September 16th, 2017 marked the first official and soft opening of the Baby Café at Community Nazarene Church in Wyandanch, NY. The Baby Café is a free breastfeeding support group for new or expecting mothers that will be held twice a month at this location. These meetings will occur on Saturdays to accommodate working mothers who may not be able to attend meetings on weekdays.

This opening event offered mothers free information and personal consultation with Jean Gordon, a registered nurse and breastfeeding expert who is facilitating the Baby Café. One mother who recently gave birth to her third child attended the event. This mother is a member of the church who heard about the breastfeeding group from her peers, deciding to attend it to seek guidance for her breastfeeding challenges. Although breastfeeding had come easily with her first two boys, things were not going as smoothly with her new daughter. This baby girl was about three weeks premature and began breastfeeding in the hospital, but she was having trouble continuing at home. Jean spoke with this mother extensively about her experience with breastfeeding, listening to her and providing specific advice she could use to have a more successful breastfeeding experience. She will continue to attend future Baby Café meetings, as she found them beneficial to reaching her breastfeeding goals. Her determination to overcome breastfeeding obstacles with her daughter is inspiring and demonstrates the importance of the Baby Café.

The Wyandanch Baby Café is a free drop-in center open two Saturdays a month. For the remainder of 2017, the events will occur on September 30th, October 7th, October 28th, November 11th, November 18th, December 9th, and December 16th from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. The Community Nazarene Church is located at 58 Cumberbach Street, Wyandanch, NY 11798. The Baby Café is held on the lower level of the church. For more information, please visit: www.communitynazchurch.org/babycafe.

Kerry is a Master of Public Health (MPH) graduate student at Hofstra University and a nutrition and community outreach intern at Cohen Children's Medical Center.