Welcome Baby Members

Week of June 30, 2025

Choosing and Preparing Whole Grains
Learn about different types of whole grains, how to prepare them and what to look for on food labels. 

• Canada’s Food Guide: Eat Whole Grain Foods
• Grain Products – UnlockFood.ca
• How to Choose Whole Grains
• Whole Grain Council
• Understanding Food Labels in Canada
• Eating Well During Pregnancy

Note: Kanétskare Recreation Centre and Community Food Centre groups are closed on July 1, 2025.

Week of July 7, 2025

Coping with Changes During Pregnancy
Learn about the changes that a pregnant person experiences and ways to cope with those changes.

• Common complaints – Your Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy
• A Healthy Start for Baby and Me (Chapter 5) - Download the free PDF
• Symptoms of pregnancy

Week of July 14, 2025

Learn about Pregnancy Weight Gain
Learn about why your body gains weight during pregnancy, what affects weight gain and trusting your body. 

• Pregnancy: The Joy of Eating – Ellyn Satter
• Eating Well During Pregnancy
• Your Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy
• Call or Chat online with a Dietitian – Health 811

Week of July 21, 2025

Growth and Development/Screen Time
Learn about child development and resources that can help with identifying challenges. Also learn about the impact that screen time can have on your child's growth and development.

• City of Hamilton: Children’s Growth and Development
• Caring for Kids: Your Child’s Development- What to Expect
• Caring for Kids: Read, Speak, Sing to your Baby: How Parents can Promote Literacy from Birth
• Caring for Kids: Screen Use and Young Children
• Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years (0-4years)
• City of Hamilton: Visual Health
• Can your Baby Hear? 
• Tummy Time Exercises for your Baby: Video

Week of July 28, 2025

Safer Food Choices During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
Learn about foods and beverages to limit or avoid and safer choices.

• Eating Well During Pregnancy
• Keeping Your Baby Healthy During Pregnancy
• Food Safety for Pregnant People and Children Ages 5 and Under
• What to Eat while Breastfeeding or Lactating
• Caffeine and Herbal Teas in Pregnancy - Your Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy
• Mercury in Fish 

Week of August 4 ,2025

All groups are closed.

Week of August 11, 2025

Comfort Measures During Labour and Birth
Learn about the purpose of pain in labor and birth and the importance of using comfort measures to help manage pain and encourage the birth process.

• Healthy start for Baby and Me Book (Chapter 6) – Download the free PDF
• Stages of Labour
• Staying Relaxed During Labour
• Birth – Drug-free pain management
• Planning your Delivery
• Walk, Move and Change Positions
• City of Hamilton Free Online Prenatal Program 

Week of August 18,2025

Feeding Your Baby from Birth
Learn about normal feeding patterns, signs that feeding is going well, normal bowel movements and baby’s growth.

• Feeding Your Baby – Making a Decision
• Food for Baby’s First Year – ages and stages of development
• Signs that feeding is going well (available in different languages)
• Video (2 minutes) – Baby feeding cues and behaviours (Healthy Families BC)
• My Breastfeeding Guide
• Infant formula – What you need to know 

Week of August 25 ,2025

Informed Decision Making During Labour and Birth
Learn about the importance of informed decision making when making decisions about medical options during labor and birth.

• During Labour
• Avoid Unnecessary Interventions

Week of September 1, 2025

Choosing and Preparing Protein Foods
Learn about the benefits and types of protein foods and how to include them in your meals and snacks. 

• Canada’s Food Guide: Eat Protein Foods
• What are the Benefits of Eating more Plant-Based Foods
• Canada’s Food Guide: Cooking with Plant-Based Protein Foods
• Legumes, Soy, Nuts and Seeds – UnlockFood.ca
• Eating Well During Pregnancy

Week of September 8, 2025

Tobacco and Substance Use During Pregnancy and Parenting
Learn about how tobacco, alcohol and cannabis affect your pregnancy, breast milk and your ability to parent.

