Prolifers - Do you guys know any good websites to provide for pregnant teenage mothers?
- Thread starter Guest1
- Start date
- Status
K
Kamj
Guest
I’m not sure if this is what you’re looking for but birthright.org helps women with unplanned pregnancies. You might want to check with maternity shelters in your area. We have three locally, but only one is able to provide shelter for teens. It seems like they can always use donations.
M
midori
Guest
I don’t know about websites that hand out freebie stuff, but one of the things I really liked during my pregnancies was being part of an online community of moms who were all due the same month I was. It was cool, being able to be around fifty or sixty other women who were all a week or two (or three or four) ahead of me… being able to see what others were dealing with, and have something to compare my experiences to, and being able to talk a bunch about the things that were most important to me, because they could totally relate to it. All of my RL friends had had their kids 10 or 20 years ago— I didn’t really have a peer group, so the online community was really important, especially in helping me feel solid about different choices I made (ie, I wanted a midwife and a waterbirth and the freedom to do as I pleased, and anyone local I approached about the subject made me feel like I was an alien from another planet for not wanting to lay down, stick my feet in stirrups, and do things in a way that was most comfortable for the doctor— whereas here were three or four women who weren’t really comfortable with their doctors they had chosen, but they stuck with them anyways because they felt obligated, and as time passed, they felt more and more uncomfortable, but they also rationalized that “it was too late to change their minds” as to who would attend their birth— etc, etc, etc).
Anyhow. Stuff like that, times a thousand different things. You get all sorts of data points that help you have context for what you’re going through yourself, rather than just being isolated.
As far as material stuff goes, I’d say buy a pack of newborn disposables to get them through the first month, and then buy two dozen cloth diapers, presuming they have a washer/dryer. Not the Gerber ones with polyester fill, but cotton prefolds. They look something like this:
It’s about $30 for a pack of a dozen. Buy two dozen. Figure four to six changes per day. Get about a dozen diaper covers (about $13 ea) to hold them in place with an angel fold. I liked covers like the snap types most consistently, although I tried various styles and favored different ones at different ages.
On the days I had to bring my baby to daycare when I was working, even the daycare had no problems pulling off an angel fold or cooperating with my cloth diapers. I just had to bring a printout with the instructions, and it was easy-peasy.
Get a couple of packs of baby washcloths to use as diaper wipes. You’ve spent under $250 on diapers and now have enough diapers to last them until the baby is, like, 2 years old or whatever— and you still have those same diapers to be pressed into service again for when the baby has a younger sibling.
Anyhow. Stuff like that, times a thousand different things. You get all sorts of data points that help you have context for what you’re going through yourself, rather than just being isolated.
As far as material stuff goes, I’d say buy a pack of newborn disposables to get them through the first month, and then buy two dozen cloth diapers, presuming they have a washer/dryer. Not the Gerber ones with polyester fill, but cotton prefolds. They look something like this:
It’s about $30 for a pack of a dozen. Buy two dozen. Figure four to six changes per day. Get about a dozen diaper covers (about $13 ea) to hold them in place with an angel fold. I liked covers like the snap types most consistently, although I tried various styles and favored different ones at different ages.
On the days I had to bring my baby to daycare when I was working, even the daycare had no problems pulling off an angel fold or cooperating with my cloth diapers. I just had to bring a printout with the instructions, and it was easy-peasy.
Get a couple of packs of baby washcloths to use as diaper wipes. You’ve spent under $250 on diapers and now have enough diapers to last them until the baby is, like, 2 years old or whatever— and you still have those same diapers to be pressed into service again for when the baby has a younger sibling.
M
midori
Guest
You just have to run your laundry quickly enough so that you don’t run out of diapers. 
A wet diaper can be laid out to air, and it will dry without being smelly. A poopy diaper just needs a dedicated spoon to scrape solids into the toilet, and then it can dry without being smelly.
A pack of 156 Huggies is around $45-$50. It might last a month.
For clothes, toys, and random things, baby thrift stores are great. You can get an outfit for a dollar or two. But you don’t want to get too many outfits, because they grow so fast at that time. The hardest part is the seasonal transitions-- if you’re looking for winter pajamas in September, they can be hard to come by. The biggest thing about clothes is to have a change in case they leak, or they spit up, or have a blowout, or whatever. But you’re already doing laundry pretty frequently, so it’s no big deal.
So— for people who need help with baby stuff, organize people close to them to help them out, whether it’s in the form of a formal shower or not. That’s where most of my baby stuff came from-- the Moby wrap, the diaper bag, lots of generous people helping with diapering supplies— that really took a strain from my budget. People like the excuse to buy cute baby stuff, and all I had to do was provide links to say, “This is what I need.” And then you don’t end up with food grinders for a baby who’s being breastfed until after 12 months, or three different baby bathtubs when you just bathe them in the sink, or six bottles of talcum powder when you don’t actually use the stuff.
Charity begins at home— you’ve got these people in your path, so what do you think you can organize to give them a hand?
A wet diaper can be laid out to air, and it will dry without being smelly. A poopy diaper just needs a dedicated spoon to scrape solids into the toilet, and then it can dry without being smelly.A pack of 156 Huggies is around $45-$50. It might last a month.
For clothes, toys, and random things, baby thrift stores are great. You can get an outfit for a dollar or two. But you don’t want to get too many outfits, because they grow so fast at that time. The hardest part is the seasonal transitions-- if you’re looking for winter pajamas in September, they can be hard to come by. The biggest thing about clothes is to have a change in case they leak, or they spit up, or have a blowout, or whatever. But you’re already doing laundry pretty frequently, so it’s no big deal.
So— for people who need help with baby stuff, organize people close to them to help them out, whether it’s in the form of a formal shower or not. That’s where most of my baby stuff came from-- the Moby wrap, the diaper bag, lots of generous people helping with diapering supplies— that really took a strain from my budget. People like the excuse to buy cute baby stuff, and all I had to do was provide links to say, “This is what I need.” And then you don’t end up with food grinders for a baby who’s being breastfed until after 12 months, or three different baby bathtubs when you just bathe them in the sink, or six bottles of talcum powder when you don’t actually use the stuff.
Charity begins at home— you’ve got these people in your path, so what do you think you can organize to give them a hand?
blackforest
Well-known member
Stand Up Girl is my favorite pro-life website for young women facing unexpected pregnancies. https://standupgirl.com/
With those pre-folds, diaper pins are thankfully a relic of the past. I strongly recommend Snappi diaper fasteners. https://www.nickisdiapers.com/snappi-diaper-fastener.html
If she’s planning on breastfeeding, I strongly recommend that she hook up with a local branch of La Leche League. Their support was indispensable to me during those hectic post-partum days! Find Breastfeeding Help - La Leche League USA
Some branches of Catholic Charities offer mom-to-mom support, pairing new moms with more experienced moms.
With those pre-folds, diaper pins are thankfully a relic of the past. I strongly recommend Snappi diaper fasteners. https://www.nickisdiapers.com/snappi-diaper-fastener.html
If she’s planning on breastfeeding, I strongly recommend that she hook up with a local branch of La Leche League. Their support was indispensable to me during those hectic post-partum days! Find Breastfeeding Help - La Leche League USA
Some branches of Catholic Charities offer mom-to-mom support, pairing new moms with more experienced moms.
- Status