Baby Think It Over Program

A project with a focus on teen pregnancy issues, Baby Think It Over offers area teens a true taste of the rigors of parenting.

"I think some things have to be experienced for people to understand.  Baby Think It Over really brought teen parenthood into a reality for me...and how to deal with a relationship I was involved in during the time."

-15 year old James Monroe High School Student

The Problem:
The magnitude of the adolescent pregnancy problem is Planning District 16 illustrated by the fact that in 1997, Fredericksburg had the highest teen pregnancy rate in PD 16 at 45.8 per 1,000 girls aged fifteen to seventeen.  In 1999, this rate increased to 112 per 1,000 girls.  Babies born to adolescent mothers are likely to have low birth weights, suffer more chronic health conditions, and suffer more long-term physical and mental disabilities than children born to non-teen mothers.  Education and career plans are often disrupted, delayed or abolished for these pregnant teens.  The cost to the state and to the human being involved is astronomical.

The Idea:
The Rappahannock Area Office on Youth, concerned about these issues, has found a successful tool for educating young people about the risks involved when they decide to have a sexual relationship.  The Baby Think It Over doll was invented by a father who felt that teaching tools of the time did not give teens a real enough picture about the responsibilities a baby can bring.  The doll he created looks, cries, and has the correct weight of a real infant.   Students get a true taste of what parenthood is all about when they are awakened at 2:00a.m. by a crying baby.  The Baby Think It Over dolls come complete with a computer pack that is programmed to make the baby cry randomly every two to four hours.  The teen carries a tending probe that must be inserted into the baby and time of care will vary from five minutes to thirty five minutes.   The computer has a lighting system which registers neglect and abuse events along with total minutes of crying time.  It is recommended that the teens keep the infant simulator for at least two days and nights (over a weekend).  This allows for sleep deprivation to occur.

The Test:
The Office on Youth received funding from the Mary Washington Hospital Community Service Fund to purchase a set of twenty dolls so that area teens could benefit from the experience.  Each teen who uses the dolls receives: a Pre and Post test, and informational document for the teen to read, a parenting contract to be signed by the teen, a parent consent form for the teen's parent to sign, and a daily log sheet to be completed by the teen.  Each of the eleven area high schools has incorporated the Baby Think It Over Program into their Family Life Curriculum.  The results, based on the returned Post-Test questions, are inspiring in that the teens clearly had done some critical thinking about how difficult this project had been and how it might change their decisions about how soon they wanted a baby.  Some of the teens even went so far as to consider the future of their current relationships and how one hurried decision could change their future.

Our Office recently received a new addition to our Baby Think It Over nursery.  We now have a "real care" infant which is more advanced and is currently available for teens to utilize.

Availability:
The dolls are available to any interested group in our Planning District.  Our Office offers the initial training for teachers or mentors and strongly encourage the use of the full program for best results.  Schedules are made on a first come, first served basis.  If you would like more information about this program, feel free to call the Office on Youth at (540) 372-1149, or email us.

Get a Baby Think It Over Brochure