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Nutella 
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 Topic: First baby group
Posted: 31 July 2010 at 9:10pm |
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I live in this small town and there is nothing to do here at all except playgroup which is more aimed at toddlers and older....so anyway, I was thinking about starting up some kind of first baby group for first time mums in the community as there always seems to be lots of babies about...
So does anyone have any suggestions of what to do because I wouldn't have a clue!! Dunno if I should just do a coffee group or try and get some funding for a more formal arrangement where we have people come to talk to us about topics or we learn stuff like music for babies, new games to play with babies that sort of thing????
what do you all think first time mums living in a rural community would like to do (oh except shop and go to a cafe...droool.....)
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High9
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Posted: 31 July 2010 at 9:35pm |
I would start off as a coffee group and then you can all discuss it and maybe expand and go form there...
I am really keen to start a young mums BF support group in Wellington, there is one in Chch. But I find all young people don't bother BFing... And most people seem so shocked that I am... 
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lovingmummyhood
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Posted: 31 July 2010 at 9:53pm |
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I like Lil Nic's idea. Start as a coffee group and then all decide what you'd like from it.
Also good on you Lil Nic. I'm part of a BF support group and its great - all ages of Mums and little ones. Is there a birthing centre or something near where you are? The flyer for our group is given out when people leave our local one. maybe you could do something like that to get started?
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High9
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Posted: 31 July 2010 at 10:37pm |
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Thanks for the tip lmh!
Sorry to thread jack!
I hope you figure something out though because I love my coffee group and my playcentre group!
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nathansmummy
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Posted: 31 July 2010 at 11:40pm |
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I started up a coffee group in my area by attending a SPACE group at Playcentre and attending another group at Plunket. Often it's who you meet, so perhaps develop a business card or a flier or both and post your flier up locally, advertise free on Gumtree Australia (whatever city you're in) and hand out business cards to those you meet. Before you know it you'll have a little group. Worth noting though that despite 16 people belonging to our group, we have regulars of about 5 or 6 which is common apparently.
I've heard there's not much in Oz for babies or support. So you could do anything from just a coffee group to outings or walks together or steal ideas from SPACE Playcentre website (it's fantastic!) and steal ideas from Wriggle & Rhyme at the library - depends on what you and they want to do!
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Bizzy
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Posted: 01 August 2010 at 8:19am |
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have you been to the local playgroup? Its not all about the kids, its a chance for mums to meet and talk too and if you start going early then you may meet other mums of babies and develop a relationship.
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E&L+1
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Posted: 01 August 2010 at 8:38am |
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If you were wanting to start a baby playgroup you could try the heuristic play ideas. Basically having a whole lot of different textured objects for baby to explore.
I attend a group that is funded the lady who runs it talks about babies developmental stages. She has a mat out with wooden blocks, fabric, metal bangles, metal bowls, measuring spoons, wooden dolly pegs, balls etc. Esme loves going and playing with all the bits that are there. Most of which can be brought from $2 type shopes or you'd already have in your kitchen.
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Nutella
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Posted: 01 August 2010 at 10:43am |
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Trouble is NathansMummy, there is nowhere to meet people here! There are barely any shops and there are no cafes, no groups to go to except playgroup which I have been to once but it is at the dreaded nap time of 9-11 so no good at the moment. There were no other babies there either and was just the kids playing and the mums having a coffee and minding their kids, so no planned activities.
We have a swimming pool which is closed til September, the library is tiny and not a place we could meet at, there is no cafe, it is now starting to get too hot for walks during the day so would have to be early walks haha.....Hence why I thought starting a group might be a plan.
I like the idea of group you go to EsmesMum...maybe I need to do some research online and see if I can find out what people do. I did find that Huggies Baby club has activities to do.
What is SPACE and Wriggle and Rhyme?
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nathansmummy
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Posted: 01 August 2010 at 12:29pm |
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Look up SPACE/Playcentre and Wriggle and Rhyme Auckland Libraries online.
Then I think it's just a case of advertising - fliers up at local areas and ads on gumtree etc. to see who is out there. There must be baby things in your community somewhere, eg. baby swimming classes?
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T_Rex
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Posted: 01 August 2010 at 1:33pm |
Tali, I'm a rural mum and I'm part of a coffee group of 6 mums and bubs ranging in age from 5 months to 9 months. We rotate round each other's houses each fortnight which is good, cos each house has a new set of toys for the babies to play with, and it means we take turns organising morning tea etc. We were given each other's numbers from plunket, but I'm sure there would be other ways to link up.
