ES
Early Signs Foundation
For every family's first days home

No parent should learn the warning signs after the emergency.

A newborn can't tell you what's wrong. A slightly different cry. Sleep that seems a little too deep. Skin a shade more yellow than yesterday. These small things are how babies ask for help — and most parents are never taught to hear them.

We're making a short, gentle video every family watches before leaving care — and pushing for the policies and protocols that make it standard. Your gift makes it real.

Give now — every dollar counts Read our story ↓
Parent holding a newborn
♥
First goal: $1,500
funds the entire first video
The moment we want to prevent

"Is this normal? Should we call someone?"

It's 2 a.m. on the third night home. The baby feels warm. She didn't finish her last feed. You search your memory for what the nurse said in those blurry hours before discharge — and find nothing.

That uncertainty is the gap we're closing. In newborns, hours matter: infections, jaundice, breathing problems, and seizures can turn serious before they look serious. A calm five-minute video, watched before going home, gives parents the confidence to act — to call, to ask again, to go in. Acting early is never an overreaction.

What we're fighting for

Six promises to every family in every birth setting.

🗣
Goal · Policy

Warning signs, read aloud — every family, every time

Just as rights are read word-for-word every single time, we want policy requiring birthing centers and midwives to read a short warning-signs statement, share the disclaimers, and show the video before any family goes home. Not sometimes. Every time.

🛡
Goal · Protocol

Stronger birth center & midwife protocols

Work alongside birth centers and midwives to strengthen safety protocols — clearer checklists, escalation steps, and transfer plans — so preventable accidents and missed warning signs stop happening in the first place.

🧰
Goal · Tools

The right tools in the right hands

Help source the proper equipment and educational tools birth centers and midwives need to follow those protocols well — because a good protocol only works when the tools to carry it out are within reach.

🏡
Goal · Culture

Normalize hybrid home births with hospital follow-ups

Families shouldn't have to choose between the comfort of home and the safety of a hospital. We want to make hybrid births normal: birth at home, then routine hospital check-ups in the first days to screen for illness, infection, jaundice — anything a newborn can't tell us about.

📱
Goal · Support

Answers when you need them — virtual visits & family resources

The video is only the start. We're building a resource hub that connects families to real help after they're home — trusted guidance, nurse lines, and on-demand virtual health visits — so any worry, day or night, can be checked by a professional before it ever becomes an emergency. No parent should have to wonder alone.

▶
Goal · Education

A standard discharge video for any parent, anywhere

Beyond any one hospital or birth center, we're creating a free, standard discharge video any parent can watch — and share. Grandparents, night nurses, doulas, friends who babysit: everyone who cares for a newborn can learn the warning signs, so the knowledge spreads far beyond the delivery room.

The signs every parent will learn

Small signals. Big consequences. Easy to learn.

If any of these appear — or your instincts simply say something is wrong — call your pediatrician, nurse line, or 911. When treatment is delayed, severe newborn illness can lead to brain injury, hearing loss, developmental delay, cerebral palsy, or worse. Minutes matter.