There are 1,500 births each year at Skagit Valley Hospital and Meredith Baker meets as many of the new arrivals as she can.

Weekdays from 9 a.m. into the early afternoon, Baker works as a busy, one-woman committee for the Welcome Baby! Program.

Welcome Baby! was created in 1998 as a support group to educate new parents and their babies. Baker visits parents the day after their baby is born to congratulate them and discuss what experiences are to come.

“I tell them to sleep a lot and not to get over-stimulated,” she said.

During the welcome, parents receive their first board book to read to their newborn, a gift Baker hopes will educate and combat against something she feels strongly about — TV.

Baker said too often parents use TV as a baby-sitter, which takes away from one-on-one time essential to a baby’s healthy development. She said parents should spend as much time as they can just being with their newborns.

“What is more gorgeous than staring at your baby,” she said.

Baker likens the attraction of babies to TV like a “moth to a light.” Although they seem interested, TV doesn’t give babies the chance to stare slowly at new things and discover them at their own pace, Baker said. Even popular development videos like Baby Einstein aren’t reputable in Bakers’ eyes. For parents with such programs in their collection, she recommends throwing them out.

“Experience makes the difference,” she said. “The goal is to get them to play by themselves quietly.”

Any parent who does not have a library card can find free access to board books at most public libraries, including Mount Vernon, Burlington and Sedro-Woolley libraries.

The books are located on carts purchased with a grant from Rotary International. The books themselves are donations from volunteer groups in the area.

Baker also holds a Mother-Baby Play Group from 2 to 4 p.m. each Tuesday in the Family Birth Center waiting room of Skagit Valley Hospital.

The class is designed for babies from birth to one year. Dads are also welcome.

During the playtime, parents and their newborns sit in a circle, sing songs and swap stories on issues they face on a regular basis.

Laurie Macfarlane said she brings her 4-month-old, Hannah, to the play group to take notes from other mothers who are going through similar situations.

Mystique Grobe has been taking her daughter, Cia, to the play group since she was 2-weeks-old.

“It’s a good opportunity to know what’s normal or expected and know that it’s not just me,” she said.

Parents in the Welcome Baby! program also receive a monthly newsletter filled with useful information.

The program is sponsored by the Skagit County Public Health Department and Skagit Valley Hospital and is free of charge to all new parents.

Baker said soon Welcome Baby! will spread to Anacortes’ Island Hospital.

For a complete activity calendar, newsletter links or how to get involved, visit http://www.welcomebabywa.org.