TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 When many lessons of parenting come as a crash course, baby experts from around Tampa Bay gathered under one roof to help parents, both current and soon-to-be, get ahead of the curve at the Family Vibes Baby Expo.<\/p>\n
“We’re here to help families navigate all the things from beginning of their conception to labor, postpartum, and beyond,” said Abby Morris, who offered resources at the event for her organization, Sleep Child O’ Mine.<\/p>\n
Families learned life-saving skills like infant CPR and how to properly strap their baby into a car seat, while also connecting with local resources that can help at each stage of the family-building process.<\/p>\n
“[I have] lots of siblings who’ve had lots of kids, but first time for us, so we just wanted to know all that we needed to be ready for,” soon-to-be mom Destany Mayer said.<\/p>\n
Mayer said she’s 17-weeks pregnant with her first baby, and it’s already becoming nerve-racking.<\/p>\n
“It’s all safety stuff, you know, making sure that we know what to do to make sure the baby is healthy and safe,” Joe Mayer said.<\/p>\n
Event organizer and mother of seven, Allyson Lopez told 8 On Your Side she founded the event hoping to help parents break through the jitters that come with first-time parenting – and to educate current parents on better ways to take care of themselves and their baby.<\/p>\n
“Whether it’s your first child, your fifth child, or your seventh child, there’s a little bit here for everybody,” she said. “It [this event] would have helped my journey with my first child and probably made my pediatrician a little bit happier because I didn’t call him 50 times a week.”<\/p>\n
This weekend was their first-ever Baby Expo. Lopez said they already have plans for another in St. Petersburg in May, and she said they’ll be back in Tampa next September.<\/p>\n