The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing premature birth, birth defects, and infant mortality. The March of Dimes carries out this mission through community services, advocacy, research, education and support. The March of Dimes gives every baby a fighting chance.

While having a baby is a joyful experience, it is also one that comes with anxiety and concerns. Being in the military – whether as a serviceperson or as the partner of a serviceperson – can cause extra stress. Very high levels of stress, such as the stress caused by a deployment, may contribute to premature birth or low birth weight in full-term babies.   Recognizing this concern, the March of Dimes created Mission: Healthy Baby®, a program designed specifically for military families that provides free pregnancy and newborn health information and support services to help them have one less thing to worry about and have healthy, full-term babies.   March of Dimes recognizes that our mission is relevant to military families.

According to a Department of Defense report:

• * Nearly 91% of the Military is Under 41 as compared to nearly 54% of the General Population making issues of child-bearing age, more pronounced
• * 55% percent of the force is married and 40 percent have two children.
• * The number of Active Duty members who had their first child in 2010 is 42,910
• * Over half (55.6%) of the members were between the ages of 20 and 25 when they had their first child

With these important statistics in mind, March of Dimes is pleased to present some of these highlights of its support to military families:

• * Mission Healthy Baby support site to share your story, connect with other moms and families, blog and find healthy pregnancy and baby information
• * Partnering with Phillips at select military bases to host educational baby showers for moms to be
• * Mission Health Baby newsletters and other outreach vehicles