Add the mattress and it ingeniously becomes a safe and simple crib.
Cardboard box baby bed finland.
Most parents in finland don t even use the boxes as a baby bed.
You get the idea once the goodies are removed what remains is an inexpensive little baby bed to keep an infant on the floor right next to mama all night.
At a glance it seems a strange place to put a newborn.
It s a growing trend to have your newborn sleep in a cardboard box known as baby box.
And at the bottom of the box is a thin mattress.
It s called the maternity box.
A bit of bedding and a miniature sleeping bag arranged in a cardboard box.
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.
Many children from all social backgrounds have their first naps within the safety of the box s four cardboard walls.
They could either receive 140 euros or a baby box stuffed with child.
In finland baby boxes have had a dramatic impact.
When the program launched in 1949 the government gave mothers a choice.
For decades the finns have given every new baby a big cardboard box filled with free diapers wipes warm clothes etc.
That s right the cardboard box that carries these essentials is not just any ordinary receptacle.
A recent survey found that just 37 percent of families there used the baby boxes as a sleeping place dr.
For 75 years newborn babies in finland have been sent home with a cardboard box full of essential sleeping items issued by the government.
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.