenting navel. Instead, the mother of two tackles everything from vaccine safety and food allergies to car seat rules and the daily juggle. She passes my test for blogs by regularly offering something valuable that I can use.

“This blog caters to one principle I’ve learned along the way: parents just want to do what is right. The desperate love we have for our children can shock us into good and sometimes bad decisions,” Swanson writes to explain the point of the Seattle Children’s Hospital blog. “We all want information to facilitate decisions that let us rest easier at night. Having my own two children makes this reach for what is right palpable. I want to help you decipher some of the current medical news I juggle in my life as both a pediatrician and a mother.”

The 36-year-old also writes powerfully about her own balancing act of raising two kids while helping aging parents. It is a juggle many of today’s parents know as the baby boomer generation heads deeper into retirement.

This morning I chatted with Seattle Mama Doc about what makes her write.

Questions:

Why start a blog, aren’t you busy enough?

I learned that anecdote and that storytelling were most effective when I wanted to be persuasive, (when) I wanted to be effective…Empowering families with education and information so they can learn more.

I would be most effective as a communicator on science, health, wellness and morbidity by talking about it as a mom.

This (the blogosphere) is where people are.

What is the number one question you hear from parents with kids age 3 to 5?

Sick visits: Fever. Well visits: Bedwetting, thumb sucking or tantrums.

Picky eating is the other thing.

What is your favorite parenting book?

I am not a big parenting book person.

I have a lot of books. I have not read a lot of them.

I have this book “Instinctive Parenting”…She kind of resonated what I think: You have to trust your instinct.

We had a great chat with Dr. Swanson and we’ll add some of her other thoughts in future stories.