Storkbites is a support group for moms with a baby under a year old. It can be a place where moms make new friends. There are 6 meetings in a series and a new series is started every other month on the odd months. We discuss a variety of topics at each meeting.
· How has your life, your relationships, your body, your sleep changed since this baby became a part of your family?
· Your delivery experience followed with a discussion of postpartum mood disorder.
· How relationships change with your partner, with the grandparents, with friends, with co-workers, with neighbors after having this baby. A babywearing discussion/demonstration follows this for the second half of the meeting.
· Self-care usually followed by a guest speaker sharing their tips on this subject
· Pediatric care followed by a guest speaker who can talk about Early Intervention.
· What’s next: return to work, childcare arrangements, plan to stay at home for now, thinking about how to connect with other mothers. Storkbites alumni are often able to join us to share their experiences with how life has changed--as their kids have gotten older, as they had a second or third baby, as they returned to work or became a full time stay at home mother. There are some other activities that are a part of our meetings including:
· We start by sharing what has been good this week and what has been a challenge.
· We share our favorite childrens’ books.
· We share photos of our babies/kids.
· We say or sing the songs we sing to our babies. Many of our groups continue to meet with each other for a few months or several years. These friendships have been an important part of their adjustment to being a new mom.
