38/365 - mothers group

I went to my first mothers group when Liam was 2 weeks old; it was the week before the hubby had to go back to work so I dragged him along with me as support. And at 2 weeks knowing your husband is going to have to head back to work and leave you alone with the bub, you probably need all the support you can get (trust me - I'm no supermum). Friends with bubs have given me mixed comments about mothers groups. Some had gone, learnt a lot and made friends for life, others stopped going as they were too intimidated by the other mums or particularly how well dressed their babies were. You hear a lot when you're a new mum and the only way to really find out if mothers group is for you is to head to one yourself.

At the moment, I'm going to two mothers groups. One run by the local health clinic which runs for 4 weeks and are more formalised sessions which cover everything from baby sleep, settling to mum's wellbeing - all the babies at this group are around about the same age. It's great to meet other mums who are going through exactly the same thing and remind you that you are normal. As for the information they go through, to be honest, most of it you would've learnt through trial and error after looking after a bub for a few weeks but nonetheless a great reassurance that what you're doing is fine.

The other mothers group is at the hospital where I gave birth and this is more of an informal gathering each week of other mums who've given birth at the same hospital. You can choose to drop in one week and miss the next and well, it's already been 4 weeks since I've been to this group and I'm starting to see and be a regular myself. Having mums that are further along than you is a great help as you get to learn about what babies are going to be like further down the track.

Trust me, it wasn't easy at the start going to either of the mothers groups. It felt like a first day starting a new job, you ask yourself whether the other mums will like you and whether you will make any friends. It's too early to say whether these mums will be my friends for life but if you give it a go, you'll learn something along the way and if anything, it's been that push for me to get out of the house and embrace motherhood with a bang. 

As for Liam, I can't tell if he enjoys mothers groups but given he's only 5 weeks old, he's still got a fair bit to learn. The only thing I know is that he loves to poop before a mothers group outing so does make it a little tricky when you are trying to dash out the door. Thankfully mothers groups are forgiving towards lateness; just get there when you can.