More working moms-to-be want baby planner on board
By Sarah Schweitzer
BOSTON GLOBE
September 27, 2008
When Meredith White was expecting her first son, nothing terrified her quite like a visit to Babies “R” Us. Aisle after dizzying aisle of baby paraphernalia beckoned, with dozens of varieties of bottles, nipples, wipes (and their warmers), pacifiers, cribs, strollers and bibs. She did not want to buy anything without first assessing safety, usefulness and developmental appropriateness. The analysis led the 34-year-old lawyer to a state verging on despair.
| Information At least two baby planners in the San Diego area help expectant parents with their needs. Here is some basic information. Call or e-mail for prices and more details:  Essential Baby Planning – ebabyplanner.com; (858) 405-1913 Services include researching baby nursery needs to fit your budget; setting up a baby registry; baby shower planning; birth announcement ordering; interviewing and hiring nannies and pediatricians; new-mommy classes and more. Packages of services also available. The Baby Planner – www.sdbabyplanner.com
(619) 417-4899. Services include product research; referrals to midwives, doulas, and doctors; baby registry; nursery design (including “green” focus); shower planning; postpartum support; baby proofing; nanny search; pregnancy fitness and nutrition and more. Packages of services also available. – JANE CLIFFORD |
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“It was overwhelming,” said White, who lives in Stow, Mass., with her husband. “I would try to cram all the research in on weekends, but there was never enough time.”
Cue the Baby Coordinators, the latest entry in the burgeoning “baby planning” field that helps expectant parents prepare for a new baby by advising on everything from the most absorbent diapers and sleekest strollers to decorating a nursery and readying a pet. For a fee of $250, Kristen DiCicco of Natick, a Baby Coordinators co-founder, walked White through Babies “R” Us. She offered the pros and cons of products, and when White left the store, she had a baby registry list and peace of mind.
As a growing number of older women – many professionals, with disposable income – join the ranks of bulging bellies, pregnancy has acquired a slew of luxurious accouterments. There are prenatal spa treatments, personal pregnancy chefs, pre-baby vacation packages known as “babymoons,” “push presents” given to a mother to reward her for carrying and delivering a baby, pre-packed hospital bags containing items like a hardcover journal and breath mints, and now, baby planning – a kind of full-flight concierge service for the pregnant.
Baby planning first surfaced in England and on the West Coast, in Los Angeles and Portland, Ore., two years ago as a variation on the concept of wedding planning. It has caught on in other cities, including Boston, where two start-ups were launched in the last year by women who say the market is ripe for their services.
“A baby is so important – so wouldn't you want someone to assist you with all the research you need to do to get ready?” said Sandee Tisdale, 29, a social worker who co-founded Perfecting Expecting.
Skeptics say baby planning promotes the commercialization of parenting and the belief that parenting can be perfected with products or bought advice, rather than with reliance on intuition and the advice of family and friends.
“That's part of the commercialized culture: You can't do this yourself; you need experts,” said Susan Linn, a psychologist at the Judge Baker Children's Center, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, who has studied the effects of marketing on parents and children.
Linn said employing a baby planner robs parents of the opportunity to learn to make choices on behalf of a child.
“Part of getting ready for a baby is having the experience of making decisions that are going to affect someone else, a child you love,” Linn said.
For Emily Carines, 32, a massage therapist from Brighton, Mass., the prospect of navigating pregnancy, parenthood and the ever-growing number of products that now accompany the journey was daunting.
“Being someone who hasn't really been around babies or kid products, I just didn't know what to choose,” said Carines, whose family is in South Carolina. “I was overwhelmed by the little things – which toys to buy, which are developmentally helpful.”
Her baby planner, DiCicco, proved instrumental on more than the toy front, she said. DiCicco helped her choose a diaper pail, opting for a brand that does not require special bags – something Carines hopes will be a money-and hassle-saver.
For other women, the clincher is the time savings that baby planners offer.
“To be a really good mom, you want to pick the best for your baby, and that takes a while,” said Erica Aguilar, 29, of Framingham, who works in the merchandising division for TJX Cos. and said she came across hundreds of baby product reviews online. “I could have spent hours and hours reading. . . . I didn't want to have to read them all myself.”
So she hired a baby planner.
“It was worth every penny,” Aguilar said.
Boston-area baby planners say their clients are working women, in their late 20s to mid 30s. Most look for help putting together baby registries and baby-proofing their homes, but a number of other services are offered, including babymoon planning, daddy preparation and readying birth announcements.
Perfecting Expecting charges $100 for baby registry consultation and $500 for putting together a complete registry, $100 for help maternity shopping and $500 for baby shower preparation. The Baby Coordinators charge $250 to compile a baby registry, $300 to arrange and set up a nursery, and $200 to baby-proof a home.
DiCicco, of the Baby Coordinators, who is not a mother, and her partner, Paula Spurling, a mother of two, said they learned about baby arrival preparation from working at day-care centers and as nannies.
Tisdale, of Perfecting Expecting, and her partner, Kristen Parker, research operations manager for Harvard Medical School's pathology department, neither of whom have children, said they watched pregnant friends struggle to make sense of the array of baby products, realized there was a market for offering expertise, then burrowed into research.
“I thought if one person had all the knowledge,” it would save everyone “so much time,” Tisdale said.
Both companies have partnerships with baby-product companies. The Baby Coordinators receive 10 percent of the sale proceeds from clients they send to two companies, Your Bags Are Packed and Baby-Strong, DiCicco said. Perfecting Expecting has business partners that give discounts to clients, and those companies send business to Perfecting Expecting, Tisdale said.
Carolyn McLoughlin, 28, a therapist who lives in Brookline, Mass., said that after watching a friend spend 30 hours researching strollers, she decided she would go the baby-planning route.
“We wanted to put a lot of thought into adding a new family member, but we didn't have the time,” McLoughlin said. “Also, I don't like shopping.”
