nocoke

I have a 6 month old and no babysitter. I think it would be helpful to get to a meeting every once in awhile. I was wondering if they allow babies at N.A meetings. If so, which ones? How would I find out? Your reply would be greatly appericiated.

Andygirl

People bring their kids to open meetings quite a bit. As long as they aren't disruptive, it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Do you have a meeting schedule for your area? If not, let us know where you live and someone can find a list for you online.

nocoke

Thanks for the reply. I live in Newmarket, Ontario. I'm not sure if the baby would be fussy or not. Maybe he is too young to bring to a meeting.

Evanna

Nocoke, if you need a meeting take the baby. When my son was a baby i took him to meetings. You will find as you get to know people in your local meetings you will get lots of support with baby anyway. Best thing you can do for baby right now is making sure that mum gets her needs met.

mishelly

Evanna is right nocoke...for a while we had a single dad coming to meetings and he always brought his infant daughter. She was a hit...the women in the group would take turns passing her around, entertaining her, etc...go on, take your baby and get yourself to a meeting!

lizzerz79

I say go ahead and bring your baby to the meeting if you think it's safe. I know there are some meetings that I would not bring my kids to but I bring them to my home group now. But if your baby gets loud and disruptive please be courteous to everyone else and step outside the room. There are some people in my meeting that let their kids run wild and make all kinds of noise. It's VERY distracting to everyone. If my kids are acting up and being too loud I remove them from the room.

namommy

I used to take my kids to meetings when they were too young to stay home alone. Take your baby to a meeting.

I can tell you for myself anyway. I am baby happy, and more than willing to help someone out during the meeting if I can. Unless, of course, I am there because I am in pain. Then I need to focus on the meeting. It's about being courteous, respectful, and willing to accept the help.

alot of women (and men) around here bring there kids. It's no big deal. We love NA babies.

cj.

I used to take my children to meetings when they were quite young and I often found I was more focused on keeping them quiet than being able to pay attention to the sharing going on around me. I was so afraid that they would disrupt the meeting that I ended up just feeling frustrated and angry.

Until........ I got to know some other members and they told me how well behaved and quiet they were and a couple of people told me to relax a little more with them because they were not disturbing or distracting being there.

As I began to relax, my children were quite fine without feeling my frustration towards them and they came to know that 'going to meeting' was just another part of their day.

They are teenagers today and I know that the atmosphere of recovery they grew up with has gone a long way to shaping who they are becoming. By all means, take your baby!

Peace
cj

Lbad

Take the baby. It is ok. The only requirment for membership is a desire to stop using. There are tons of single moms in meetings in my area. Sometimes they (the kids) are disruptive in meetings sometimes not. Who cares. When I first got clean and was going to meetings I was not able to sit still and be quiet and I was 33 years old. I was up and down, tapping my fingers, tapping my feet, shifting around etc etc. The important thing as already stated is that you go to meetings. I have two daughters and before I was able to leave them at home I had to take them and it bugged some people but like I said before "who cares." They don't own the meeting. It is your meeting too. Most people will be very supportive I think and if there not you can always try another meeting.
Good Luck and God Bless,
L

lizzerz79

The people that are hanging on by a thread that really need to hear recovery and not a screaming kid are the people that care. No one person owns the meeting but by that same token no one person has the right to disrupt the meeting to the point where recovery is not being shared. I know from personal experience that it is really hard to share any ES&H when kids are making a bunch of noise. I take my kids to meetings with me sometimes and out of respect for the group I will take them outside if they get loud. The closed meetings should also be respected. They are for addicts only that way everyone feels comfortable sharing the things that they might not be able to share when kids or people who are not addicts are around.

lizzerz79

I just wanted to add that I am not trying to offend anybody or say that kids can't come to meetings. I am just sharing my experience with kids, meetings, and my opinions as well as the opinions of other members of my group regarding kids at meetings.

BigD

I've had both positive and negative experiences with children in meetings. Bringing things that can keep them quietly busy seems to help a lot. Thanks, BigD

nocoke

Thanks for everyones opinions. I have decided to take the baby to a meeting this Friday. If he gets fussy or loud I will take leave the room. I'm thinking things should be okay because he is generally a really good baby. It can't hurt to give it I try and I really could use a meeting.

Evanna

We are talking about a baby here though. A 6 month old baby. What trouble could baby be? As far as i see none...worse baby can do is cry...no biggy in my books. If my recovery is in that much trouble that a baby jeopardises it then i suspect it is in serious trouble anyway. I am not trying to offend anyone either. Just one addict's viewpoint.

lizzerz79

I agree a baby crying is no big deal unless it's allowed to go one for the whole meeting or any length of time during the meeting. It's also no big deal for the parent of said baby to get up and take the baby out of the room to calm it down. That's the only point I was trying to make. If your child is interfering with the meeting be courteous enough to leave the room with the child. If the crying is loud enough then it is interrupting the person trying to share and interfering with the people trying to listen. The primary purpose of the meetings is to help the addict who still suffers and reach out to newcomers. What about the new comer coming into the meeting hoping to find some help and all they find is a bunch of noise? And what if your recovery is in serious trouble? You need your meetings all the more to get it back on track.

angelgirl

Hi Tammy. Don't hesitate to bring your baby to a meeting. That definately SHOULD NOT keep you from one. I have been to many meetings over time thaat people brought babies, and even pre-teens to meetings. I didn't always think it was a good place for pre-teens, due to the swearing, and soem of the things that were said. But at some of the meetings when the kids were there, people would take that into consideration, and tried to keep the cussing to a bare minimum. There would still be someone once in a while, hat just didn't seem to care much and would swear anyway.
But a baby at 6 months. Well the baby will fit right in, as the babies I seen always did. The women LOVED to pass the babies back and forth, we all wanted to hold the baby.
So don't give it a second thought, just GO.... You are doing that baby a big favor by being at NA anyway. You can have a clean and sober life, the life the baby deserves, and NA will help you to do just that

Love Becky