The Clinton County Cooperative Extension Service sponsored a Community Baby Shower for 63 pregnant women and parents of infants up to age three months in partnership with the Clinton County Community Early Childhood Council. The goal of the Community Baby Shower was to provide information to families on child health and developmental needs as well as connecting families to appropriate services. Participants visited resource booths and participated in educational sessions led by various community partners on topics such as Pediatric Abusive Head Trauma & Safe Sleep, Car Seat Safety, and Basic CPR. 

When asked what they learned, participants noted increased knowledge through comments such as “how to properly install a car seat”; “how to do CPR”; “not to leave a baby on their belly”; “that babies overheat with blankets and can suffocate”; “I didn’t know before today that in the event of a car accident insurance will cover a new car seat”; and “multiple community resources I did not know were available previously”. Participants further noted they intended to implement practices such as placement of car seat clip over chest; not putting anything in the crib/bassinet with my baby; and using identification tags to put on car seat.  As parents become more aware of how they can help their children grow in every way “from the start”, a higher number of children will be school ready by age five.