Having a baby is a health journey like no other and it’s not easy. The National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) has been working for the past 30 years to bring together organizations and individuals committed to making this journey as healthy and happy as it can be for mothers, infants, and families.

The text4baby program, launched in February 2010 and now celebrating its 2nd birthday, is one way that HMHB furthers this mission. Text4baby is a free mobile health service that provides key health and safety information in the form of short text messages for mothers at various stages of their pregnancy and during the first year of their child’s life. By texting BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to 511411, women receive free text messages each week timed to their due date or baby’s birthday. The service includes information on topics such as prenatal and infant care, immunization, postpartum depression, safe sleep, infant feeding, oral health, car seat safety, and more.

Over the past two years, text4baby has reached 300,000individuals with over 30 million health education messages. This would not have been possible without the support of our founding sponsor Johnson & Johnson, CTIA- The Wireless

Sign up for Text4Baby! Try it out: Free texts with useful tips & resources for new parents.

Foundation and the mobile phone companies who are waiving standard messaging fees for this program, and the 700+ national, state and local partners promoting the service to women in their communities.

The core of text4baby’s success lies in the true public-private partnership that has been built around the commitment to improving the lives of mothers and infants. The newest chapter in this success story begins today as we announce a partnership with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Connecting Kids to Coverage initiative. This program works to connect families to free and low-cost health coverage for their children through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Each year, four million babies are born and almost two million of those babies are born to moms on Medicaid, highlighting the clear overlap in the missions of the two programs. Over the weeks and months to come, local, state, and national organizations working on Connecting Kids to Coverage and text4baby will be joining forces to implement creative strategies to drive enrollment in these programs and better connect families to the care and information they need.

In honor of this new partnership, we are celebrating Connecting Kids to Coverage and Text4baby Enrollment Day at the national and local levels. In Newark, San Diego, Chicago, the District of Columbia, Virginia, Oklahoma, Florida, Michigan, and New Orleans, organizations that care about the health of children and families are coming together to support more mothers and families in gaining access to free and low cost healthcare.

We hope you will get involved, too - everyone has a role to play in raising healthier American families. Whether you’re a parent or a health services organization, improving access to services for women and babies helps children get the best possible start to life.

• If you or your child needs health coverage, you should apply. Click here to find affordable health coverage programs in your state.
• Sign up for text4baby by texting “BABY” (“BEBE” for Spanish) to 511411 on your phone or click here [http://text4baby.org/index.php/sign-up] to sign up online. You'll get free health tips and resource information on your phone through pregnancy and baby's first year.
• Connect on Facebook with other text4baby moms and members of the text4baby community. Share your experience with Connecting Kids to Coverage and text4baby on your social media space.
• Help get the word out about text4baby and Connecting Kids to Coverage.  You can access customizable materials and tools for Connecting Kids to Coverage here and text4baby here.
• Spread the word by downloading the Connecting Kids to Coverage widget and text4baby enrollment button, and posting them on your organization's website. These tools will allow you to directly connect families to health coverage sign-up information and critical health and safety information right from your site!

For more information, visit www.text4baby.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.