A bit of bedding and a miniature sleeping bag arranged in a cardboard box.
Cardboard box baby bed finland.
A portable bassinet for nightime or naps baby boxes are lightweight and sturdy cardboard boxes that expectant mothers in finland have been using as bassinets since the 1930s.
At a glance it seems a strange place to put a newborn.
For 75 years newborn babies in finland have been sent home with a cardboard box full of essential sleeping items issued by the government.
It s called the maternity box.
They could either receive 140 euros or a baby box stuffed with child.
Most parents in finland don t even use the boxes as a baby bed.
Valley news live looked into the practice to see if it is really safe.
In finland baby boxes have had a dramatic impact.
It s a growing trend to have your newborn sleep in a cardboard box known as baby box.
A recent survey found that just 37 percent of families there used the baby boxes as a sleeping place dr.
When the program launched in 1949 the government gave mothers a choice.
Due in part to this maternity kit custom finland has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world and other countries are taking notice.
Many children from all social backgrounds have their first naps within the safety of the box s four cardboard walls.
And at the bottom of the box is a thin mattress.
For decades the finns have given every new baby a big cardboard box filled with free diapers wipes warm clothes etc.
With the mattress in the bottom the box becomes a baby s first bed.
Even so that s the first place that many finnish infants lay.
After they return home parents don t simply take out the more valuable sleeping items and discard the cardboard box.