Indiana is ready to launch a new ad campaign to tackle the state’s high rate of infant mortality.
Hoosiers need to take the message seriously. The mortality rate for Hoosier infants ranks 45th worst in the nation. For every 1,000 live births, 7.7 babies die before reaching the age of 1.
As one of the ads puts it, “One baby dies approximately every 13 hours in Indiana.”
The ads will promote breast feeding, which is proven to reduce the risk of infant death. They will warn parents about the hazards of sleeping with their newborns.
In maybe the most important feature, the ads will explain the dangers of smoking while pregnant.
A reduction in smoking by pregnant women potentially could have the most dramatic effect on Indiana’s terrible infant death statistics.
Recent statistics show 17.1 percent of Indiana’s pregnant women smoked in 2010.
That’s an improvement from 20 percent a decade earlier, but it’s way above the national average of 12.8 percent.
If the statewide statistic sounds bad, the numbers for three local counties are even worse.
The report shows 24 percent of pregnant mothers smoke in both Noble and Steuben counties, and 22.8 percent smoked in DeKalb County.
Only LaGrange County, with a 7.5 percent smoking rate, looks relatively good in the report.
If those numbers aren’t bad enough, consider that our local smoking rates rank in the middle of the pack. A total of 34 Indiana counties had pregnancy smoking rates higher than the 24 percent for Noble and Steuben counties. Eight Indiana counties have rates above 30 percent.
Hoosier moms-to-be need to know that smoking doubles the risk of delivering a low-birth-weight baby, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
Babies of mothers who smoked during pregnancy have twice the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
Smoking while pregnant increases the risk of miscarriage by 30-50 percent
Even exposure to secondhand smoke during pregnancy harms a child’s mental development. Children whose mothers were exposed to secondhand smoke score lower than other children on mental development tests at age 2.
It’s never too late for an expectant mother to quit smoking. The state health report says after just one day of not smoking by their mother, babies in the womb get more oxygen.
Giving up smoking during pregnancy may be easier said than done. But it’s hard to imagine a better motivation than providing a healthy future for a baby.