LAPLACE — Aggie Williams is hosting an educational event for women in St. John the Baptist Parish to provide first-time mothers information about what to expect during pregnancy and how to care for their young child.

Williams, a community health coordinator, is working with Region 3 Nurse Family Partnership, United Health Care and local partners to put on a health event. The event begins at 10:30 a.m. and runs until 1:30 p.m. Friday at the St. John Parish Library on U.S. 51 in LaPlace.

Williams said the event is open to mothers who received invitations through the St. John Health Unit.

“We’ll talk about pregnancy, the growth and development of the infant and tips for a healthy family,” Williams said. “We’re encouraging breast feeding, and we’ll talk about nutrition and eating health. We will also talk about infant safe sleep and SID, which is sudden infant death syndrome. Hurricane preparedness and evacuation will also be talked about.”

First time mothers will also get the opportunity to learn about immunizations and medicine safety in the home.

“It’s important to keep medicine out of the reach of babies,” Williams said. “Also knowing how to give babies the proper dosage of medicine is important. Some people give babies medicine from advertisements on television, but we want them to be able to understand that only the prescribed medicine and the proper dosage for the age of the child key.”

Mothers at the event will also learn about the benefits of reading to their children before and after they are born.

“We know that reading is the key to success in school,” Williams said. “While they are reading to them moms get a chance to bond with their baby.”

There will be lots of door prizes and fun for the women that attend. Williams said she hosted a similar event last week, adding it was well attended. Approximately 30 invitations were passed out for St. John, and Williams said she hopes all those invited attend.