Speedsitting with UrbanSitter at Natural Resources in San Francisco

February 9^th, from 11am to 1pm

 

Join us for a fun event to interview local babysitters from UrbanSitter. Similar to speed-dating, the event will be structured to allow you to quickly meet with a variety of sitters, each for about 5 minutes, to determine if they are a good fit for your family.  This is a great chance to find your Valentine’s Day sitter!

A few extra sitters will also be on hand to watch the kids while you are speedsitting.

Cost:


Members- FREE

Non Members- $5

 

About Your Facilitator: 
UrbanSitter is an online resource that connects parents with great babysitters.  A local start-up founded by 4 busy parents, UrbanSitter helps you find available sitters recommended by your friends or parents in your social circles – so you can feel secure in hiring someone you trust.  Simply search sitters calendars, select based on reviews and credentials, then book and even pay right online!

 

 

 

 

Natural Resources

a pregnancy, childbirth and early parenting center

Hours

Mon-Sat 11-6
, Sun 11-5

Location

1367 Valencia St. (at 25th St.)
San Francisco, CA 94110
, phone: 415 550 2611, website:www.naturalresources-sf.com

Baby Care Workshop

February 3 and 10, 2014

Mondays 
6:30 pm to 9:30 pm $90 per family

Register online at www.lovingarmschildbirthservices.com

A two week workshop focused on getting to know your baby, learning basic baby-care skills, knowing how to sooth your baby, understanding your baby’s language and developing a parenting approach that works for your family. Topics include: understanding you baby’s language, newborn characteristics and temperament, diapering, bathing and dressing, babywearing, sleep, feeding and family care for the first six weeks. Feel free to bring all interested family members – grandparents, older siblings, special aunties…

For more information, please contact Loving Arms at (510) 525-1155.

 

Mindfulness based support group for New Parents

Class description:

Every new parent finds they need a lot of support, especially in those first few months of learning and defining what it means to be parent, a care taker, and a provider for a new baby.

We are offering a new approach to the traditional mommy/baby support group.  Based in Mindfulness philosophy, our group is open to both moms and dads/co-parents for open discussion on various topics relevant to new parents and facilitated hands-on skill-building in newborn care.

You will find a community of like-mined parents and gain a new set of “tools” to enrich your experiences as parent s and as partners.

Please joins us for this innovative new group, whch will combine elements of mindfulness education and practice with other comm

Topics for discussion will be individualized to each group, and may include: refreshers on how to soothe or swaddle baby, coping with sleep deprivation and enhancing healthy sleep for baby, understanding newborn stages of development, feeding challenges, self care, identity shifting, relationship changes and maintenance, and much more. You will find a community of like-minded parents and gain a new set of “tools” to enrich your experiences as parents and as partners.

John Kabat-Zinn calls mindfulness “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and without judgement.”  Mindfulness practice in the context of parenting can be a profound and powerful tool in becoming the parent you want to be by embracing and accepting the parent that you are.

Benefits of mindfulness practice include:

• Reduced postpartum stress, anxiety and depression
• Enhanced bonding with baby
• Enhanced parenting and relationship skills
• Reduced risk or severity of postpartum depression and anxiety
• Increased kindness, curiosity & compassion for self, baby & others

Each session will offer a new mindfulness tool for us to practice and discuss, as well as plenty of time for discussion of common parenting issues and challenges.  Each member will receive a complimentary copy of Mindful Motherhood, by Cassandra Vieten.

Join us for a one month series, and come back for as many more as you like!

Babies up to 6 months welcome!

FOR JANUARY WE WILL OFFER DROP IN DATES:  JAN 20th and JAN 27th
at a discounted rate of $35/session.
SIGN UP REQUIRED BY SESSION – see calendar to  sign up by selected date: http://www.carmelblue.com/calendar/

 

Time: 1:00pm – 3:00pm

Cost: $175 (one parent), $225 (two parents) for the 4-week session

 

Carmel Blue Pregnancy & Parenting

1418 Grant Ave

San Francisco, CA

94133
 USA

 

Sleep Training For Adults (From A Baby’s Point Of View)

 

OK, here’s my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost 7 months. The first few months were great – I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened.

Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep through the night). At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I’ve talked to other babies, and it seems like it’s pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 6 months. Here’s the thing: these Mommies don’t really need to sleep. It’s just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep–they just don’t need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan. I call it the Crybaby Shuffle. It goes like this:

Night 1–cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it’s hard. It’s hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it’s for her own good.

Night 2–cry every 2 hours until you get fed.

Night 3–every hour.

Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don’t give in. I cannot stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!! If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT’S HARD! But she really doesn’t need the sleep, she’s just resisting the change. If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it.

Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it. BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with. My sleep sack tickled my foot. I felt a wrinkle under the sheet. My mobile made a shadow on the wall. I burped, and it tasted like pears. I hadn’t eaten pears since lunch, what’s up with that? The cat said “meow”. I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL. Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room. Too hot, too cold, just right–doesn’t matter! Keep crying!!

It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommies’ internal clocks.

Sometimes my Mommy will call for reinforcements by sending in Daddy. Don’t worry Daddies are not set up for not needing sleep the way Mommies are. They can only handle a few pats and shhing before they declare defeat and send in the Mommy.

Also, be wary of the sleep sheep with rain noises. I like to give Mommy false hope that listening to the rain puts me to sleep sometimes I pretend to close my eyes and be asleep and then wait until I know Mommy is settling back to sleep to spring a surprise cry attack. If she doesn’t get to me fast enough I follow up with my fake cough and gag noise that always has her running to the crib. At some point I am positive she will start to realize that she really doesn’t really need sleep.

P.S. Don’t let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, no milk will come out. Trust me.

 

– Source Unknown (If you know, please tell me!)

