Attendees talked to health visitors, school nurses and nursery nurses who were on hand to discuss any issues that new parents or parents-to-be had. The team also had experts on diet, dental health, real nappies and the National Childbirth Trust on hand to offer information and advice. The event was also broadened out from solely health issues to more general public health scope by Charnwood Borough Council and Leicestershire County Council representatives talking about subjects ranging from Bookstart, pilates, car seat safety, childcare, to Homestart.

In addition to this, free refreshments were available as was an area where residents could sit and swap top tips. This informal approach proved very successful with 78% of attendees learning something new.

As Carol Richardson, Health Visitor, explained, “It is really important that new parents feel supported in raising their children. A big part of this comes from the postnatal groups that the health visitors and nursery nurses run but we wanted to be visible before baby arrives so people have seen who we are and have put a face to a name. It’s important for parents to have opportunities to discuss issues such as healthy lifestyles, child safety and postnatal depression.”A health needs assessment of the area showed that low birth weight babies is a local issue so the Resolution Smoking Cessation in Pregnancy Advisor was happy to attend this event to sign up smokers who wanted to quit.