BRATTLEBORO — February programs for the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital New Moms Network start with a session they call Potpourri on Wednesday, Feb. 2.
This is a time for new moms to come together and discuss various topics with each other and network. Moms meet on Wednesdays, from 9:30 to 11 a.m., in the BMH Exercise Room in the new Brew Barry Conference Room complex on the lower level of the main hospital (in the former PT gym).
The program on Wednesday, Feb. 9, will feature Serenity Forchion of Circus Arts here in Brattleboro, presenting “Finding Your Abs.” Forchion has had several children here in the BMH Birthing Center, and has gone back to teaching trapeze and other circus acts very soon after the birth of her young children.
The program on Wednesday, Feb. 16, is called “How A Baby Learns To Love,” and will be presented by New Moms Network facilitator Dawn Kersula, MA, RN. Kersula is a Birthing Center nurse and is also the lactation consultant at BMH. She is president of the Vermont Lactation Consultants Association and speaks to groups nationwide.
On Feb. 23, nutritionist Chris Ellis, RD, will talking about starting solids. In addition to being at the Brattleboro Food Co-op, Ellis is involved with Early Education Services.
Programs for March include “How Is My Baby Doing” on Wednesday, March 2, and “Get the Lead Out!” on March 9. At the first March session, Martha Healy-Nelson, Developmental Specialist at Early Education Services, will offer developmental milestones and games to play. The program on March 9 will be co-presented by Allyson Wendt and Michelle Pong of the Parks Place (Bellows Falls) Lead Project.
This free BMH program is a chance for new moms (dads are also welcome) to network and learn tips from each other. Babies are warmly welcomed, of course, and need not to have been born at BMH to attend. New Moms Network is a free service of the BMH Birthing Center.
The next six-week Lamaze series begins Thursday evening, Feb. 3, and a One-Day Lamaze Birthshop is scheduled for Saturday, March 19. Call 802-257-8877 to register for either of these classes. Other perinatal classes include Baby Basics on Wednesday, Feb. 9, and Breastfeeding Basics on Wednesday, March 9, both starting at 6 p.m. If you are interested in attending a Sibling Class, call the BMH Birthing Center, 802-257-8226.
For more information about any of these programs, you can call 802-257-8278 to talk to Dawn Kersula, or visit www.bmhvt.org.