April 16, 2012

This entry was posted in Babies, Blog.

 

Newborn Care 101

 

Class description:

Join Midwife Rebecca Plum and learn how to care for your newborn from those very first moments after birth, so that you can enter this new phase of your life confident and ready to begin!

 

An experiential class, each member in our intimate group setting will receive personalized instruction and hands-on training in how to care for their new baby. Members will leave feeling more familiar with newborn qualities and behaviors, and ready to tailor their new-found skills to their own newborn’s unique needs.

If the birthing parent is partnered, both parents are strongly encouraged to attend.

In this class you will learn:

• Interpreting baby’s cues
• Cord care & newborn health
• Newborn appearance & traits
• Sleep patterns & what to expect
• The developmental stages of the newborn
• Jaundice and other common newborn conditions
• When to feed the baby & how to know they’re getting enough
• What to expect and choices to consider for immediately after the birth

 

Participants will receive hands-on instruction in:

• Diapering (cloth, compostable & disposable)
• Swaddling
• Soothing
• Burping
• Holding baby & transferring them person to person

Please Note:

This class is our Newborn Care Intensive, which contains a very full 3 hours of material. If you are excited to learn as much as you can about newborn care, including how to bathe the baby, trim their nails, what clothing to bring them home in and how to set up the nursery, please check out our new Expanded Newborn Care class!

Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm

When: February 10th, 2014

Cost: $150 for single or couple (if registering as a couple, please enter partner’s name at checkout)

www.carmelblue.com

 

Address:

Carmel Blue Pregnancy & Parenting

1418 Grant Ave

San Francisco, CA

94133
 USA

Baby Sleep Solutions at Carmel Blue with Angelique Millette

Class description:

This in-depth workshop by Sleep Expert Angelique Millette, will help parents understand how to establish good sleep habits and a healthy schedule for their babies and for themselves. She reviews several different baby sleep methods and helps parents tailor their approach according to their own needs and abilities.

These methods can be used for bed-sharing, room sharing, and separate crib sleeping arrangements.

Angelique Millette comes to this work with more than 20 years of experience in infant and child development and family support. Her work with families is based on the belief that helping parents to cultivate a strong and clear connection to their parenting intuition and wisdom will facilitate answers and parenting confidence long after we have completed our work together. Every parent has a well of strengths and resources, as well as unique challenges for handling, and adapting to the changing and dynamic relationship with their child, or children. Angelique encourages parents to explore the key themes in their relationship with their child, while supporting parents with intervention, relevant education, infant and child development information, and resources.

This class is intended for Parents and babies 3-12 months. We will cover:

• Baby sleep needs 0-12 months
• How best to help little ones establish sleep habits/patterns
• How developmental milestones impact infant sleep development and what to do
• SIDS guidelines and research
• No/low cry sleep and interval methods
• Crying methods
• Many sleep arrangements discussed: co-sleeping, room-sharing, crib sleeping
• Night feeds and sleep changes
• Naps

Handouts and guidelines will be provided with a follow up e-mail.

Time: 1:00pm – 3:00pm, except July 19th (1:30pm – 3:30pm), September 13th (3:00pm – 5:00pm)
Cost: $55 (one parent), $75 (two parents)

One sliding scale (need-based) will be provided. Please contact Sharone (carmelbluesky@gmail.com) to discuss further.

www.carmelblue.com

 

Address:

Carmel Blue Pregnancy & Parenting

1418 Grant Ave

San Francisco, CA

94133
 USA

 

 

Happy Holidays & Happy New Year 2014

Wishing you, your family and your loved ones
Happy Holiday season
&
New Year 2014 filled with happiness and love

Martina

www.BabyNightDoula.com

 

Last chance to sign up for the Jan 9th class!

HomeBirth Focused Childbirth Education Class

in Oakland for EDDs: February, March, April

Instructor: Esther Healey, Licensed Midwife, BAHC Member

When: 5 class series on Thursday evenings

Dates: January 9 – February 6, 2014

Time: 7:00p – 9:30p

Where: Oakland, near Lake Merritt

Fee: $150-$350 (8% of homebirth midwifery services fee: $350 max, $150 min)

 

To Register for the class send the registration form and the payment for the class to 336 East 15th Street #3, Oakland, Ca 94606

Esther Healey, CPM, LM

Bay Area Homebirth Collective midwife

Mandala Midwifery

www.MandalaMidwifery.org

Esther@MandalaMidwifery.org

Work: (510) 479-0905

 

 

Birth Services, Tub Rentals, Childbirth Education Classes

 

 

This class is filled of opportunities to learn techniques and tools that will support you and your partner (if present) in labor, birth and those first weeks of parenting. Using a host of modalities, there will be group discussions, experiential learning, videos, readings, strategizing, handouts, home exercises, exploration of fears and desires, and sharing of knowledge, from practical to etherial. The focus of this class stems from the intension of honoring this normal, physiological and emotional right-of-passage and fostering the natural hormonal unfolding of labor and birth. Come join us!

 

The class is a balance of:

-Experiential learning of an array of techniques you may use in labor

-Tools for partners to support mother for the remaining pregnancy, labor, and after the birth

-Informational coverage of:

*the “stages” of labor and what labor may look like

*what changes are made in the body during labor and postpartum

*what the baby goes through to be born

-Deeper discussions of common questions around standards of care (GBS, Vitamin K, Non Stress Tests, etc.)

-Opportunities to begin processing fears using specific techniques

-Setting intension for birth and postpartum

-Exposure to births from videos and stories

-What happens if complications arise and transfer of care is necessary (non urgent, urgent, emergency)

-Immediate postpartum and postpartum needs and expectations

-Expectations for newborn babies – what their needs are, and how can we as parents support them

-Breastfeeding techniques and expectations

-and, of course, more