We have had a group for several years meeting in our birthing center that continues to grow beyond our expectations. The goal was to help new moms understand normal newborn behaviors, so with that we named our group "Baby Chat". All moms are invited and we ususally have a wide variety of experiences. The last half of the group is devoted to breastfeeding issues, questions etc. Moms love to talk about how breastfeeding is the "best thing since sliced bread" as one mom put it. It is interesting in that lots of the formula feeding mom will stay and soak up all this information and see normal breastfeeding babies. I love to see the light bulb go on. Many have asked if it is too late for them to try, or that they plan on breastfeeding with their next baby. We have started to offer the group at night and many, many dads are coming. They are a hoot to watch. Once they feel comfortable with the other "males" in the group, we see the most wonderful loving interactions with their babies. We have had many speakers attend our groups. We have had topics on finacial planning ( now that that beautiful baby is here, working full-time doesn't always sound appealing anymore), infant massage, nurturing and bonding with your baby, infant and toddler nutrition. We have had professional organizers come to talk about baby proofing your home and safety in general. Nurse practitioner have talked about milestones and immunizations. We had a day where we made "home made" things like baby wipes, baby food etc. We have had child psychologists address sibling concerns. We had a librarian talk about reading to your children. Can you tell I love this group??? We also link moms with the toddler group in the area once the babies are 13 months old. Advertising was the key for us initially, now it is more by word of mouth. It had been a great morale booster for the staff to. Families come in and see their nurses and love to show off their babies and thank nurses. Baby Chat has been a positive all the way around!! *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html