Tegan Kleinman has travelled to a number of Sydney baby expos, but felt like they were too focused on “selling expensive” and “unnecessary” baby products, leading new mothers down the wrong path early on.

She’s taken it upon herself to create the Baby Collective Expo, an event to be hosted in September that looks to bring new and long-term mothers together with local businesses and national and international health and baby experts.

“We’re really excited to bring this to Newcastle, I asked a lot of mothers in [social media] groups about what they wanted to see and what they didn’t want to see and now that it’s going ahead there’s been an overwhelming amount of support,” Ms Kleinman said.

“What we are trying to do is focus on two things: making sure mothers can ask questions, learn and discuss motherhood, and also just supporting local businesses in Newcastle by having them attend as stalls and shops.”

Those stalls will focus on medical and support services, as well as any local businesses that want to join the 38-strong line-up, and Ms Kleinman believes all slots will be filled by expo launch.

“We’ve already had a third of the stalls booked for the expo, and we’re looking to get the 38 stalls filled by the time September rolls around,” she said. “There’s a lot of interest, I think it’s just about getting organised at this point.”

The baby expo is geared towards parents that have children between the ages of 1-2 months old and 4 years, and Ms Kleinman wants to make sure it’s a place that all parents feel welcome.

“Around four years old is the oldest that we cater for, we have a lot of stuff for beyond that age but that’s definitely our target market,” she said.

Tickets – $10 until August, and then $15 after that – will be on sale by the end of February.

The Baby Collective Expo will be hosted at the Newcastle Exhibition and Convention Centre on September 9.