New Moms Hiring Baby Planners To Help Pre-baby

OSWEGO, Ill. (AP) - With twins on the way, Stacey Blackmar and her husband were looking to be prepared first-time parents when they started researching baby products. Instead, they found themselves bewildered with all the choices and information available.

"It was overwhelming. I was looking at strollers," said Blackmar, 31, a high school math teacher who lives in the Chicago suburb of Oswego. "Everybody has different opinions. Then you ask your friends and they have different opinions."

Their solution was to hire Joelle Gowryluk-Knapp, who runs Nest Help, a baby planning service in Chicago. The budding industry helps where a birthing coach or midwife or nanny can't, with services that range from nursery planning and home baby proofing to baby shower planning and shopping for maternity clothes.

Between 60 and 70 baby planners have started offering services in the United States in the last few years, said Melissa Moog, president of the National Baby Planner Association.

"We're like wedding planners, but we're helping you prepare for your baby's arrival and all the information and research you have to deal with," said Moog, who runs Portland, Ore.-based itsabelly Baby Planners.

The goal is "to basically reduce the overwhelming feelings of stress and save time so you can spend quality time on what matters to you," Moog said. "If what's important to you is going to birthing classes instead of doing research on car seats, I can do that for you."

Baby planners will offer researched recommendations on baby products, like strollers and cribs, and make referrals to and do interviews with possible nannies and midwives.

(Edit:Ruby)