Busy Mothers Get a New Breed of Helpers for the Hectic 1990s : Life Styles: Entrepreneurs are offering services designed to relieve stressed-out mothers. Everything is available from baby-proofing to in-home massages.

You’re nine months pregnant, and your home resembles the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez spill at Prince William Sound. Carrie needs a diaper change, just when you’ve run out of your favorite disposable brand, and Stephan has just dumped the ant farm down the toilet. And he’s not even your kid.

Quick, reach for some mom savers--those indispensable, time-liberating convenience services that no 1990s mother should be without.

A new host of entrepreneurs is taking aim at today’s overwhelmed, time-desperate mothers. The services, which seldom target fathers, offer everything from massages and private fitness sessions to home-safety installations, shopping services and toll numbers doling out instant parenting advice and bedtime stories.

“Convenience services have really escalated in the past two years,” said Harry Jigamian, associate publisher and advertising director of L.A. Parent magazine. “There’s been a real increase of ads in that department. No one has time to go out and shop. Mothers want more time to spend with their child and an opportunity to just get away from the stress and strain of being a mother.”

In the future, mothers will be able to flick on home appliances from the office, according to a 52-page report titled “Women in the 1990s,” recently issued by Family Circle magazine. And no longer will “spotless” be the supposed norm for home cleanliness; “reasonable neatness” will be the replacement, the report says.

Pagers will be considered a mother’s new electronic apron strings, especially since 60% of American women will work outside the home by 1995, according to the report.

“Mom can now be beeped by any kid, anywhere,” said Robert Goldstein, founder of Page-A Parent, which began six months ago as an offshoot of his Westlake Village telecommunications company.

About 200 customers have signed up for Goldstein’s service, which charges $14 to $18 a month, depending on added paging features.

“People who travel also use the service to keep in touch with their child,” Goldstein said, adding that most use the pagers for potential emergency situations. “But I just use it to keep track of my wife,” he said.

Barbara Schiffman uses a beeper to track down her 10-year-old daughter, Risa, who acts in TV movies and commercials. Risa keeps her mother informed of her whereabouts through the beeper, should agents or casting directors need an on-the-spot audition. “Beepers are commonly used among show-biz mothers,” said Schiffman, 39, who lives in Burbank.

Pregnant women experiencing their first labor pains now can beep their husbands by using Daddy Beepers, a service begun six months ago at the Medical Center of North Hollywood.

“Mothers use it during the last month of pregnancy at no charge,” said Sherry Reese, vice president of marketing at the hospital. “The convenience lies in the security--knowing that you will have access to the most important person in the world when you go into labor.”

The hospital also presents a free “celebration meal,” with champagne, lobster and candles, for mothers and a chosen guest, just before leaving the hospital.

For $25, the medical center offers a limousine to pick up dad and the children at home, bring them to the hospital and drive the new family back home. “It’s very comfortable for mom and the new baby,” Reese said of the discounted service.

Realizing that most youngsters get into most things, home-safety specialists have a remedy. Two rival companies, the Family Safety Center in Studio City--begun in 1987--and Mr. Baby Proofer in North Hollywood--begun in 1985--will install door and cabinet latches, stairway gates, banister guards and toilet locks, among other items. Prices range from $50, to install basic safety devices in apartments, to $5,000 for complete baby-proofing million-dollar mansions.

“Many times, mothers will call me and say their husband has tried to put on a couple of latches, and then he’s got totally frustrated and quit,” said Mr. Baby Proofer (and owner) Danny McNeill, 29, who once worked as a children’s furniture salesman at the Juvenile Shop in Sherman Oaks with Keith Noren, owner of the Family Safety Center.

Noren, 39, who operates a retail home-safety shop as part of his installation business, said: “The service really cuts down on your fear level. It gives you the edge during the times you can’t adequately supervise your child.”

Although Tobey Cotsen has never touched a soiled diaper in her 31 years, her Los Angeles company, Bundle of Convenience, delivers an assortment of diapers, formulas, food, ointments and other baby needs.

“My friends would run out of diapers at midnight and say they couldn’t go to a convenience store to buy such-and-such a brand because little Robbie only wears Huggies Supertrim 3,” Cotsen said. “So I thought, why not a delivery service?”

Cotsen’s 200 customers receive deliveries every two weeks that average $65--about 15% above grocery store prices. The service, begun in 1987, also will ship bundles in advance to traveling parents.

Kate Gianopulos began using Bundle of Convenience six months ago when her daughter, Mimi, was born. “All of a sudden you find you’re out of diapers, and it’s pretty scary,” said Gianopulos, 36, who lives in Studio City. “When you’re a new mom, life is so unpredictable, you can’t always get out of the house when you need to. It’s a real timesaver.”

Cotsen said a wide cross-section of working and non-working mothers use her service, and most of them would not be considered wealthy. But others find this hard to believe.

“These services have to be for the more affluent,” said Carollee Howes, associate professor at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education. “Others simply don’t have enough money to take advantage of it. Most parents with double incomes are working out of necessity, and the two incomes buy about the same standard of living as one did before.”

Other services, like in-home fitness sessions, perhaps do attract those with extra cash, such as actress Joan Collins, five-day-a-week customer of Judy Greenfeld’s Homeaerobics. “There is life after birth,” said Greenfeld, who specializes in private classes for pregnant women and mothers who have recently given birth.

“It’s very hard when you’ve been in shape and then--boom--you’re a pregnant woman,” said Greenfeld, 30, who lives in Van Nuys and has 10 clients who pay $50 and up for a 30-minute session. “I think most pregnant women don’t want to exercise in clubs because there’s a lot of pressure on being thin, even when you’re pregnant.”

Greenfeld, a former certified aerobics instructor, began her service in 1983 after moving from New York. “We do a lot of stretching,” she said. “We don’t do any movements that would raise the mother’s heartbeat above 120, because that could be dangerous to the baby, especially during the first three months of pregnancy.”

Many local fitness centers now provide child-care facilities, such as the Firm in Woodland Hills and Racquetball World in Canoga Park.

“Moms feel real heavy after having a baby, and many can’t afford a baby-sitter when they want to go work out,” said Shaughn Lynn, manager of the Firm, which opened in 1987. Morning hours are busiest in the child-care area, which is staffed by eight employees, said Lynn, who added, “We have some single dads who use the facilities too.”

But what do most mothers, pregnant or otherwise, really want? “A thorough lower-back massage,” said Kathy Mattes, founder of M’massage, an in-home massage service for mothers.

Mattes, who lives in Reseda, started her business in 1987 after receiving several massages from instructors who she said were insensitive to the needs of a pregnant body. Acupuncture points in the ankles, hands and little toes should be avoided, Mattes said, because they may trigger labor in advanced stages of pregnancy.

Mattes, a certified massage technician, charges her 175 clients $55 for one hour of complete body massage.

Randi Grinbaum began receiving massages from Mattes nine months ago, when she was six months pregnant. “I had tremendous lower-back pain,” said Grinbaum, 30, who lives in Hidden Hills. “I went twice a week because the pain was so intense, but Kathy was able to release it.

“It’s really felt wonderful.”