728x90
my iParenting
From Our Sponsors
e-newsletters
Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters

new terms of use
new privacy policy
award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Home › Articles › Motherhood › Support for Mom

Support for Mom

Groups Provide Encouragement and Friendship

By Tracy B. McGinnis

Pages:  1  2  3  

Sherry Reinhardt taught in a Community Mental Health Program at UC Berkeley and was a Public Health Nurse in Boston before having her kids Sasha and Emma. Reinhardt recalls that her own need for a support group led her to organize her own and since then has spun off more than 500 groups.

"As with many first-time parents, I was amazed at the intensity of the postpartum experience and often felt totally overwhelmed and isolated," says Reinhardt. "Finding no active mothers groups, I organized one for myself and hired a facilitator."

Reinhardt's Support Group for Mothers allows first time groups to meet with a facilitator for eight weeks and then spin off into their own group and ongoing groups. During those eight weeks, topics such as infant care and development, emotional issues, work, childcare, relationships and identity issues such as body image, sexuality and maternal emotions are covered.

"Women usually begin between two to three weeks and four to five months postpartum," says Reinhardt. "Motherhood can be extremely isolating. Women get so much from these groups. They 'normalize' their experience so they don't feel so alone."

Reinhardt's ongoing groups meet weekly and offer women, working both in and outside the home, the opportunity to receive and give support and engage in problem-solving without interruption from children. "Many of us find that interactions at parks or playgroups, where we need to watch our children, leave us feeling fragmented, unfinished, less clear and even less confident," says Reinhardt. "We realize that many topics are best discussed away from the ears of children."

Support is the main focus of playgroups and Reinhardt notes that women often lose support systems they once had at work and with childless friends. "There's lots of pressure on the partner to provide all the emotional support and caretaking of Baby so Mom can get a break," she says. "When women get support, they feel less resentment with their partners."


Pages:  1  2  3  

Want to see more?

Comments

There are no comments for this article yet.Be the first to add a comment.

Post As:
Enter your comment below:
Title
Comment Text
CAPTCHA
Please note that any comments submitted become the property of Disney Family / iParenting and can be edited and posted at our discrection.