Jewish Postpartum Circle Mayerson JCC Cohort
Submitted by the Mayerson JCC
The season of motherhood brings many changes to a new parent’s life. The Mayerson JCC and Cincy Postpartum are looking to provide mothers and their newborn babies with a community in parenthood. The J is inviting both new and experienced moms with infants up to 16 weeks to foster a community and connect with each other.
Jewish Postpartum Circle is a comfortable and supportive space to ask questions and connect with other Jewish moms in the same transformative season of postpartum and early parenting. It is facilitated by Amanda Laskowski, the founder of Cincy Postpartum, in partnership with Young Families (YoFi) at Wise Temple. The program will include a session on Jewish life and ritual with Rabbi Anna Burke of Wise Temple. Since its launch, there has been one cohort of women, with another circle scheduled for the fall. The mothers discuss topics like infant feeding and sleep, postpartum body and physical recovery, mental health and wellness, the 4th trimester, and transitioning back to work.
“Jewish Postpartum Circle encourages mom and baby to get out of the house,” said Marisa Phillips, JCC professional who organizes the Jewish Postpartum Circle. “Moms get to meet with other moms going through shared experiences. It’s a great way for them to connect on a very personal level.”
Moms are encouraged to come as they are. Sweatpants and a baggy tee? No problem. Because of this arrangement, women in the first cohort felt like they could be their authentic selves.
“Some days, I came in looking like a hot mess, and that was okay,” Lisa Herrmann said.
Herrmann moved to Cincinnati in 2016 for work and joined the J to get more connected with the Jewish community.
Herrmann participated in a program at the JCC called J Baby. In this program, Herrmann and her husband, Kelly, attended prenatal classes to help prepare them for the next chapter of their lives as new parents. The inclusivity provided in J Baby gave Herrmann the assurance to continue in the Jewish Postpartum Circle.
The beginning days of postpartum for Herrmann were rough. She found it difficult to get out of her house and asked her mom to take her to the class, so she felt like she had a support system. When they arrived, Herrmann was relieved to see that there were moms there from her J Baby cohort.
“We had some feeding issues early on with our baby, Madeline, and I was pumping and trying to breastfeed, which put a lot of stress on me,” Herrmann said. “I remember that first session and trying to pump in that semi-public forum, and it was fine. Everyone was feeding their babies, too.”
Herrmann reconnected with a friend, Rebecca Zemmelman. Both women participated in Cincinnati Honeymoon Israel trips and the J Baby cohort with their spouses. Now they have another connection, Jewish Postpartum Circle, but this time they get to participate with their new babies.
Zemmelman, who also moved to Cincinnati as an adult and has become involved with the Jewish Cincinnati community, also found J Baby and the Jewish Postpartum Circle to be great ways to find supportive friendships during the early stages of parenthood.
“Our Circle was my first time out of the house with my baby by myself,” Zemmelman said. “It was an excuse to get out of pjs and helped me build confidence as a new mom. Having people who are also in the new parent trenches with you, commiserating with you, was such a nice feeling. Having a weekly planned social interaction was so helpful for my mental health during an otherwise exhausting and emotion-filled time.”
Zemmelman also said it was a safe space to share the experience of childbirth, pregnancy, and the newborn phases.
The bonds of life with a newborn have connected more than just the moms. Zemmelman says that she and her husband, Tyler, have since met up with the moms from the group with their partners and other kids to further expand the community afforded from the Circle. Zemmelman and Herrmann’s husbands, along with one of the other spouses who were all on paternity leave at the same time, also met up a few times for lunch or to watch sports with the babies while they were off from work.
“For anyone interested in the circle, one hundred percent just do it,” Herrmann said. “When my husband went back to work, the support went to work with him. It can be really isolating with your baby, especially in those first few weeks when it is really challenging. I feel like people don’t talk about how hard it can be. Having people who are also in the thick of it helped tremendously.”
