• by Les Luchter , January 14, 2024

Brands committed to healthy babies have been making news during the past week, from prenatal supplements and STD prevention to postnatal safety and infant formula.

Six months after launching its largest ad campaign on behalf of prenatal vitamins, D2C subscription-based marketer Ritual has unveiled Choline, a supplement it says will support babies' cognitive function when taken during pregnancy.

Ritual cites a Cornell University study that found a dose of 550 mg of choline helped promote the speed of information processing in infancy – as well as sustained attention from early childhood to the age of seven

That’s the exact dosage for Ritual’s choline, which is priced at $25 for a 15-day supply.

In other news, a campaign tells expectant parents that “Syphillis can be fatal to your baby,” a warning issued by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF).

AHF, which offers free sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and treatment at 36 locations in 14 states and Washington, D.C., says there’s been a “dramatic increase” in congenital syphilis cases over the past year, and simultaneously “a shortage of the most effective treatment medication for the infection (Bicillin L-A). “

The ad campaign, which drives women to AHF’s FreeSTDCheck.org, consists of billboards and posters in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, and Nevada. Locations for the posters include transit shelters, buses, bus benches and street kiosks I

AHF says the campaign will run for three months in most markets.

Once baby is born, parents may sell stress out and lose sleep from worrying about the child’s health and safety, with one of the most dreaded situations being Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

At CES, BabySmile showed a new motion sensor monitor that promises to provide “peace of mind” to parents by fighting against SIDS.

The device, capable of detecting minute movements, is attached to the front of the baby’s diaper. An alarm sounds if no movement is detected for 20 seconds. The product will be sold on Amazon, date to come.

And don’t forget infant formula!

Bobbie, a D2C subscription-based infant formula brand, has teamed with tennis great and new mom Naomi Osaka for “Parents, We Push Harder,” a campaign designed to raise awareness around the lack of paid leave for parents in the U.S. Three nonprofits -- Paid Leave for All, Chamber of Mothers and Moms First -- are also involved in the effort.

The campaign launches as Osaka returns to the court at the Australian Open this weekend.

Bobbie’s website notes that Osaka is coming back “on her own terms, with her own feeding plan. Now, she’s advocating for all parents to be able to do the same.”

Key to the campaign is an “N.O. Support Grant” that will provide $580 in cash to 50 families. That’s the same minimum dollar amount that would be guaranteed monthly under a proposed U.S. Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act. The law would give parents 12 weeks paid leave and job protection.

In what Bobbie says is the first campaign from an instant formula brand to ever run on ESPN, a :30 spot starring Osaka is debuting on the network’s Australian Open coverage. Except for an extremely brief image of a Bobbie product, the ad mentions neither paid leave nor baby formula.

Instead, Osaka cites her child as what’s motivating her, and the spot ends with the tagline, “Parents, we push harder.”