February 2025 | Doulas of Baltimore

Coffee Shops in Baltimore | 5 Baby Friendly Spots

When the urge for a sweet treat hits you can always rely on Coffee Shops in Baltimore! We love supporting locally-owned and operated businesses so we rounded up a few non-corporate gems for you to try. We’ve collected a handful of our favorites from across the metro so hopefully one is right by you!

Of course, on the topic of coffee shops, we’re often asked, “Can I drink caffeine while I breastfeed?”

The answer is yes!

Studies have been done on the safety of coffee consumption during breastfeeding and overall the concensus is that generally anywhere from 200 to 300 mg of caffeine can be safely consumed by the nursing parent. If you find your baby reacts to it, of course, you can cut back or eliminate it. Talk with your baby’s pediatrician to make the call that is right for you.

Red Emma’s – Website

Neighborhood: Waverly
Address: 3128 Greenmount Avenue, Baltimore, MD

Established in 2004, Red Emma’s is a worker cooperative that combines a radical bookstore, café, and community events space. The café offers vegan meals and coffee sourced from locally-owned Thread Coffee Roasters. Regular events, including author readings and live music, foster community engagement. This multilevel space serves as a hub for social justice movements in Baltimore and is the perfect place to enjoy with your baby.

High Grounds Coffee Roasters – Website

Neighborhood: Highlandtown
Address: 3201 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, MD

High Grounds Coffee Roasters is a family-owned establishment known for their excellent coffee which is roasted in-house using fluid bed roasters (a very unique method!). They offer a variety of blends and single-origin coffees which are always fresh and flavorful. You can enjoy a cozy atmosphere with your baby with coffee-based drinks, a selection of teas, and locally sourced pastries.

Common Ground – Website

Neighborhood: Hampden
Address: 819 West 36th Street, Baltimore, MD

For nearly 25 years, Common Ground served as a beloved gathering spot in Hampden, offering high-quality coffee and a variety of in-house baked goods. Known for its smoothies, particularly the chai peanut butter-banana blend, and a range of vegan options, it was a community staple. In July 2023, the café unexpectedly closed but the employees worked together to bring it back as a worker-owned cooperative. This beautiful space is a beacon of hope and continues to provide an excellent spot for relaxing to this day.

Order & Chaos Coffee – Website

Neighborhood: Federal Hill
Address: 1410 Key Highway, Baltimore, MD

Opened in 2016, Order & Chaos Coffee offers a vibrant atmosphere with a modern design. This spot is known for its specialty drinks and unique “walking waffles,” making it a popular destination for both locals and visitors. A back study area houses communal tables and whiteboards which are great for those working from home or wanting to host meetups. The shop operates with convenient hours, focusing on early risers and weekend adventurers.

OneDo Coffee Roasters – Website

Neighborhood: Canton
Address: 913 South Lakewood Avenue, Baltimore, MD

OneDo Coffee Roasters is a family-owned coffee shop that roasts its beans in-house, ensuring a fresh and flavorful experience. We love that the café emphasizes sustainability by using recyclable paper bags for their coffee products. In addition to a variety of coffee beverages, OneDo offers teas, including black, oolong, green, white, and herbal options. The inviting space also offers baked goods and lunch options from local Baltimore businesses.

We love that the coffee scene here is vibrant and flourishing. Coffee shops in Baltimore aren’t hard to find! We love to support local as much as possible and these shops have our hearts. With the weather warming up, pop baby in a stroller and enjoy the springtime temps! Enjoy some movement, fresh air, and warming temperatures all with a delicious coffee in hand.

Returning to Work After Baby: 4 Tips for a Smoother Transition

Parenthood, Postpartum

When it comes to returning to work after baby, we’ll start with the unfortunate truth: the US does not guarantee paid parental leave on a national level, and not all workers qualify for the six weeks of unpaid leave federal law mandates. According to the Washington Post, “Most Americans do not have access to paid family leave through their employer.”

All of this means that there is no standard for when you return to work after parental leave: it could be six weeks or six months. But regardless, returning to work–for either the birthing person or partner, can be a significant transition. You may be thinking about everything from your energy levels, your schedule, pumping and/or feeding, your partner’s schedule, and how your baby will do without you. Here are 4 things to consider and plan for before you return to work.

Know what your leave looks like and be open with your employer.

