Does anyone know of a good mom's group in Chicago for first-time moms? A neighbor just had a baby, and she is having trouble meeting moms...says she goes to Starbucks all the time looking for people to talk with!
Transitions to Motherhood is a classed offered at Prentice for new moms and their babies. It's a great way to meet other new moms.
I met some wonderful moms through the mom's group at St. Joseph's Hospital. I didn't deliver there, but decided to go because I lived close by. It meets Fridays from 11-1.
This is from their website:
The Mom Network Support Group
Are you a new mother looking for additional emotional support? Do you have questions about your baby's development? Join the Mom Network, a weekly support group for new mothers that provides parenting support and information. Topics covered in the weekly meetings are determined by participants and typically include "the baby blues," fatigue, feeding issues and more. Free.
For more information and to register, call ###-###-####.
Saint Joseph Hospital
2900 North Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60657
check Northside Parent Networks website
http://www.npnparents.org/index.asp
They have groups for every area code. You might need to buy a membership to see the groups ($40) but maybe not. It's a pretty good resource for parents so it might be worth it to sign up or it might be a nice gift to a new mother.
I'd highly recommend that she join NPN (Neighborhood Parents' Network of Chicago; www.npnparents.org). It's a fantastic orginization that does all sorts of parent education, school research/preschool/school fairs AND has a new mom's group she can join. The website also has message boards where she can find answers to all sorts of questions regarding parenting, finding childcare, finding family friendly vacation spots, a good plumber--really anything.
NPN is a non-profit and has a $45 annual membership fee. Once she joins she can sign up for the New Mom's Group which will meet at the home of a former "New Mom" for 3 weeks and then the new members are responsible for scheduleing/hosting playgroups on their own. My daughter is almost 3 and I've been meeting with my group every Thursday since she was abour 5 months old.
Good luck to her. Being a new mom is really hard and being a SAHM (Stay at Home Mom) can be very lonely until you find your "group" of other moms.
--B.
I'd also suggest - http://www.npnparents.org/index.asp
There is a yearly fee to join but they put together a new moms group that meets for 4 or 6 weeks in a row and then from there the ladies schedule visits on their own to meet as a group.
She should check out the Northside Parents Network. That's how I met some great moms.. we are still in touch 6 years later!
She definitely needs to join www.meetup.com. I started from scratch meeting mommy friends after my son was born, and a lot of my friends came from meetups on that site. Groups I have found helpful have been the Stay At Home Moms group, Big City Babies, and Little Lincoln Logs (for Lincoln Square moms). Also, if she's nursing, I've found La Leche League meetings very helpful. And Be By Baby has things every now and then, like a Friday playgroup, if she checks their schedule!
Hi M.,
She should try some of the neigborhood church functions, or a website called meetup.com. It takes time, but there are alot of resources.
All the Best!
my mom's group started when a few girls from my gym got a coffee together with the babies after a workout (at starbucks!). Then a few more girls joined and we started having a regular weekly playdate. The babies are now 3 and we all still talk. It helps if you start with a common thread, in our case we were all members of the same gym. It helps start off the relationship with something to talk about.
When I was a new mom, I checked www.Meetup.com and found some great mom's groups in my area. There are also MOPS groups- Moms of Preschoolers at local churches.
Hope that helps a little,
T.
There are various organized groups throughout the city. If she lives in or around the Hyde Park area there is the Hyde Park Parent Support Network - http://www.hydeparkpsn.org
which has formed playgroups, a playroom to use for those colder days, and a listserv which is what I've mainly used it for thus far. I know that they're is a northside group as well Northside Parent Network (??) but I'm just not as aware.
if she calls bubbles academy, each month they organize a new mom's group for new mothers.
she could try meetup.com
