2nd annual Baby & Toddler Expo in Macon included vendors, baby race, diaper cake
Shay Hillman is expecting her first child in May and she braved the cold, blustery winds Saturday to attend the 2016 Macon-Bibb Baby & Toddler Expo so she would become more aware of various services that could be helpful.
"I wanted to learn about the different programs and particularly about breastfeeding because I'm considering breastfeeding as long as I can," said Hillman, who recently moved to Macon from Atlanta.
The United Way of Central Georgia partnered with Amerigroup to host the event held at the Tubman Museum to help expectant and new parents identify resources that promote healthy pregnancy, birth and parenting practices.
Since it's Hillman's first child, she said "I'm nervous about everything."
She liked that she could get a lot of information at one place,
She had questions for Evelina Fisher, a breastfeeding counselor with Breastfeeding USA, after Fisher talked to attendees about the benefits of breastfeeding.
She said mothers shouldn't get discouraged if things don't work out right away, and they should ask for help. Her organization doesn't charge for its services, and "reaching out for help is critical," she said.
Some of the other vendors included the Macon-Bibb County Health Department, a local WIC office, a dentist and Leap Early Learning Partners which provides services to child care programs in 27 counties throughout Middle Georgia.
Alexius Burney of Macon brought her 3-year old, Briley Burney. She has three other boys who are 23, 17 and 15.
She is a fairly new participant in the Parents as Teachers program, also a vendor. The organization helps parents help their children until they start school with things like reading, writing, and language and motor skills.
"I always try to find things that involve me being a better parent ... which will help them be better adults," Burney said.
Burney has been involved about six months and already sees a difference in Briley. She realized that she did some things with her older kids at a later age, not realizing toddlers could be taught those things, such as card games that teach memory skills.
Gusty winds and temperatures in the 30s most likely kept some people from attending, said organizer Daisy Ross, the early learning project coordinator with United Way. By about 11:30 a.m., about 50 people had arrived. Last year's event was attended by about 200 people.
Some vendors were supposed to be there from Atlanta but they didn't make it because of snowy and icy conditions there, Ross said.
When it came time to hold the baby race, there was only one qualified contestant who was old enough to crawl but had not started walking yet. After a great deal of encouragement, 6-month-old Julian Harris crossed the finish line in 2 minutes 44 seconds.
Organizers will have to wait awhile to learn if they won their own contest. They built an eight-layer diaper "cake" composed entirely of disposal diapers with 2,285 diapers. Their goal was to make the world's largest diaper cake and have it verified by the Guinness World Book of Records.
"In order to make the record, we needed at least 2,000 diapers so we have beat that record with our diaper cake," Ross said.
The idea came about because the closest diaper bank is in Atlanta and Ross was aware of Middle Georgia families in need.
"I wanted to do something impactful," she said. "I wanted to bring about awareness of diaper needs for families of young children in central Georgia."
Most of the vendors at the event contributed at least one case of diapers for the cake. All the diapers will be donated to qualified learning centers and families who may have a need.
To contact writer Linda S. Morris, call 744-4223 or follow her on Twitter @MidGaBiz.
This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 9:34 PM with the headline "2nd annual Baby & Toddler Expo in Macon included vendors, baby race, diaper cake ."