Long before delivery you may be thinking about your parental leave options–both what your employer offers and what your ideal scenario might be. Be open with your employer and consider asking for something that might make the transition back to work easier. That might include returning part-time at first or working from home. Your employer might also be willing to be flexible in ways that they haven’t shared with you. Ask other employees or your employer directly about how others have returned to work after leave.

Think about childcare after parental leave, and then come up with a back-up plan.

You may have come up with the perfect childcare solution: you are returning part-time to work and a friend or family member is baby-sitting on the other days. In 2022, that might be problematic because of changes in school openings due to COVID. Or, the caregiver might have to quarantine after a COVID exposure. Problems could arise simply because they are not as reliable as you would like them to be. Whatever your childcare plan involves after you return to work, come up with a backup plan. If you have a family member caring for baby, what happens if they are sick?

If you are working from home, remember that you are still working and taking care of baby is also full-time work. Although working from home can make it easier to care of baby, you should still try to have a secondary caregiver available. Some of our clients have utilized our postpartum doulas while working from home to ease that transition.

Figure out priorities and roles for when returning to work after baby.

You partner may have taken little or no time off after baby arrived. But, your transition back to work is still a transition for them as well. Take time to figure out each of your priorities and roles. If you are not a morning person, consider having your partner take care of baby’s or the family’s morning routine. This way, you can get ready for work in the way that you need to. Discuss who will pickup baby or kids from caregivers, daycare, or school. You may have figured out a postpartum plan of who was cooking and cleaning, but you may need to revisit those plans if both partners are back at work.

Don’t be afraid to acknowledge your emotions and ask for help.

The postpartum period can be difficult: you are adapting to a new family member. If you gave birth, you may be experiencing physical changes in your body as well (link to blog). You are going to have a lot of emotions–from being excited about being back at work to sad that your baby is someone else’s care. Don’t be afraid to acknowledge that whole range of emotions and understand that they are all OK. If you being feeling overwhelmed when you return to work after parental leave, ask for help, whether from your partner, family, friends, or other loved ones.

Birth Classes | 3 Ways Independent Curriculums Stand Out

Childbirth Education

There are pros and cons for all the birth classes on the market. Depending on what you are looking for from a class, many of the mainstream birth classes can be unappealing.

You may feel like taking a childbirth series is one more thing to do before your baby arrives, but this is one thing that could make an incredible difference to your birth experience.

Childbirth education classes share information that is not just about the physiological birth process. They also dive into the myriad of options that could be present at the birth of your child. If you pick a quality class, it is about much more than that.

Most parents are asking their providers for recommendations of where to attend, and for many, that means signing up for the hospital’s class. Childbirth classes are all different!

We want to share why choosing an independent professional childbirth education class could be one of the best things you do for you and your baby.

1) All The Options for Birth Classes

Because our childbirth classes are taught outside of the hospital, our instructors are free to share all options and not only those that support hospital policy. As independent instructors we focus on sharing information, explaining the many options available during labor and birth, and the various scenarios that may arise. This way our students feel informed and prepared to enter their own experience.

Our goal is getting you the knowledge for the type of birth that you desire.

Are you looking for a low intervention birth?

Maybe you’re curious about epidurals?

Have you considered what to do before you get an epidural?

We give easy-to-understand knowledge, and tools to help you bring your plan to life, and, if necessary, help to navigate the unexpected.

2) Specialized Birth Educators

Once you decide to take a childbirth class , why not rest assured your instructor is someone connected and knowledgeable about birth in your area. To be a childbirth educator with Doulas of Baltimore, years of study, hundreds of hours teaching, and first-hand experience helping families in labor are what make the difference.

The nuance of birth is such that there is no pattern that everyone will follow. However, a new kind of skill develops which your teacher is happy to share with class attendees. It may be silly to say, but that ability is having trust and confidence in birth. When you know what is possible, and learn the necessary skills to discuss needs and wishes with your care providers, you increase the potential for an excellent birth experience.

3) Partners Enjoy Independent Birth Classes

There’s a stereotype that non-pregnant partners are uninterested in attending or participating in birth classes. We find birth partners engaged in our classes and happy to feel more confident when class has ended!

We do not shove you into a classroom with grainy videos of birth from the 1970s. A screen is never the focus of the class. We endeavor to make our time together result in you having more confidence about your child’s birth. And more confident about how to interact with one another during your baby’s birth.

Need more information? Read testimonials from former students and please to reach out with any questions. If you are ready to get started – head straight to our class registration page!