Being a new mom is a time of falling in love with your baby, becoming accustomed to her little personality, getting to know one another, and feeling like you don’t know how you ever lived without her. It is also a time of sleeplessness, shower-less-ness, and feeling stuck in your home and tethered by your baby’s feeding and sleep routines. It can be really isolating during a time when you most need support and encouragement. Even if you have really good friends who live very close by, you may be restricted to 2-hour windows to get out of the house and see them. You may also be feeling hormonal and self-conscious. You want to get together with other moms who are also weathering this beautiful but difficult season of mothering, but social interaction has become a whole new ball game when you have a tiny human to care for.
The Annapolis area has many options for new moms who are craving social interaction. There are many groups and activities that center around new moms to help build that backbone of support among one another.
Many cities and towns have play groups that get together for meetups several times a week or month. This is a wonderful way to connect with other moms in your community. Using Facebook or a search engine, type the name of your town, plus words like “mommy,” “club,” and “groups” to find one near you. A lot of these types of groups use a Facebook page to keep track of events and as a forum for sharing information about the local community and schools. Some groups use Meetup for events. If you haven’t used Meetup, we recommend giving it a try. Once you register, you can select all the categories that interest you, and Meetup will suggest groups for you or you can search your own using key words. These groups can be centered around any topic, such as book clubs, religion, breast feeding support, mindfulness, holistic living, location-based Meetups, and fitness.
Your local library has plenty of events for all ages. Typically libraries host 2-3 morning story time and play events per week. The recommended ages for these events vary, but all ages are welcome. If your baby is still very little, she may not benefit from the story time, but you will benefit from the social interaction and meeting other local caregivers.
La Leche League‘s mission is “to help mothers worldwide to breastfeed through mother-to-mother support, encouragement, information, and education, and to promote a better understanding of breastfeeding as an important element in the healthy development of the baby and mother.” If you need immediate support, you can browse their Answers page by topic, submit a contact form, or find your local chapter and contact the leader by phone or email. The chapters meet monthly, and there are more than 20 in the MD/DE/DC area. In addition to LLL, many hospitals offer free breast feeding support groups. These groups are very informal (read: messy buns and yoga pants), and are another great way to meet other local moms.
Whether you are new to babywearing, have scratched the surface, are an experienced wrapper with an on-point ruck or are just curious about what babywearing actually is, this is the group for you. Baby Wearing International is a non-profit organization dedicated to sharing knowledge on the benefits of babywearing for both baby and caregiver. There are so many types and brands of carriers to choose from and it can be overwhelming. Local BWI chapters host monthly meetings that are free and open to the pubic, where a Volunteer Babywearing Educator can help you try out their library of carriers. If you become a member, you can borrow a carrier to practice with until the next meeting.
Fit 4 Mom is a nationwide franchise of fitness classes for moms during and after pregnancy. Their workouts are tailored specifically for the changes a woman’s body goes through during this stage in her life. They currently offer five types of programs: Fit4Baby, Stroller Barre, Stroller Strides, Body Back, and Our Village, which is a support group for moms based on events tailored for the members’ individual interests. You can find your local chapter of Fit4Mom here. If you’re looking for children’s fitness and development, My Gym has several locations in our area and can be a great way to keep your baby and yourself socially and physically active.
Don’t let the name fool you; Moms of Preschoolers International is made up of over 4,000 chapters of moms with kids of all ages. The organization’s mission to to connect and empower women through support and encouragement throughout motherhood. They center around the beauty and struggle that mothers face every day, and the need to connect with other moms to cry, laugh, and share. You can find your local chapter by zip code or browse the website to learn more.
Motherhood is such an amazing journey. Through the ups and downs, we need one another as mamas to connect, support, encourage, and to say, “You are rocking this motherhood thing.” We hope you will check out some of our suggestions so you can begin your build your Mommy Village. It will be one of the most important things you do for you and your baby.
Additional resources: Annapolis Patch, Chesapeake Family Magazine, Anne Arundel County Parks and Recreation, What’s Up Magazine, DowntownAnnapolis.org, Chesapeake Children’s Museum