While it may take a village to raise a child, it takes all of a village’s resources to keep that child
healthy.
Wood County gathered its village of resources for that goal during the Community Baby Fair at the Wood
County District Public Library yesterday afternoon.
About 25 families collected baby information from community tables around the library.
"We wanted people to walk around and see how family-friendly everything is and get recommendations
from all the different agencies," said Maria Simon, children’s librarian. "With learning about
babies and brain development, you really can’t start soon enough."
It all starts with eating right. One of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to ensure a healthy
baby is breast-feeding.
Aside from saving the mother about $2,000 a year, Wood County Hospital lactation consultants Jennifer
Tansel and Dawn Miller like to show women another side to nursing.
"People in general figure out that breast-feeding is good," Miller said. "So instead, we
focus on the effects of breast-feeding."
Breast-feeding burns about 500 calories a day and lowers the risk of breast cancer and diabetes for the
mother and baby.
These health benefits develop because breast milk contains about 300 different ingredients, while
store-bought formulas contain only 100.
"I like to compare it to a test," Tansel said. "You can’t pass a test with 300 questions
and only get 100 right."
After receiving those nutritional tips, visitors received mental health information courtesy of Wood Lane
a few tables over.
Wood Lane provides early intervention services for children from birth to age three.
"We help coach families toward goals they develop as part of their family plan," said Sallie
Gardner, early intervention specialist. "We do evaluations and our services are delivered in the
natural environment of the child."
Those services range from home visits to educating parents on raising a child with a developmental
disability.
Even if a child is not diagnosed with a developmental disability, Wood Lane will still continue to help
out the family as-needed.
"People are surprised we start services so young for children," Gardner said. "We’re
really about helping families build competence."
After Wood Lane helps babies develop the best they can, the Bowling Green Fire Department takes over to
ensure they stay safe.
"Safety in general is number one," said Lieutenant Mike Leestma. "It’s easier to prevent
something than treat it. You can’t ‘unburn’ something."
At his table, Leestma showed parents how children can mistake something as simple as water for something
lethal.
"We’ve had some kids drink bleach," Leestma said. "Little kids don’t smell before they
drink like adults do."
Other examples included mistaking pills for Tic Tacs and Pine-Sol for apple juice. Leestma said he
encourages parents to keep these easily-mistaken items out of children’s reach.
"I’d like to talk to more parents about this," he said. "Some of them just never think
about it."
At the other end of that spectrum, Lance and Sarah Mekeel have been thinking about their unborn baby’s
health for a while now.
Their baby is due May 19 and they checked out the fair to gain a little more insight for their first
child.
"We already go to child birthing classes and we wanted some more information on childcare,"
Lance Mekeel said. "This seems like a great program to offer in town."‚ã