MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Colquitt County Family Connection Collaborative hosted the state-wide launch Wednesday of “Talk With Me Baby,” an effort to encourage new mothers to talk to their infants.

Janet Sheldon, executive director of Family Connection, said research has linked the number of words a young child hears with future success in school. The more parents talk to their babies and toddlers, the better they’re likely to do.

“Children are entering school not yet ready to learn,” Sheldon said, citing information from a Harvard University study. “This can put them behind for their entire lives. Sixty-one percent of children from low-income backgrounds have no children’s books at home. By age 2, they are already behind their peers in listening, counting and other skills essential to literacy. Children from low-income homes hear as many as 30 million fewer words than their more affluent peers by the time they begin school.”

Sheldon received a grant for family engagement of young children from the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL). She approached Colquitt Regional CEO Jim Matney with a plan to show new mothers a DVD, “Talk With Me Baby,” over the hospital’s television station. Since the hospital will be the birthplace of about 700 babies this year, she reasoned that would be a good way to get the message out to the people who need it most.

Sheldon said Matney improved on her idea and offered to send the DVD home with every new mother, but he said he’d need a release to reproduce them. Jill O’Meara, DECAL’s Early Education Empowerment Zone coordinator, contacted Dr. Seema Cukas, director of maternal and child health with the Georgia Department of Public Health, which commissioned the creation of the DVD.

Cukas offered to produce the DVD of “Talk With Me Baby” for all the mothers giving birth at Colquitt Regional Medical Center and, to kick-off the “Talk With Me Baby” program statewide, the department would provide bibs that say “Feed Me Words” and a board book for parents to read with the same message.

The Department of Public Health will also provide free training for the OB-GYN nurses and other professionals who deal with mothers and babies. The training took place on Wednesday at the hospital.

Colquitt Regional Medical Center already provides for each mother a “Baby Bag” and in this bag are numerous useful items including several high quality baby books, disposable diapers, and a onesie provided by the hospital volunteers with “This Side Up” emblazoned on the front — because babies who sleep on their backs are less likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Talk With Me Baby is getting support from The Georgia Commission on Women, thanks in part to Dr. Brenda Fritzgerald, commissioner of the Department of Public Health, who brought it to their attention, and in part to another Colquitt Countian, Susan Whiddon. Whiddon — a retired educator, founder of the Titus Ranch Mentoring Program in Moultrie, and a member of the Colquitt County Family Connection Collaborative — has volunteered to spearhead the project for The Georgia Commission on Women throughout the state.

“The goal is for the word to spread that a baby needs direct eye contact and constant interaction by talking, reading, playing games, holding and loving them,” Sheldon said. “This is the most active time of brain development in a human and without stimulation, [the child] will not develop to the full potential and … will be behind his or her peers.”