Giving Back to The Community: Planning a Community Baby Shower

Traditionally, baby showers give friends and family a chance to welcome the new mum into motherhood, but contemporary baby showers seem to be focused on giving the mother-to-be a huge pile of gifts. As fun as that can be, there is a movement to return some baby showers to their historic role of welcoming a woman into motherhood and teaching her a few tricks of the trade.

It Takes a Village

Community health organizations across America and in some parts of Australia have been putting on community baby showers. Rather than putting one mum at the centre of attention, these showers invite dozens of expectant mothers from around the community, and they welcome this entire group of mums into motherhood.

One community baby shower was put on by the Alameda County Public Health Department. This Californian public health organization offered expectant mums from the county lunch, cake, prizes and an afternoon full of education and fun. As many of the women were not first-time mums, the event also offered childcare.

The attendees were given the chance to discuss all kinds of health concerns while receiving some education on prenatal and postnatal care. Surveys handed out at the close of the event indicated how much these women appreciated the event. They reported that they had learned a lot, had a lot of fun and enjoyed the gifts and prizes that were given to them. Most importantly, they enjoyed knowing that somebody out there cared about them and their pregnancy. The event was first started in 2004 and it has continued to reach several dozen women for every quarter since then.

Planning a Community Shower

You can plan a community shower as a way to get yourself and your community more information about prenatal care and early infancy care. When planning a community shower, work closely with the community health organizations in your area. Is there an organization that would like to sponsor the event? See if you can find a midwife who is willing to offer some information or just be on hand to field questions. Like any baby shower, you will also have to plan food, and you will need to find prizes or favors for a baby shower. You won't necessarily need to plan any events or games as that time will be devoted to education.

Keep in mind that you can choose which focus you want the shower to have. If you want to advise women on ways to increase their chances of carrying a baby to term, you can bring in speakers on prenatal health or you can have a seminar on how to avoid an unnecessary c-section. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, nearly a third of all Australian babies are born via c-section.

If you prefer to focus on a more topical issue, you could address the public health concerns of the recent bushfires and give mums some tools on how to protect their infants from the smoke, advises EssentialBaby.com.au. Regardless of the direction you take, planning a community baby shower is the perfect way for you to give back to the community, and it is a fabulous step in creating the kind of healthy and supportive world that your new child deserves to be born into.

This article has been written for The Pregnancy Centre by