• City of Hamilton: Quit Smoking
• PROSPR(Program for Substance Use in Pregnancy)- Maternity Centre of Hamilton
• Womankind Addiction Service, St. Joseph’s Healthcare
• Pregnancy Info: Substance Use in Pregnancy
• Get Help With Substance Use- Health Canada
• Cannabis and Pregnancy
• Cannabis and Parenting
• Alcohol free pregnancy

Week of September 15, 2025

Buying Processed Foods and Reading Food Labels
Learn what processed foods are and what food labels can tell you about the foods you buy.

• Canada’s Food Guide: Limit Highly Processed Foods
• Get the Scoop on Salt
• What you Need to Know about Sugar
• Canada’s Food Guide: Use Food Labels
• How to Choose the Best Cold Breakfast Cereals 
• How to Choose the Healthiest Yogurt
• How to Choose the Best Sliced Bread

Week of September 22, 2025

Breastfeeding – Getting off to a good start
Learn about the benefits of breastfeeding, how to recognize signs that baby is getting enough and how breast milk changes to meet the needs of your baby.

• Hamilton Public Health - Breastfeeding 
• About Breastfeeding Website
• My Breastfeeding Guide – Best Start
• Breastfeeding Videos (Stanford Medicine)
• Video: Attaching Baby at the Breast (Global Health Media)
• Signs that Feeding is Going Well
• Hand Expression of Breastmilk
• Breast Engorgement 
• Storing Expressed Breastmilk
• Breastfeeding Services 

Week of September 29, 2025

Introducing Solid Foods to Your Baby
Learn about when your baby is ready for solid foods, types of foods and textures to offer and how to support your baby in learning to eat. 

• Feeding Your Baby – A guide to help you introduce solid foods
• Infant Feeding – UnlockFood.ca
• Video: Trust Me, Trust my Tummy – Babies to Toddlers (Toronto Public Health)
• Video: Making food for your baby (Peel Public Health)
• Reducing your Baby’s Risk of Food Allergy
• Child Feeding Ages and Stages - Ellyn Satter

Week of October 6, 2025

Sleep for Your Baby 
Learn about safe sleeping practices for your baby and tips to help develop a sleep routine.

• Safe Sleep for your Baby – Download the free PDF
• Sleep Well, Sleep Safe
• Safe Sleep – Crib safety and sleepwear
• Safe sleep for babies – Creating a healthy sleep environment 
• Cribs, Cradles and Bassinets
• Healthy sleep for your baby and child

Week of October 13, 2025

Key Nutrients for Pregnancy
Learn about important nutrients such as iron, folate and omega-3 fats and how to get enough.

• Eating Well During Pregnancy
• Healthy Eating when Pregnant and Breastfeeding
• Eating for a Healthy Pregnancy
• What you Need to Know about Iron
• Fish and Mercury 
• Benefits of Omega-3 fats and Where to Find Them

Week of October 20, 2025

All groups are closed

Week of October 27, 2025

Vaccines for You and Your Baby
Learn about how vaccines work, the recommended vaccines during pregnancy and for your baby and ways to deal with pain during vaccination.

• CANImmunize App
• City of Hamilton: Vaccines & Immunizations
• City of Hamilton Public Health Vaccine Records Phone Line 905-540-5250 
• Immunization Connect Ontario
• Ministry Of Health: Vaccines and Immunization
• Immunizations through the Lifespan
• Caring for Kids: Vaccines for Children and Youth
• Immunize Canada: Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women

Week of November 3, 2025

Food and Kitchen Safety
Learn about how to keep your food safe and reduce the risk of food-related illness for you and your family. 

• General Food Safety Tips (including safe internal cooking temperatures)
• Food Safety and You 
• Food Safety for Pregnant People and Children Ages 5 and Under 
• Food Safety during Pregnancy
• Food Safety - UnlockFood.ca

Week of November 10, 2025

Taking Care of Your Mental Health Before, During and After Pregnancy
Learn about identifying perinatal mood disorders, ways to take care of your mental health and where to get help.

