ABOVE: A look at the resources table which is set up at Baby Cafe inside the Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) room at Fairmont Elementary School. New prenatal Baby Cafe sessions will be held monthly beginning in January. Submitted photo

FAIRMONT– New monthly sessions for expectant mothers will soon be taking place in Fairmont. The prenatal Baby Cafe sessions will be focused on education and creating a trusting relationship with local public health officials.

The sessions will be put on through Health and Human Services of Faribault and Martin Counties, which started Baby Cafe locally in 2018.

Kylie Saari, a public health nurse with Health and Human Services of Faribault and Martin Counties explained that Baby Cafe is an international program. It’s a drop-in support group for families that are feeding their babies breastmilk or people who want to learn about breastmilk and breastfeeding before their baby is born.

There is one Baby Cafe in Fairmont, one in Blue Earth and one in Wells. Baby Cafe was originally held at Mayo Clinic in Fairmont but soon after it started it moved to the Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) room at Fairmont Elementary School.

“The school was willing to give us that space and it’s easier because it’s in the early childhood education area and there are toys for older kids and a lot of families are already familiar with it. It’s a good place for us,” Saari said.

Throughout the two counties and all the sites there are seven Baby Cafes per month so there should always be something soon for someone to get help, Saari said.

The Baby Cafes are led by lactation consultants from the county.

“Mothers can weigh their baby and answer questions about breastfeeding but mostly it’s moms talking about being moms and visiting,” Saari said.

However, the Baby Cafe sessions are held during daytime hours because postpartum mothers are typically off of work on maternity leave, so Saari said that prenatal mothers have a hard time fitting it in their schedule because it’s during working hours.

“So we’re going to do a prenatal-specific Baby Cafe in the evenings once a month,” she said.

The prenatal sessions will be different the the regular Baby Cafe because there will be a different topic each month ranging from postpartum life, breastfeeding in public, involving partners and best lactation products.

“We’ll do a little bit of teaching time and some open time. The idea is to get people ready for having a newborn and breastfeeding or breastmilk feeding,” Saari said.

She said they also want to create a sense of community as postpartum depression and maternal mental health has been identified as a problem in the area.

“We found that when they have community, it’s a lot easier. We’re hoping by getting people to meet each other and have conversation, when they do have their babies it will be easier for them to come to the daytime Baby Cafe because they’re familiar with us and with each other,” Saari said.

She said locally Mayo offers a prenatal class once a quarter but asks that people who attend are at a certain gestation stage. The prenatal Baby Cafe’s curriculum will change each month for nine months and people can start at any stage in their pregnancy.

It’s free of charge and open to anyone in Martin or Faribault County.

“Any support person can come, spouses or partners,” Saari said.

She added that a support person should come especially if they have never seen someone breastfeed as it’s hard for them to support their partner who is breastfeeding if they’ve never seen it or know about it.

Saari thinks the prenatal Baby Cafe sessions will be beneficial as she’s heard many people who attend Baby Cafe comment on various things they wish they knew before their baby was born.

“We’re trying to make it accessible and easy for families to connect with us at the county and with each other,” Saari said. “We’re pretty excited about it.”

Prenatal Baby Cafe will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on the second Monday of the month in the ECFE room at Fairmont Elementary School beginning Jan. 8