Happy, Healthy and Safe Families

Bringing organizations together to support Kansas City's Families

Cradle Kansas City is a collective impact initiative created to address infant mortality in the Kansas City region. Cradle KC collective is a gathering all of partners who work in the family support sector. These include maternal child health organizations, medical systems, education, housing, and transportation. These organizations and individuals are working to uplift the voice of the community. Our Goal at Cradle KC to ensure all Kansas City Babies are healthy babies.

Our Common Agenda:

HOPE

We believe every baby born in Kansas City should celebrate their first birthday!

JOY

There is no greatest component to our mission than joy. After all, CKC works every day towards a future where every KC baby and their mothers are healthy.

DATA

Everyone wants to do the community facing things that “feel good” but rarely ever “do good”. Data tells us where to aim, and if we are making a real impact for our population

ACTION

11 babies die a month in the metro, so we don’t have time for working in silos.

CLARITY

Infant mortality is a complicated problem, and that causes people to give up and stick with what they know. A clear path to act on is why people will follow us.

Working to better understand what impacts pregnant women and babies in Kansas City and surrounding regions.

Infant mortality is a key indicator of the overall health of a community. In Kansas City, far too many babies have died and for far too long. It is time to focus on measurable goals that address systemic issues.
Cradle Kansas City is a collective impact group consisting of public and private partnerships, community organizations, and resident experts with lived experience who are dedicated to changing the systems, large and small, that reinforce the status quo. We accomplish change through: partnerships with medical systems, resident-built strategies, and clear messaging that is aimed at systemic change.

  • Joy – this is about babies and mom’s being healthy after all.
    Hope – because we believe every baby born in Kansas City should celebrate their first birthday!
    Action – 2 babies die each month from a preventable cause, we don’t have time for working in silos.
    Data – because everyone wants to do the community facing things that “feel good” but rarely ever “do good”. Data tells us where to aim, and if we are making a real impact for our communities.
    Clarity – infant mortality is a complicated problem, which can cause people to give up. A clear path to action is why people will follow us.

  • Close the health equity gap

  • How We Reach Our Goal

    Prenatal care best practices are the only way we know how to reach our goal of closing the maternal and infant health equity gap. The first step is to understand what are prenatal care best practices. This is done through engagement in ongoing quality improvement initiatives which seek to understand: what is currently taking place in Kansas City, where the gaps are, and who is best suited to fill those gaps.

  • Best Practices

    Developing BEST PRACTICES that are: data driven, community building, relationship building, co-designed respectful, authentic, and transparent with personal and professional buy in and rooted in the belief that Equity is the Best Practice.

     

    • Develop Best Practices for MCH data and information sharing in the Kansas City metro

    • Develop Best Practices for creating authentic resident, program and provider relationships to foster an integrated care team approach to close the health equity gap, improve health and solve community

    • Develop Best Practices for advocating at the local/state/federal polices which close the health equity gap for all mothers, babies and families.

     

    We believe the biggest impact will come from changing how systems interact with families, not how families interact with systems. The strategy is intentionally high level and broad. System change takes time. We may not reach our goal of ‘Closing the health equity gap’ in the next 5 years, but that OK, it took more than 5 years for the problem to get this big.

  • Our Core

    The Cradle KC Collective – a group of maternal child health professionals, pubic and private enterprise, and community addressing system changes through collaboration and multi-sector partnership

    Community Action Board – a group of resident experts who co-design Cradle KC strategies and actions, and ensure Cradle Kansas city and partners are responsive and accountable to community

    My Life, My Plan – a co-designed family planning workbook to help families decide if and when to become pregnant

    Every Baby to 1 – a faith-based initiative promoting the 3 S’s (Safe Sleep, Social Support, Safe Space) and supporting the healthy development of infants in the Kansas City area

    Plan Your Pause – PUT CAMPAIGN TEXT HERE

  • What Is Next For Cradle Kansas City?

     

    • Strategies into actionable steps Prototyping and rapid fire testing of campaigns and ideas Prenatal care best-practice quality improve projects Develop metro wide Data warehouse to connect programs to data, programs to programs, programs to people, and people to people

    • Develop communication and messaging campaigns that resonate with families  Promote and support public health policy that allows for barrier free medical care and supportive services for all families regardless of income, country of origin, or immigration status

    • Continuously work towards transparent and authentic communication and reporting for Cradle Kansas City and partners

#PLANYOURPAUSE

Family planning: Get the facts about pregnancy spacing


Pregnancy spacing is an essential part of family planning. Understand the importance of pregnancy spacing and what factors to consider before you conceive again. By Mayo Clinic Staff

Considering having another child? Pregnancy spacing is an essential part of family planning. It can affect more than how close your children are in age. Here’s what you need to know.

