MOMMY FRIENDS

If there is one must-have accessory for new moms this season it has got to be the mommy friend. While the right bottle, crib, carrier, or toy are all helpful tools in caring for your newbie, nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is more important than the mommy friend. To that end, there is no better gift that you can give yourself than to go out and join a mom’s group or go out and make a new mommy friend.

The simple fact is that once you have a baby there is nothing that you care more about than that little being. As a result, there is no topic of conversation more interesting to you than babies – how are they developing, how are they sleeping, how are they eating, when will they do X, why aren’t they doing Y? It’s been 6 months and I still haven’t lost my baby weight. . .it’s been 9 months. . . it’s been 1 year. . . no one understands these topics better and is more willing to hash them out with you than another mom. More importantly, no one understands better why it is that you look so haggard and tired, why it is that you need to take a walk to the coffee shop at 6 a.m. (and is willing to join you), why it is that - even though you had plans to meet at 10 - you just couldn’t get there until 12:30 (or not at all). Your mommy friends get you, because they ARE you.

So if you do one thing for yourself after you baby arrives (or better yet, before it arrives) go out and make some mommy friends. The more, the better! Also look for moms with babies that are close in age to your baby (within about 6 months) and who live near you..

Here in the Boston area there are so many great ways to accomplish this. There are TONS of mommy groups in every town/city/block and they aren’t hard to find:

1) A good place to find out if there is a mom’s group in your area or if anyone in your area wants to start one is by posting on the Gardenmom’s website: (http://gardenmoms.findsmithgroups.com/signin.do) . This site is a great resource of other boston area moms looking for advice, or wanting to meet up.

2) Meet a group through an Isis Maternity class – for new moms, I highly recommend the Great Beginnings Class where you can learn a lot meet other moms with children the same age.

3) Join a baby music class in your area or a baby yoga class or a baby swim class. Any class with children in and around the same age is a great place to meet other moms.

4) Go to the playground - yes, even if you have a newborn – there is no easier place to meet other moms.

5) Go to your local coffee shop – your best bet is to go on a weekend when no sane person would willingly be awake (say 6:30-7 a.m.). There you will find all of the other moms and dads with their lovely children who woke up at 5:30 in the morning – just like your baby. Trust me, it is a great bonding experience.

And here is the greatest thing about mommy friends – you don’t need to know anything about them. You already know, just by the fact that they are also a mom, that you have more in common with them than you probably have with any of your old non-baby friends. So go do it! Don’t be shy. I promise you will not regret it.