USA Mums - advice needed!

[scarymamma]

My s-in-l is stateside (Louisiana) and pregnant. She's having trouble meeting other mumstobe. Is there an equivalent to the NCT in the US? Can anybody give any recommendations for networking (pref. not church based)?

I'm not American, but Canadian.

That being said, from what I know about the south, a lot of stuff is church-based. Her best bet might well be some sort of antenatal class, or antenatal exercise class?

There are loads of prenatal classes. Lamaze and Bradley are the big two, but there are also breastfeeding classes, pre-parenting classes and whatnot. She can ask her ob/gyn for recommendations (if she likes her/him) or give the maternity ward a ring to see if they know of any (they host them many times). Because she's in the deep South, she could also politely accost other pregnant women and ask them.

Did a quick google and came up with this from the March of Dimes .

Good luck to her.

Not really anything that's government-run (at least here in Oregon). In the bigger cities, there's groups or classes advertised in the papers a lot of times. I looked online under playgroups or mom's groups in Southern Oregon, but wasn't able to find anything here, but there's stuff listed all over the country. A lot of hospitals will do post-natal groups to meet people. That being said, I just had to force myself to start talking to people with babies the same age as mine to find something, and I finally did.

Does this have anything in her area?

There are things to go to, but they are not so easy to find as in the UK.

In many parts of the US there are booklets/magazines printed monthly/quarterly for each city/region that list groups/activities for children. These are often given away free at local independent children's clothing/furniture stores (not chain stores in malls) the way free mags are given to mums at Tumbletots sessions in the UK. The mags will have listings of what's available in the area.

By the way, activities that are held in churches are not necessarily all religiously oriented in the USA - it's just a way of utilising good meeting spaces during the week when church is not in session.

Also suggest that she could ask at the office of her ob/gyn, or alternatively, at the office of the pediatrician she intends to use for her child. She could also check out local family oriented gyms (like the YMCA) to see if they have any programs available that might be suitable.

Good luck.

Thanks everybody for the advice/links . I'll pass them on to my SIL.