Pebbles of Hope is building a “Thrive Guide” to help parents of preemies in underserved areas learn the techniques to provide the best care for their babies. The Thrive Guide will be an interactive tutorial – to be made available online, on CD-ROM and via mobile devices — for mothers of premature babies in underserved areas to learn the techniques for providing effective care and promoting the proper development of their babies. This course will include instructional videos and detailed suggestions to guide parents in the care of their premature babies. The first module of the Thrive Guide will cover nutrition, breastfeeding and Kangaroo Care – skin -to-skin contact between mother and baby – and is expected to launch in early 2015.

When parents of preemies are empowered with the knowledge and guidance to become more informed and active participants in the care of their babies, these preemies can not only survive, they can thrive, even in locations with limited medical resources. We know that each preemie thrives in their own way, but we believe that parents play the most critical role in helping these babies live their best life. With our Thrive Guide, we hope that we can reach parents who don’t already have access to guidance on how to care for their preemies due to geographic isolation, lack of medical insurance or inadequate medical support available. The Thrive Guide will launch first in rural communities and low-income urban areas of the US, and will subsequently be launched internationally in countries with a high incidence of prematurity and infant mortality.