I’m thrilled to announce that Text4Baby will be joining us for chat on Monday, July 22, 2013 at 8:30pm. This is Text4Baby’s third year in operation. They provide an invaluable experience for both expectant and new mothers via a free information program that sends texts directly to your phone. Read more about them here.
Dr. Colleen Kraft, M.D., will be joining us as the medical expert on Monday. Dr. Kraft is a Professor of Pediatrics at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, and Pediatric Residency Program Director at Virginia Tech Carilion. Dr. Kraft is a community pediatrician with the Carilion Pediatric Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia.
Dr. Kraft attended Virginia Tech as an undergraduate, and completed her M.D. and pediatric residency at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dr. Kraft currently serves on the Text4Baby expert panel, the National Center for Medical Home Initiatives Project Advisory Committee and the Early Brain and Child Development work-group at the American Academy of Pediatrics. She has three children who are now young adults.
You can follow Dr. Kraft on Twitter by clicking here.
The folks from Text4Baby will also be available to offer information about their services to our community members.
The topic for Monday, as stated in the announcement above, is “Perinatal Mood Disorders & Early Brain Development”. As we know, mental health issues during pregnancy and the postpartum period do affect the development of our infants. It’s not a topic we discuss often because it can be triggering and induce feelings of guilt. The key to this issue is to remember that we are not at fault – and that access to proper care and therapy for both mother and child is of the utmost importance if we are to change the outlook for all involved.
I hope you will join us for a very important discussion about this important (and often under-discussed) topic.