New and expecting mothers of New Paltz now have somewhere to turn to for their breast-feeding needs. Instead of traveling 30 minutes to Kingston or Poughkeepsie, they can visit New Baby New Paltz owner and lactation expert, Donna Bruschi.
Located at 15 Plattekill Ave., New Baby New Paltz offers a wide variety of classes about conception, pregnancy, birth, infancy, childhood, sleep and adult relationships. Bruschi also sells breast-feeding and baby accessories such as breast pumps, nursing tops and bras, organic skin care products and cloth diapers.
Bruschi said many doctors are ignorant when it comes to specialized information about breast-feeding. She is there to answer any questions a mother may have.
“People call me all the time with crazy things they’ve heard from friends or doctors,” Bruschi said. “I just try to set the record straight based on the latest research and my knowledge.”
A single mother of three, Bruschi said she has been helping mothers for more than 14 years. She started New Baby New Paltz two years ago as a small group where new mothers could connect and have a place to go regularly because, according to Bruschi, new mothers can often feel isolated and may not have anywhere to turn.
Bruschi said that in recent times, new mothers do not have a large network of neighbors they can turn to because they generally work up until birth. New Baby New Paltz seemed like a natural response to the needs of mothers in the community, she said..
After receiving a great response to her group, Bruschi said she decided to branch out and find a more accommodating place in the New Paltz area.
“We grew out of ourselves very quickly and now it’s much bigger than I ever dreamed of,” Bruschi said. “It was kind of an accident. I would have been happy having a group and doing my private consultations.”
Bruschi said New Baby New Paltz encompasses all of the job and interpersonal skills she has acquired in the past and she has a lot of experience. She previously ran her own business, worked for a consulting group, as well as in retail. However, she has greatest experience as a lactation consultant and said her number one passion is breast-feeding and teaching new mothers helpful techniques.
“When a woman decides to breast-feed she really should be supported in that,” Bruschi said.
Breast milk is rich in antibodies and a balance of nutrients, fats, sugar, water and proteins that are essential to the growth of a baby and easier to digest than formula, according to Womenshealth.gov. The organization also said research shows breast-feeding can reduce the risk of type one and two of diabetes, childhood leukemia, asthma, obesity, respiratory infections, ear infections and atopic dermatitis.
Bruschi said breast-feeding allows the child to regulate their food intake on his or her own, as well as make a human connection instead of relying on a security blanket or a bottle for comfort.
“No matter how long you breast-feed you’re going to see the benefits from this,” Bruschi said. “The longer the better, but even just a couple of days breast-feeding, you get huge benefits.”
New Baby New Paltz is dedicated to the environment and sells organic and healthy local products, including natural skin care products that are non-petroleum based and made from organic oils like sunflower or olive.
By offering locally-made products, Bruschi feels she is providing a great opportunity to stay-at-home mothers by supporting their businesses and making their products available to the public, instead of them only selling their products on the Internet. She currently offers products from more than 10 mothers in New Paltz.
Another effort New Baby New Paltz makes toward lessening their environmental impact is by selling cloth diapers. When disposable diapers are used, parents are committing to spending more than $3,000 on waste, Bruschi said, whereas the use of cloth diapers allows parents to avoid these large amounts of garbage.
New Baby New Paltz also refers women to helpful local programs that may provide extra support for new mothers such as Women, Infants and Children, Family of New Paltz, therapy, chiropractors and many other agencies, so no disorder goes unnoticed and each mother and child receives the best care.
Information about the store can be found on www.newbabynewpaltz.com.