Rachel Withers has spent her professional career around unwell children working in paediatrics but when her first bub arrived she realised there was still a lot to learn.

Once a month, Child Youth and Family Health Services offers a free, two-hour parent information session where new Mums and Dads can meet and be provided with essential information about raising their child.

Rachel, whose son Jack is just about to hit four months old, said there were so many moving parts to being a Mum and having an event to increase her knowledge was invaluable.

“I’ve not been a Mum before so it is nice to come to a group information session and feel as though you are learning with everyone else,” she said.

“Being able to get the information in a group setting is great because sometimes someone will ask a question you hadn’t considered or felt uncomfortable asking.

“It is also great to have that sense of community by doing it with other parents and just knowing that you are not alone in needing to learn these things has been really important.”

Child health nurse Kerry Irwin has run the sessions for more than 10 years and said the program’s genesis had come from parents.

Regular topics include: introducing solids to a baby’s diet, bed time for toddlers and managing misbehavior.

“What we were finding was that during our clinics we were getting the same questions time and time again from new parents,” she said.

“Rather than having to address them individually we decided to start up this parent information session to provide the information proactively.

“We are usually at the Aitkenvale Library and we typically have about 30 parents come along to our monthly sessions.”

Kerry said in modern times people were bombarded with information on every topic but there was still a real appetite for new parents for the right information.

“Getting information from a trusted source is still something people are crying out for,” she said.

“The information we provide at these events is evidence based and provided by an experienced child health nurse.

“These sessions are free and friendly and it’s about enjoying engaging families with families and with the best information available.”

Parenting information sessions are promoted monthly via the Townsville City Council and Townsville Hospital and Health Service Facebook pages.