Pregnant? Text 4 Baby's Health

Pregnant women and new mothers can now receive free text messages that will help keep them and their babies in good health.

The Military Health System is proud to rank among the government partners in this new program, which works like this:

By texting BABY to 511411 on a mobile phone (or BEBE for a version in Spanish), pregnant women will begin receiving three free SMS text messages each week that are timed to their due date or baby's date of birth. These messages focus on topics critical to maternal and child health, including birth-defect prevention, immunization, nutrition, seasonal flu, mental health, oral health, and safe sleep. Messages will also connect women to prenatal and infant care services and other resources.

Called Text4baby, the program is a mobile health partnership that includes private and public organizations including the Department of Health and Human Services, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and founding corporate sponsor John and Johnson. Government and nonprofit health experts ensure that the text messages being sent contain accurate health information.

"Text4baby is the first free mobile health service to be taken to scale in the United States," said U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra. "We know that mobile phones hold tremendous potential to inform and empower individuals," said Chopra. "Text4baby represents an extraordinary opportunity to expand the way we use our phones, to demonstrate the potential of mobile health technology, and make a real difference for moms and babies across the country."

For more info, visit text4baby.org.