Key National Health Care Providers and Organizations Join Forces with the BabyKick Alliance to Honor October as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.

Claiming 70 babies per day -- 10 times that of SIDS, stillbirth remains a much neglected national public health issue

LOS ANGELES -- Each week in the United States, nearly 500 pregnant mothers deliver babies who never take a breath. During the month of October, a group of advocates including healthcare professionals and surviving family members, is joining forces with the BabyKick Alliance to sound the alarm bell about the staggering frequency of stillbirth.

"Stillbirth is an important public health issue, claiming the lives of 26,000 babies every year in the U.S. or one in every 150 births," said Dr. Uma M. Reddy, Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch, National Institutes of Health. "The numbers may be higher due to the lack of a consistent standard of reporting. Half of families will never know why their babies died. Although there are known risk factors such as certain maternal medical diseases, obstetric conditions, older maternal age, smoking, race/ethnicity, many of the stillbirths at term happen in otherwise healthy, low-risk pregnancies. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH is conducting studies to understand and help develop strategies to prevent stillbirth."

The incidence of stillbirth is ten times more common than the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan designated the month to remember the nearly 1,000,000 deaths per year from all pregnancy loss, stillbirth and infant deaths. Stillbirth is the natural death of a baby in the mother's womb after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

First Candle/SIDS Alliance, the nation's leading organization dedicated to infant health and survival; Dr. Diep Nguyen, founder of the BabyKick Alliance; and Blair Blanks, of Baltimore, Md., the mother of a stillbirth son, have joined forces in an effort to heighten public awareness of stillbirth's alarming statistics as well as to promote safe and healthy pregnancies.

Despite its frequency, often the first time a pregnant mother hears anything from a healthcare provider about stillbirth is when she learns that her baby had died in the womb.

"I was never told anything about the possibility of stillbirth during either of my pregnancies," said Blair Blanks, a Baltimore photographer of babies and pregnancy whose second son, James, was stillborn in July, at nine months' gestation. "I'd reached my delivery date and I thought my son was safe. I'd never considered the possibility that my full-term baby could die before he was born. And I was under the impression that is really wasn't very common anymore."

Not only is stillbirth all too common, too little has been done in the way of research or prevention, according to Marian Sokol, president of First Candle/SIDS Alliance, the nation's leading organization dedicated to infant health and survival.

"Every day, in the United States alone, more than 70 families experience the tragic death of a baby before he or she takes their first breath," Sokol said. "Unfortunately, to date, little has been done to understand and develop strategies to prevent stillbirth deaths. First Candle embraces the BabyKick Alliance and its efforts to get this important information into the hands of expectant parents ... information that could save their baby's life."

BabyKick Alliance was recently founded by Dr. Diep Nguyen, a Los Angeles obstetrician and gynecologist who, at the age of 12, witnessed the stillbirth of her own sister at full term. Years later, her younger sister nearly suffered a similar tragedy. After 10 years of infertility, her sister was pregnant and noticed a decrease in her baby's kicks, which alerted her to seek care. Severely decreased amniotic fluid was diagnosed, which led to the induction of labor and the live birth of Dr. Nguyen's niece at 37 weeks.

Dr. Nguyen created the Alliance for the sole purpose of creating awareness about stillbirth and educating pregnant women about the Kick Count method for stillbirth prevention. Kick Counting is the methodical tracking of fetal movements beginning at about 24 to 28 weeks gestation. Through her BabyKick Alliance, Dr. Nguyen is teaming with experts and alliances around the world to promote safe pregnancies and healthy babies.

BabyKick Alliance Partners include:

* First Candle/SIDS Alliance

* Kaiser Permanente 

* Baltimore Health Department

* Hygeia Foundation

* Angel Names Association

* Blair Blanks

Blanks said she only learned about Kick Counting during her hours of research after her son died.

"I have been giving out the BabyKick Alliance website link to everyone who will listen. The only thing that I can think of to lessen my pain is to try to prevent this from happening to others. I will always be haunted by the fact that I never knew anything about kick counting, and that I will never know if I could have saved him."

Blanks has agreed to share her family's story in an effort to bring about better public understanding of the tragedy of stillbirth. Her written account of her son's death and delivery will be available in the BabyKick Alliance October newsletter at http://www.babykickalliance.org/newsletter.asp.

A photographic essay, consisting of documentary-style photographs taken after her son's delivery, can be seen at http://www.blairblanks.com/jameshudson/james.exe.

"Stillbirth has become the silent public health issue which makes it absolutely essential that healthcare providers openly discuss stillbirth prevention with their patients and for patients to ask questions of their providers," said Dr. Nguyen. "We can save lives. I've seen it in my practice and my personal life, but we can't do it alone."

About the BabyKick Alliance (www.babykickalliance.org)

The BabyKick Alliance, located in Los Angeles, was formed in 2006 by Dr. Diep Nguyen, a Los Angeles-based obstetrician and gynecologist. The Alliance is committed to helping women achieve a healthy pregnancy and prevent stillbirth through public awareness, education, and advocacy of the Kick Count method. For the latest research on the Kick Count method and stillbirth prevention, visit the Health Care Professionals section at www.babykickalliance.org. In addition, "Make Every Kick Count," an e-Newsletter dedicated to creating awareness for the Kick Count method and stillbirth prevention, is available free-of-charge online. Both the website and newsletter are offered in Spanish by visiting the website.

BabyKick is a trademark of VoiKex, Inc.