One month before her baby was due, Ebony Perry developed a violent stomach flu and abdominal cramps.
Although Perry was frightened, she knew just where to turn for advice: her copy of Baby Basics, an easy-to-read pregnancy primer from the author of What to Expect When You're Expecting.
Perry, who read that her cramps were probably contractions brought on by dehydration, went immediately to the hospital. Without the book, she says, she might have gone into pre-term labor. "Everything I was feeling was in that book," says Perry, 21, of Long Island City, N.Y., whose son, Rodney, was born full-term May 25. "I read it every day."
With more than 14 million copies sold, What to Expect is one of the most successful pregnancy books ever written. But its author, Heidi Murkoff, recognizes that the 614-page, $14.95 book is beyond the reach of the 1 million American women who give birth in poverty each year. "All moms should have access to this information," she says.
So Murkoff created the What to Expect Foundation, which produces Baby Basics. The 10-year-old foundation has distributed 350,000 copies of the book, which has been translated into Spanish and Chinese.
More than giving out books
Murkoff realized the need for a more accessible baby guide after giving a seminar to pregnant inmates at Rikers Island in New York. "The women had all the same questions as any mom at a baby store at the mall," Murkoff says.
The foundation doesn't simply give out its books. It also teaches moms how to read them, says executive director Lisa Bernstein. "We see pregnancy as this incredibly teachable moment. We've hidden literacy into prenatal education."
In programs financed by the foundation, outreach workers in clinic waiting rooms work with women before their prenatal appointments. The foundation runs "Mom's Clubs" at places such as Rosalee Hall in the Bronx, a home for pregnant teens, most of whom are in foster care, teaching them how to have healthy pregnancies. "We want them to think, 'Hmm, I learned the answer on page 14. I wonder what happens on page 24?'" Bernstein says.
Reading helps women have healthier pregnancies, make better medical decisions and become better mothers, Murkoff says. And if mothers read, there's a greater chance their children will, too.
Theodore Barrett says that at his prenatal clinic in Newark, nearly half of his pregnant patients can't read well enough to understand printed medical information.
With the foundation's help, Barrett, an assistant professor of obstetrics/gynecology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, started an intensive program for 600 patients with low literacy. Each received a copy of Baby Basics and met with a health educator. After the sessions, fewer women ended up in the emergency room or missed prenatal appointments, he says, and more returned for their post-delivery checkups.
Barrett recently suspended his literacy program after running out of money, but he hopes to restart with a grant from the March of Dimes.
As the foundation's leaders know all too well, money for health literacy programs is often hard to find. What to Expect has found an increasingly popular way to raise money: "social marketing" through partnerships with companies such as Clorox, Nissan and GlaxoSmithKline. Murkoff has written a What to Expect Guide to a Healthy Home, for example, that combines the look of the book with advice on combating colds and flu. Clorox, whose brand name appears on the cover, gave $1million to the foundation.
Vaccine maker GlaxoSmithKline, whose name appears on the back cover of The What to Expect Guide to Vaccinations, also gave $1 million. Nissan, which collaborated on a guide to car seat safety, gave $1.75 million, Bernstein says.
A debate over corporate support
Corporations like such deals because they improve their public images, says Sandra Miniuitti of Charity Navigator, which rates non-profits. But she says charities run the risk of alienating donors -- or, in this case, loyal readers -- if their business ties appear to influence the way they operate. What to Expect's healthy home guide doesn't mention products by name, but it does suggest using bleach and disinfecting wipes.
Alan Fields, co-author with his wife, Denise, of Baby Bargains, which rates children's products, agrees that advice authors need to stay impartial. The Fieldses say they try to avoid outside influences by not accepting advertising in their books or websites.
Murkoff says her foundation could not have achieved so much without corporate support. But she says she "completely controls" the content of What to Expect guides and "obsessively" protects her brand's name. "I would never compromise the integrity of What to Expect for any reason, and these wonderful corporate sponsors know this going in."
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