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Credit Ilvy
Njiokiktjien for The New York Times
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It seems a strange place to put a newborn: a bit of bedding and a miniature
sleeping bag arranged in a cardboard box.
Even so,
that’s the first place that many Finnish infants lay their little heads. And
the simple setup is believed to be one reason that Finland now has one of
the lowest infant mortality rates in the world — 2.52 for every 1,000
births, less than half that of the United States.
Finland provides all mothers-to-be with a baby box, but
there’s a string attached. To receive it, the mother has to undergo a medical
exam during the first four months of pregnancy.
Each year the government gives away about 40,000 of the
boxes, which come with bedding and about 50 other baby items, including
clothes, socks, a warm coat and even a baby balaclava for the icy Nordic
winter. (Mothers who don’t need all those items can choose to get 140 euros
instead, or about $155.)
The program started in the late 1930s, when nearly 1 out of
10 infants in Finland died in their first year. The boxes were a low-cost
way to encourage women to set aside old habits and see a doctor during
pregnancy. They also provided a safe place outside of parents’ beds for infants
to sleep, in homes that might have only rudimentary furniture.
Finland also offers considerable protection for the baby’s
parents: up to 10 months’ paid leave, and a guarantee that whoever stays home
with a child can return to his or her job any time before the child turns 3.
There are efforts to extend the baby-box idea to a wider
audience. A hospital in London recently began giving out the boxes on a trial
basis. In Minnesota, a nonprofit group distributed the boxes to low-income families,
inspiring a proposal that state lawmakers are debating. A graduate student
at Harvard formed an organization to distribute similar kits in South Asia.
“When you move abroad, you realize that, wow, not every
place has a baby box,” said Sanna Kangasharju, who works in the Finnish Embassy
in Washington.
“It’s a very efficient system.”
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Credit Ilvy
Njiokiktjien for The New York Times
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