  • Knowing whether you do or don’t want to have children in the next few years can help you and your partner prepare for conception or choose appropriate contraception.

    If you’re already parents, family planning takes on new meaning. Having another child will change your family’s lives. Are you and your partner ready to take care of a newborn again? How will your other child or children react to sharing your attention with a new baby?

    The timing of your pregnancies is important, too. While you and your partner might have preferences about how close in age you’d like your children to be, some research shows that how you space your pregnancies can affect mother and baby.

  • Research suggests that beginning a pregnancy within six months of a live birth is associated with an increased risk of:

     

    • Premature birth

    • The placenta partially or completely peeling away from the inner wall of the uterus before delivery (placental abruption)

    • Low birth weight

    • Congenital disorders

    • Schizophrenia

    • Maternal anemia

    In addition, recent research suggests that closely spaced pregnancies might be associated with an increased risk of autism in second-born children. The risk is highest for pregnancies spaced less than 12 months apart.

    Closely spaced pregnancies might not give a mother enough time to recover from pregnancy before moving on to the next. For example, pregnancy and breastfeeding can deplete your stores of nutrients, particularly folate. If you become pregnant before replacing those stores, it could affect your health or your baby’s health. Inflammation of the genital tract that develops during pregnancy and doesn’t completely heal before the next pregnancy could also play a role.

  • Some research also suggests that long intervals between pregnancies pose concerns for mothers and babies, such as an increased risk of preeclampsia in people with no history of the condition.

    It’s not clear why long pregnancy intervals might cause health problems. It’s possible that pregnancy improves uterine capacity to promote fetal growth and support, but that over time these beneficial physiological changes disappear.

  • To reduce the risk of pregnancy complications and other health problems, research suggests waiting 18 to 24 months but less than five years after a live birth before attempting your next pregnancy. Balancing concerns about infertility, people older than 35 might consider waiting 12 months before becoming pregnant again.

    The risks and recommendations don’t apply to couples who have had a miscarriage. If you’re healthy and feel ready, there’s no need to wait to conceive after a miscarriage.

    Choosing when to have another baby is a personal decision. When planning your next pregnancy, you and your partner might consider various factors in addition to the health risks and benefits. Until you make a decision about when to have another child, use a reliable method of birth control.

  • There’s no perfect time to have another baby. Even with careful planning, you can’t always control when conception happens. However, discussing reliable birth control options until you are ready to conceive and understanding the possible risks associated with the timing of your pregnancies can help you make an informed decision about when to grow your family.

Our Team

Mariah Chrans, IBCLC, Ph.D

Program Director

Mariah Chrans is the Programs Director for CHC, and Project Director of Cradle Kansas City. She has worked in public health and maternal child health for 16 years. Mariah received a PhD in Public Health and Community Health in 2021.  Her research background is in maternal and infant health, with a focus on the perinatal and intrapartum period.

Mariah joined the Community Health Council of Wyandotte team in September of 2018 with 15 years of maternal and infant health and community health experience. She is adjunct faculty with MCCC teaching Community Health Worker in Workforce Development and is a co-facilitator with MARC and CJCFPD with the Community Paramedic program. Mariah is a co-founder of Uzazi Village and was COO of Uzazi Village from 2012-2018.

Mariah serves on both the KCMO and Wyandotte County Fetal and Infant Mortality Review boards and Community Action Teams, and the Kansas Maternal Mortality Review and Kansas Perinatal Collaborative. Mariah is a member of the, APAH Community Health Worker Section Leadership Team, Kansas City Community Health Worker Collaborative, and Kansas Community Health Worker Collaborative. In addition, Mariah is a member of the National Maternal Health PCOR Network (NMHPC), a PCORI Rare Disease Ambassador, and an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC).

Contact Cradle KC to get involved as an organization or volunteer!

Phone: 913-371-9298

Email: info@cradlekc.com

Location: 803 Armstrong Ave, Kansas City, MO 66101

 

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