What about a notice in the doctors surgery? It might be some distance away, but I presume most new mums would go there. Or the supermarket?
For now, we just hang out and chat while our babies cruise round amongst the toys. It's more for our benefit than theirs, truthfully 
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E&L+1
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Posted: 01 August 2010 at 5:27pm |
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It is really good and it would be easy to set up on your own, I am thinking about continuing it at my place if some of the other mums are interested (I live in a small town).
5-6 babies works well and in similar age (ours are 5-10 months). Basically the toys are set up and when we arrive we sit bubs on our knee until they are ready to play. It goes for about an 1.5hours and Esme generally plays happily the whole time even though her nap is due in the middle of it. The mums just sit and chat while the babies play and just intervene when they get too close to each other (just a hand between them seems to work to stop anything from happening).
If you want any more information let me know. I can also give you a better list of what things they play with too. I reckon you could set everything up for around $50 in NZ so I would imagine it wouldn't be much different in aus.
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Nutella
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Posted: 01 August 2010 at 7:57pm |
 nathansmummy wrote:
There must be baby things in your community somewhere, eg. baby swimming classes? |
haha! Nope! That's a funny joke hehe...we live in a rural village and the nearest main town (where we do groceries) is only population 5000 haha. the swimming pool there is closed too....boo to that. Probably warm enough to be open year round but that's a joke....
TRex that sounds like it would be okay, would be a good start anyway, and even having mums to chat to about baby things would be nice. EsmesMum can you send me some more information, I will pm you my email :-)
I might put some fliers up at the mitre ten community notice board and go from there. I met one nice young mum at a fun walk we did yesterday so that is one at least! Could go hang out at the nappy section in the IGA and see who turns up lol.....
I guess I think there might be some lonely ladies out there..I mean I am happy pottering about at home on my own doing crafts but some mums must go nutso living here and it must be lonely if they have just moved here. It is also quite an itinerant population coz people come in to get paid the good money then bail (like we are planning on )
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High9
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Posted: 01 August 2010 at 8:29pm |
SPACE is a Wellington thing, but there is also baby rock and rhyme at Wellington Libraries which is just Finger puppets, rhymes, stories...
Space by Playcentre is just like a group of mums and it starts off with a welcome song, then we split into groups based on babies age groups and discuss things like crying, feeding... etc, then do an activity like foot prints... and then have some singing and a goodbye song.
Its a real shame your town sounds so small! 
If you have a good yard or big lounge you could always host at your house. Or do you have a community hall?
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Nutella
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Posted: 01 August 2010 at 8:52pm |
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Yeah it sucks alrighty! We have this gym thing and they were gonna do gymboree there which is for older kids I think but I reckon could do a baby one there since it is only used about 3 hours a week lol.
Space sounds quite good, that is kind of what I am imagining we could do here if we got some interested mums and maybe some funding. Oh there is of course the play group rooms which I could see if we could have something there. Except it is a half hour walk which is so not far but sucks in summer coz waaaaay to hot to walk there (we are in North Queensland!!)
The joys of living in a small town and to be honest the people here are so ....hmm what is the word...where you don't ever get anything going ya know...
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nathansmummy
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Posted: 01 August 2010 at 8:56pm |
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Laid back? Lazy? Lol...Sounds very isolated! Good on you for doing it, it will be a challenge but I'm sure you'll get to know people fast if it's that small. Hope our suggestions were of some help. Good luck!
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High9
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Posted: 01 August 2010 at 9:04pm |
Google all the stuff people have mentioned like wriggle and rhyme, baby rock and rhyme, space by playcentre etc. You may find some good tips etc or try kidsspot nz I think it is... Kidspot link.
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Nutella
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Posted: 01 August 2010 at 9:49pm |
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Thanks Nic, have got some good things to look up now...that can be tomorrows job. Huggies also have a bunch of stuff on their website.....
Lol Nathans mummy...yes probably lazy is the word hehe
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High9
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Posted: 01 August 2010 at 9:57pm |
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Haven't seen the huggies website but might go do that now!
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Renee & Lauren
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Posted: 02 August 2010 at 6:49am |
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do you have plunket kind of thing in your area - maybe you could ask them if you could put a flyer up in their offices (or failing that maybe a dr surgery) or even a supermarket.
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First baby group
Oct 11
