The team from Blossom Antenatal in Bath is running a series of a series of pregnancy and postnatal cafés, offering the opportunity for pregnant people and new mums to come together to make friends and connections, as well as gaining support and wisdom from one and another.
The cafes take place two to three times a month, mainly at Hartley Farm in Bradford on Avon, as well as occasional events in Corsham and Batheaston.
“As doulas and antenatal facilitators, there’s also always a chance to pick our brains about any concerns or questions they may have regarding their pregnancy, birth and early parenting period, and we do our best to reassure and/or signpost the parents who come,” explained Harriet Symon from Blossom Antenatal.
“We initially set up the groups as a place for pregnant women to meet. After running our early pregnancy workshops, we noticed that many parents were really keen to make connections and friends in their pregnancy a bit earlier than the often traditional 30 week antenatal course.
“Also, for those having their second or third babies, the group gives them a chance to meet people having a baby at a similar time to them, particularly as a lot of the parents have experienced having their previous babies during the pandemic where meeting friends was restricted to online meet ups.
“Now we’ve been running since the beginning of the year, we have mums who loved the cafe so much in their pregnancy, that they continue to come with their babies. It’s lovely for them to keep that connection but it’s also absolutely gorgeous for the pregnant women to be able to coo over the new babies and draw on some of the new mum’s wisdom and experiences.”
One of the mums-to-be who enjoys the group commented, “It was so lovely to do something for just bump and I, and to be surrounded by other women. The experience and knowledge of Harriet and Noreen is invaluable. Thank you again”
Blossom Antenatal is run by Harriet and Noreen Hart. Between them, they have seven children, four grandchildren and over 50 years of supporting new parents and birthing people in the area.
As well as the free pregnancy cafe, Blossom in Bath runs pregnancy workshops, courses in birth preparation, early parenting, breastfeeding, and yoga, relaxation and hypnosis for birth.
The next pregnancy cafes are set to take place on 23 June and 7 and 21 July. For more details, keep an eye on the Blossom In Bath Instagram https://instagram.com/blossom_in_bath?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== and Facebook pages, as well as their own Whatsapp group.