I am so excited this month to be working on launching my new parent and baby group.
This is something I have dreamt of since the birth of my eldest little boy, when we would spend so many special hours in wonderful groups.
To be honest, when I had him, I felt a little lost. I had never spent so much time at home having been up in London working full-time until 4 weeks before his birth.
I didn't really know what to do at home and coming from working in a buzzy hospital, I missed interaction and routine.
I also needed something to practise getting out of the house. I clearly remember not knowing what to pack in my changing bag, when the baby was going to feed or sleep or how many nappies to put in and it took me hours to prepare to go for a walk to meet some friends for lunch one day.
There were some things that were so special to me in those groups and really kept me going.
Such as the group leader who asked what we all did before we had babies. It was only then that I realised I missed my old self.
Or another lovely group leader that would hand you a hot cup of coffee as you walked in at 10am, topped up with more coffee and a homemade cake in the break. I hadn't quite got into the habit of feeding myself as well as the baby so this was like a big hug.
I watched how other Mum's were "doing it", what they put in their changing bag and I made friends that I still see now.
I had lovely present and connected moments with my little cherub being able to solely focus on him and drink it all in, whilst learning new skills that we still use such as baby massage and reflexology.
I knew from sitting in those groups that I wanted to serve new parents just the way they had served me; with kindness, routine, activity and nurture.
I couldn't put my finger on what type of group I could do. I looked into learning new skills such as baby yoga or massage but it didn't feel right.
As time went on, I realised other parents often asked me little questions about speech and language development and I often had a lot to say.
Although I didn't find having a baby easy, I did find that my professional knowledge of milestones, attachment, how to encourage communication and the neural development of my baby, helped me to navigate motherhood.
This helped me understand why he was doing what he was doing, how I needed to approach situations to make sure I was supporting his needs and basically not to be so hard on myself. Some of the crazy stuff that is pushed at new parents, is just downright wrong in terms of matching their baby's developmental ability, even if I did get sucked in on occasion.
It became clearer to me that not everyone had this knowledge and maybe I wasn't giving credit to all the skills I did have. I wanted to share them.
Fast forward, having another baby, leaving my NHS job, starting my new company and the small thing of a pandemic and here I am. Ready to share my knowledge and hopefully provide a beautiful and nurturing face to face baby group to lots of new parents.
If you'd like to know more about my new group called "Chatty Babies", click on the button below
Amy xx