by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

For parents of newborn children, fun cultural routines are suddenly curtailed and replaced by an enforced monasticism involving social isolation, relentless diaper changing and torturous exposure to Caillou cartoons.

But thanks to an idea hatched up by Dollard des Ormeaux native Robyn Green, parents of newborns can now congregate at showings of first-run films where they're free to breastfeed, change diapers and leave their baby buggies without a twitch of apprehension.

Green, a former marketer for CJAD and Just for Laughs, has called Toronto home since 1996, where she launched her Movies for Mommies project three years back. So many parents of young babbling children embraced the initiative that she brought the voluntary cinematic segregation for new parents to the Cinéma Guzzo in St-Laurent last November, where devoted film screenings take place at the Spheretech 14, Tuesdays at 1:30 p.m.

And starting next week, the weekly film outing expands with the launch of French-language flicks, also Tuesdays at 1:30 p.m., but at the Cinéma Guzzo Mega-Plex in Pont-Viau, Laval. Adults pay $8 but kids get the freebie.

Green, who has no kids, hatched her project while taking pity on a mother struggling to enjoy a flick that only one person considered a real tearjerker.

"Her baby started crying, then I thought, 'This could be a good place for moms and babies.' It struck me that there would be a market for a movie parent-baby event. So we've created an infant-friendly environment for adults to see grown-up films."

The babies, aged from one week to 18 months, are presumably too young to dig the flicks or get offended by naughty plots involving grown-up issues. These factors allow the 100 to 150 mothers - plus various dads and grandfolk - to get a chance to "network with other new parents" as well as "reconnect and end their isolation," says Green.

Baby bottle-warming, diaper changing facilities and prizes from corporate sponsors are also on the menu. The booming Dolby surround sound that dazzles so many adult ears is turned down so as to discourage tinnitus in the toddlers.

"It's a great thing to do with a baby," raves Tanya Rutman, a parent who rarely misses the Movies for Mommies screenings. "If your baby is crying a little, you don't feel as self-conscious, you can breastfeed and they have baby-changing tables everywhere. After going one time, I was so impressed that I got involved in helping out."

She says she hasn't attended any screenings with out-of-control screaming infants yet, "but maybe as moms we have higher tolerance levels." Rutman has enjoyed all her outings except for the one featuring About Schmidt. "That movie wasn't so hot, but the experience was still good," she says.

The screenings-for-new-moms concept has proven such a winner that Famous Player has appropriated it in its Cinebabies series, which locally has devoted screenings for mothers of youngsters Wednesdays at the Kirkland Colisée and in French at the StarCité near the Viau metro.