Not so good 'weaning party' at child centre. Long sorry ! :-p

[cupcaker]

I got an invite to a 'weaning party' in the post from the local child centre. I don't often get to attend anything there due to work, so was really pleased that an activity fell when I was off work yesterday.

Well we arrived, sat around a mat and sang songs with the babies and put them down on the floor and wafted a sheet over them and stuff like that for about 5 minutes. I'm not mad keen on some of the things but I threw myself into it, assuming shortly a 'talk' or something would begin about weaning, led by the child centre lady.

Well the singing stopped and time passed...people kept just milling about and playing with their babies on a mat. The leader didn't gather us, talk to us as a group, ask what we wanted to learn etc. More time passed, more milling about and playing....

Time really did pass, and I began to wonder if I had somehow just wandered into a 'play group' but then noticed around us were some makeshift displays with a few books etc about weaning. Pretty crappy, but enough to make me think something was going to come of the session.


Eventually, the leader said that in the kitchen were some 'foods to try' which consisted of pasta shapes, a few carrots and cucumber, party sausages and dairylea. We were then just left to go and eat the food if our babies wished (but of course many couldn't as this was full on finger food and some babies were 4/5 months old or not on solids properly), and then back to 'milling about' again!! A little later the leader said she would put some toast on for the babies and proceeded to burn the crap out of it and smoke bellowed out of the kitchen.


By this point, it had been about an hour and a half, and it didn't look like anything else was going to happen whatsoever. I ended up chatting to a couple of other mums about what they do and they were asking me questions back, just so the morning didn't feel quite so wasted.

Tbh I thought it was piss poor organisation, even if that does make me snobby. Surely the basics would have been gather everyone together, maybe talk about where we all are with weaning, what do we want to learn more about today, what have we found works/does not work, products we like, then maybe be given some recipe ideas etc. The leader just milled about like she was one of us. Yes, people could ask her questions individually I suppose but there was a good turn out and speaking to her individually was not ideal because you could never catch her!

I came away really deflated to be honest and I'm somebody who does bother doing their research, reading, foruming etc, so at least I know I can carry on my merry way with weaning. But lord knows what a mum who is really unsure about weaning would have taken from that session. Nothing I'd say!

After sitting for what felt like the millionth hour with my baby on the mat again,I then watched another child vomit all over the toys, and then I left I'm afraid!!! lol!

 

[FAB mama]

That sounds really stupid and pointless honestly.

 

[sillysapling]

I really don't get what the point of that was... It sounds like she's a proponent of BLW, which is nice, but it'd be even better if she talked more about what that is and what it involves, since a lot of people aren't aware of the idea.

 

[Sarah Lou 80]

Sounds horrendous!

 

[cupcaker]

I honestly don't think she can even have the excuse of promoting BLW.. I think it was just the 'easier' option to bung out some finger foods so food was remotely involved in the session! I am pretty much established in TW with finger foods added too. Despite this, I do know about the BLW option too and I genuinely could have spontaniously stood up and put on a far better session than that for everyone. Maybe I should have haha

 

[noon_child]

I went to a session like this where we were told that a midwife would be attending to talk to us about our birth experiences and explain things we still felt unsure of/traumatised by/ were scaring us about future pregnancies etc.

Well she didn't introduce herself, sat on the edge while we played with our babies on the mats, and spent most of the time talking to the regular group leaders about her mother who was in a nursing home that was treating her poorly!

I know some people may not have wanted to share their trauma/success with everyone, but just gather everyone at the beginning at least and introduce what you want out of the session and see if the same concerns are cropping up again and again! She was also really difficult to approach 1-on-1 because you felt like you were interrupting her conversation about her Mum!

 

[Bevziibubble]

That sounded like it was a total waste of time. I would have been pretty disappointed at that!

 

[sillysapling]

I went to a session like this where we were told that a midwife would be attending to talk to us about our birth experiences and explain things we still felt unsure of/traumatised by/ were scaring us about future pregnancies etc.

Well she didn't introduce herself, sat on the edge while we played with our babies on the mats, and spent most of the time talking to the regular group leaders about her mother who was in a nursing home that was treating her poorly!

I know some people may not have wanted to share their trauma/success with everyone, but just gather everyone at the beginning at least and introduce what you want out of the session and see if the same concerns are cropping up again and again! She was also really difficult to approach 1-on-1 because you felt like you were interrupting her conversation about her Mum!

That woman should be ashamed of herself! Introducing solids is a pretty nerve-wracking thing as well, but every baby has to do it at one point or another. Not every person who gives birth experiences trauma, it's far lonelier and harder to find support.

That would have been a very important meeting for people, and she completely messed it up. Why even agree to do it if you can't be bothered?