May 4 (Day 65) Every Baby Deserves a First Birthday!

First Candle is a national health organization uniting parents, caregivers and researchers nationwide with government, business and community service groups to advance infant health and survival. Together with our national network of members and partners, we are working to ensure that every baby is given the best possible chance to reach not only his or her first birthday, but many happy birthdays beyond.

Our mission is to promote safe pregnancies and the survival of babies through the first years of life. With programs of research, education and advocacy, our goal is to continue to have a significant impact on our nation’s high stillbirth and infant mortality rates. Working toward this mission, we remain committed to providing compassionate grief support to all those affected by the death of a baby.

Started in the early 1960s as the National SIDS Foundation, the organization’s primary focus was to support families who had experienced the death of a baby from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Through the foundation, grassroots advocacy efforts were successful at securing the first national funding available specifically for SIDS research. Resources for grieving families available here.

In 1987, forged through the merger of several national and regional SIDS groups from across the country, the SIDS Alliance was created as an umbrella organization to provide a single, focused entity dedicated to the elimination of SIDS. As a key partner in the national Back to Sleep campaign, the organization has been credited with helping to save more than 25,000 babies’ lives during the past decade alone, amounting to a drop of nearly 60 percent in the U.S. SIDS rate.

In 2002, the SIDS Alliance Board of Directors voted to expand the organization’s mission to include stillbirth and other sudden, unexpected infant deaths (SUID). The organization has committed its resources – both human and financial – in hopes of having a similar impact on stillbirth as it has had on SIDS, in the belief that every baby should live. Fittingly, the organization also voted to change its name to First Candle, Helping Babies Survive & Thrive, to reflect its broader mission and hope for the future.

Because every baby deserves a safe place to sleep

Every year more than 4,500 otherwise healthy American babies die suddenly and unexpectedly. Of these, statistics show that as many as 80 to 90 percent happen when a baby is sleeping with a parent or other adult. It is critical, if we are to save as many infant lives as possible, that every parent is aware of and prepared to adopt lifesaving safe sleep practices and that every baby has a safe place to sleep, especially if the family cannot afford one.

With your donation to the Bedtime Basics for Babies campaign, First Candle will provide a crib, wearable blanket and pacifier to babies in need all across our country. Your support will also help our efforts to educate new and expectant parents on First Candle’s lifesaving Safe Sleep Tips – working to ensure that parents across our great nation all understand how they can help their babies sleep more safely.

Help us reach our $10,000 goal by donating now.


Ways to Get Involved:
 
Whether a donation of time, money or expertise, we hope you will consider supporting our efforts, in the belief that every baby should live.

     Donate
     Volunteer   - blog, twitter, online fundraising or online support group moderator.
     Facebook Page


Source:  First Candle