Healthy Blue Louisiana Partners with Count The Kicks to Launch Stillbirth Prevention Program Throughout Louisiana

Goal to Save 97 Babies in Louisiana Every Year

NEW ORLEANS, LA, UNITED STATES, August 27, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Healthy Blue Louisiana is partnering with Count the Kicks, an evidence-based stillbirth prevention program, to roll out a new initiative that expands resources statewide and educates expectant parents about the importance of paying attention to their baby’s movements in the third trimester of pregnancy.

“The health of a mom and the health of her baby are intrinsically connected,” said Emily Price, CEO of Count the Kicks and Healthy Birth Day, Inc. “A change in a baby's normal movement pattern can be an early sign of potential problems, which is why this education is so vital. Thanks to our partnership with Healthy Blue, providers across Louisiana can access free materials to share with expectant parents — helping spread this life-saving information to more families.”

Through the partnership, maternal health providers, birthing hospitals, social service agencies, childbirth educators, and other pregnancy support providers in Louisiana can order Count the Kicks educational materials for free at CountTheKicks.org. These materials, available in English and Spanish, along with the free Count the Kicks mobile app and web-based tracking platform, explain how to track a baby’s movements, recognize a change from the normal pattern, and take the right steps if something feels different.

In Louisiana, 302 families lose a baby to stillbirth every year — roughly one in every 190 pregnancies — a rate higher than the national average. Research shows nearly 30 percent of stillbirths can be prevented when expectant parents are educated on how to monitor their baby’s movements daily, starting at 28 weeks.

“The launch of this new Healthy Blue Louisiana initiative with Count the Kicks will save lives,” said Dr. Christy Valentine Theard, President of Healthy Blue Louisiana. “This simple, proven program can be as powerful as some of the most advanced medical innovations because it helps expectant parents detect important changes, simply by tracking their baby’s movements. By expanding education and awareness of this program and its resources across Louisiana, we can help bring more healthy babies into the world — a powerful reflection of Healthy Blue’s commitment to improving health and transforming lives.”

Stillbirth is commonly defined as the loss of a baby at 20 weeks or greater gestation during pregnancy. It is a national public health crisis that impacts more than 20,000 families in the U.S. every year, according to the CDC. In Louisiana, Black mothers are four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white mothers, and Black babies are about twice as likely to die before their first birthday. Initiatives like Count the Kicks aim to empower all expectant parents with the knowledge and tools to act quickly if they notice a change in their baby’s movements — a step that can help close gaps in outcomes and save lives.

Research published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology shows a more than 30 percent reduction in Iowa’s stillbirth rate in the first 10 years of the Count the Kicks program at a time when America’s stillbirth rate remained stagnant. The results have led researchers to call for urgent action to address the stillbirth crisis in the U.S. and to study Count the Kicks on a national level. Through this collaboration, Healthy Blue is hoping to bring the same success to Louisiana, which would save approximately 97 babies in the state each year.

Kimberly Isburg
Healthy Birth Day, Inc.
+1 515-494-5115
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