• Emotions During and After Pregnancy
• Online support during pregnancy and after birth (Crown Point Family Health Center)
• Women’s Health Concerns Clinic (WHCC)
• Youth Wellness Centre
• MindShift mental health app – education, coping strategies, peer-to-peer support and more
• My Anxiety Plan (MAP) - anxiety management program including calming strategies
• iHEAL app, helps Canadian women who have experienced abuse from a current or past partner to find personalized ways to stay safe and be well 
• Get Help with Family Violence

Week of November 17, 2025

Eating When You Don’t Feel Well
Learn how food can help you cope with nausea and vomiting, heartburn and constipation.

• Tips to Help You Feel Better During Pregnancy
• Eating Well During Pregnancy
• Eating During Pregnancy – Ellyn Satter

Week of November 24, 2025

Building a Strong Relationship with Your Baby
Learn about the importance of developing a strong relationship with your baby and learn ways to develop a strong relationship through daily interactions

• Children’s Mental Health
• Attachment: A connection for life
• Read, speak, sing to your baby: How parents can promote literacy from birth
• Growing Together Guide
• Have a Ball Together
• Your baby’s brain: How parents can support healthy development
• Hamilton Library Kids
• Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development - Attachment

Week of December 1, 2025

Meal Planning and Shopping on a Budget
Learn meal planning tips and share ideas for saving money on food.

• Menu Planning – UnlockFood.ca
• Canada’s Food Guide: Meal Planning from Start to Finish in 4 Steps
• My Menu Planner - Cookspiration
• Canada’s Food Guide: Healthy Eating on a Budget
• Best Buys at the Grocery Store
• 20 Ways to Save Money on Your Groceries 
• Hamilton Food Access Guide

Week of December 8, 2025

Breastfeeding – Getting off to a good start
Learn about the benefits of breastfeeding, how to recognize signs that baby is getting enough and how breast milk changes to meet the needs of your baby.

• Hamilton Public Health - Breastfeeding 
• About Breastfeeding Website
• My Breastfeeding Guide – Best Start
• Breastfeeding Videos (Stanford Medicine)
• Video: Attaching Baby at the Breast (Global Health Media)
• Signs that Feeding is Going Well
• Hand Expression of Breastmilk
• Breast Engorgement 
• Storing Expressed Breastmilk
• Breastfeeding Services (RedBook by HPL)

Week of December 15, 2025

Holiday Celebration

Week of December 22 & 29, 2025

All groups are closed 

• The Welcome Baby dietitian and nurse will facilitate the groups. There will be time to learn and time to ask questions and connect.
• We are using a City of Hamilton online platform called Microsoft Teams that is approved. However, we can’t guarantee the virtual platform is 100% secure.
• All things shared in the group are confidential. Do not record the virtual Welcome Baby group sessions.
• Be mindful of sharing your personal/private information within the group or in the chat. Microsoft Teams does not have a private chat feature. You can ask the Welcome Baby facilitator about arranging a separate time to talk if needed by asking out loud before the topic session or waiting until the end of the topic session to ask.
• We will be taking attendance each week, using the name you used to join our session. We may have to ask you to identify yourself if you are using a name we don’t recognize.
• When taking attendance, for everyone’s safety, we ask you to please turn on your camera so that we know it is actually you who is joining us each week.
• We invite you to keep your camera on during the group time. There may be times when you might need to turn your camera on and off and that is okay.
• Your microphone will be muted during the group time. Feel free to unmute yourself if you have a question or have something to share with the group. Or you can type your comment or question in the chat box and we will spend some time answering questions during or after the topic.
• Show kindness and respect to other members of the group. Listen to others without interruption or judgment. No offensive language please.

You will need to download the Microsoft Teams app to be able to join the group by visiting https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/microsoft-teams/download-app.

Joining Microsoft Teams Meetings

When you click on “Join the meeting now” in the e-mail invitation, your name and e-mail address will come up. Please change your name to your first name and last name initial (e.g., Mary S.).  This will show up for other participants to see. Your e-mail will not be visible to others.

You will be able to join 5 minutes before the group starts. If you are having any trouble joining the group, please read “I can’t join a meeting in Microsoft Teams” here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/i-can-t-join-a-meeting-in-microsoft-teams-85f8eb98-b815-4007-90c9-0c56b87e288d