If you are pregnant or have a new baby, CradleME services are available for free. CradleME helps connect you with the right home-based or virtual services for you and your baby. CradleME is a partnership between many programs: Public Health Nursing, Maine Families, WIC Nutrition Program, MaineMOM and Child Developmental Services Early Intervention Program. Sign up today to have a nurse, family visitor, or program specialist give you a call and tell you more about what their services can offer your family. Then, if you choose, you can set up a time to meet in your home, online virtually, or continue your visits via phone. Below is a description of each service available to you on the CradleME request form.
Maine CDC Public Health Nurses are registered professional nurses who provide in-home or virtual health services for families. All prenatal and postpartum women and all newborns and infants up to 12 months of age may receive a visit from a Public Health Nurse. Whether it is to address any concerns you have with your pregnancy or birth, a nurse can answer your health-related questions about you or your baby. If you have questions about your health or your baby's health, you may request a nurse at any time by calling the CradleME number. For more information, visit the Public Health Nursing webpage.
Maine Families Visitors provide caring support and reliable information on the topics that matter to you. Whether it's how to soothe your crying baby, how to manage sleep (yours included!), or how to deal with the stresses of parenting, a Maine Families visitor can listen to your needs and concerns and empower you to make your own decisions about what is best for you and your baby. Every Maine Families Visitor is certified in the evidence-based program Parents As Teachers – because a parent is the most important teacher that a child will ever have. For more information, visit www.mainefamilies.org
Child Developmental Services Early Intervention Program focuses on providing families and other primary caregivers with evidence-based strategies that can be incorporated into daily routines and activities to promote the child’s development, as well as connecting families with outside resources to meet the needs of the child and family. Services are provided in the child’s natural environment (i.e., home, childcare, or other community settings) through an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). For more information, visit the Child Developmental Services webpage.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children - better known as the WIC program - serves to safeguard the health of low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating including breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to health care. WIC is complete nutrition care. For more information, visit www.maine.gov/WIC
MaineMOM Services provide you with support and treatment for your addiction, to support the health of you and your baby during pregnancy and through the first year after delivery. MaineMOM will connect you with a team of health care partners who will work with you to develop a treatment plan and connect you to other supports you might need during and after your pregnancy, including connection to other people who have experienced what you are going through. The MaineMOM team will make sure you and your baby have support beyond the first year of birth to continue in your recovery, including referrals to services that can help you care for your baby and continue your substance use treatment. For more information visit MaineMOM.org
DHHS Non-Discrimination Notice The Department of Health and Human Services complies with applicable Federal and State civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, religious or political belief, ancestry, familial or marital status, genetic information, association, previous assertion of a claim or right, or whistleblower activity, in admission or access to, or the operation of its policies, programs, services, or activities, or in hiring or employment practices.