Hello,
I'm a perinatal nurse and love working with new moms and babies. In reading through all the requests/responses, I'm learning a lot about new products and services out in the community. It is really very interesting and enlightening.
I'd love to get responses from other moms regarding items or services that you found to be very helpful when you had your baby. My youngest is now 12 years old so much has changed in those years.
If it's services, stores or professional providers, I'd be most interested to learn about those in the Seattle area as that is where I practice. I'd also be interested to learn of websites that offer products or services.
Thanks so much for your help - I'm sure my clients will benefit much from mother's intuition and experience!
C.
My friend told me about the bra-fitting service at Overlake Hospital Women and Infants' Boutique while I was pregnant and I got three comfortable, supportive and stretchy nursing bras that I've been using ever since (my baby is now 8 weeks old).
There's more information at the following link: http://www.overlakehospital.org/programs.aspx?id=262
They have many items to buy and rent there, and the staff was very friendly and helpful.
S.
I loved my PEPS group and I would highly recommend every new mother to join one. It offered me great support and made a big difference in my early motherhood. I loved it so much that I became a PEPS leader too. Even that our PEPS group fell apart after couple of years, back then I would say it saved me from going into a deep depression. I've learned there that this is normal and I've learned how to deal with it. The doctors are great but they just gave me a prescription for pills and I didn't wanted to get hooked on pills. Another great thing was "La Leche" (spelling?) group. Actually this where I got the tips that really worked for keeping up with breastfeeding. Theirs tips worked like a charm and it was free. I loved the nurse line in our clinic, unfortunately we don't have it any more. We have another service and I don't like it. Hope I was helpful. Thanks for being interested and posting your question. We need more nurses like you.
First Weeks and Next Months were fantastic resources for me as a new parent! These are facilitated groups where new parents can talk about how things are going, how they are feeling and any issues they may be having. There is a tremendous amount of support from the other parents - mostly moms but a few dads and family members too. I attended groups facilitated by Ann Keppler, co-author of "Pregnancy, Childbirth & the Newborn", and found her to be a loving, caring, super knowledgeable resource. She also helped us with us with a sleep plan for our daughter when things were going upside-down. Here is a link to the meeting listings as well as some of the workshops that are offered - they are great too.
http://www.communitybirth.org/classes&events.html
Cheers, -j.
C.,
Thanks for posting this. It's always nice to have healthcare professionals who truly want to serve their clients. For me the biggest resource was nurses/doctors who knew about breastfeeding and were truly committed to making it work for me. Lactation specialists who are reasonably priced and have great flexibility in their schedules are important as well. Breastfeeding was very frustrating for me (as I would guess it is for many since there is such a huge industry around it) and I would have appreciated ongoing help from my pediatrician and her staff when it wasn't working out.
So, anything having to do with breastfeeding would be my vote!
Thanks again for your interest.
E.
I also found First Weeks to be the most helpful thing I did as a new mother. Ann Keppler, who runs the drop-in classes, has a wealth of knowledge and an impressive ability to calm anxious nerves. I was also able to meet other new moms and establish a good network of friends with babies the same age as mine.
For a listing of terrific local products and services check out the website for Northwest Enterprising Moms. (http://www.northwestenterprisingmoms.org/)
As you might guess from the name, this is a group that supports and promotes businesses by Northwest moms. The group includes a wide range of companies offering baby-related products and services, from boutiques that specialize in teaching about babywearing and cloth diapering to some big name brand products you've seen in all the shops.
Every single member company is owned and run by a mom who lives here in the Pacific Northwest. Each spring and fall NWEM hosts a baby expo where you can shop, hear speakers, shmooze and just hang out and shmooze at a big, free playspace with other moms, expecting moms and babies. Details on the next event will go up on the website in August.
All the mom/owners are very supportive and in addition to telling you about their own businesses, will be able to point you in any direction your research takes you. Good luck!
Hi C.,
My new (first) granddaughter is 15 days old now and I just returned to Seattle from my second trip to California where my daughter's family lives at an airbase. She is the first among their peers to have a baby, so not much support there. Her favorite gift I got for her while there was the Avent Breast Shields, which are a snap-together gel-backed plastic cup. She now wakes up dry on top, and much more comfortable otherwise. The package doesn't show it very well, but there are both a set of ventilated and closed cup covers. Even the staff at Toys R Us said people have asked for such a product and they didn't know there were closed covers in the packages, so now they know at that store what they have.
If you like, I can also send you an e-mail that I sent to a girlfriend who will be a new grandma soon about what can be done for the mom in the first 10 days. Let me know what e-mail to send to, as it is a couple pages long. Enjoy! Thank you so much for the service you do for our new families!
