Babies need to be fed, kept warm, dry and clean and loved. Quite a small sentence for a huge task!
One way to make sure babies are well cared for is to care for the parents. Parenting is full -on and self-care often takes second place when looking after the new arrival. The advice given to new parents is generally all about the baby and help for parents is relegated to 'sleep when baby sleeps'.
Ideally habits of self-care should be developed during pregnancy so that they are already embedded in everyday life by the time the baby arrives. Sometimes this is easier for the Mum-to-be than the Dad as antenatal care is centred around her. There are antenatal classes for both parents but the more focused self-care sessions like Yoga for Pregnancy are aimed more at mums alone. Yoga for Pregnancy develops the habit of listening to your body and switching off the mind. Techniques of mindfulness focus on the here and now and can help new parents de-stress and relax. We'd like to add another skill into the mix -- Knitting. There is a growing body of evidence that supports the idea that handicrafts in general, and more particularly repetitive crafts like knitting and crochet, can have a very positive effect on your mental state.
With this in mind, we have developed a series of three workshops designed to teach prospective and new parents how to knit. Shared experiences is a great way of making friends and this can be really important as a new parent. Learning a new skill at the same time will make it fun too and as an added bonus the end result will be a beautiful hand-made blanket for your baby.
Mums, Bumps and Babies link to our workshop page
Useful Links for new and expectant paren
NCT www.nct.org.uk/branches
Birthlight www.birthlight.co.uk/
NHS Direct www.nhsdirect.wales.nhs.uk/LiveWell/Pregnancy/
Parenting childcareisfun.co.uk/
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