DD HEALTH: MUMS IN UK HOSPITAL GIVEN BABY BOXES IN BID TO PREVENT COT DEATH
A hospital in West London has become the first in the UK to give parents so-called Finnish-style “baby boxes” for their newborns to sleep in.
The boxes have been credited with reducing infant mortality in Finland from 65 infant deaths per 1,000 births in 1938 to 2.26 per 1,000 births in 2015, according to data from The World Bank.
The UK ranks 22nd out of 50 European countries in terms of infant mortality, with 4.19 deaths per 1,000 births.
As part of the antenatal care in Finland, the state gives mothers a baby box shortly before
their baby is born. It’s a cardboard box filled with gender neutral clothes, a picture book,
a thermometer, a bath towel, nail scissors, a teething toy and muslin squares.
The boxes, made from thick cardboard, are used in Finland as a baby’s bed for up to the first eight months of their life.
The baby boxes are given to every mother, irrespective of social background, age, or where they live in the country.
Replacing the need for the traditional Moses basket, it is thought the small size of the baby box prevents babies from rolling onto their tummies, which experts think can contribute to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
The packages have been distributed to expectant mums in Finland for more than 75 years.
Queen Charlotte and Chelsea Hospital, part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, will be carrying out the first UK trial of the tradition, which it hopes will reduce the infant mortality rate.
Karen Joash, consultant obstetrician at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital and leading the baby box trial, said in a statement: “For too many years the UK has fallen behind its European counterparts when it comes to reducing infant mortality.
“These boxes have been proven to help reduce the infant mortality rate in Finland and we hope that these results could be replicated in the UK.”
Each box contains a firm foam mattress, waterproof mattress cover and a cotton sheet.
In addition to receiving the box, new mums will also be given specialist education materials, with advice on how to further reduce the risk of infant mortality, improve parental bonding and support the transition to parenthood.
The trial started on Monday 27th June and as part of this, babies who received the boxes will be monitored by the Trust until they are eight months old, as practised in Finland.
Their parents will then be asked to fill out a questionnaire about their use of the box.
The hospital will distribute 800 baby boxes on a first come, first served basis.
However, in an interview recently with the BBC, Colin Pritchard, a professor at Bournemouth University who has studied child and infant mortality, says the box system makes some “theoretical sense”, as it provides the baby with somewhere to sleep other than the parents’ bed and could therefore reduce the number of deaths linked to suffocation.
But he believes the effect will be marginal. Alleviating poverty, stopping parents smoking,
and improving education and antenatal care – all these things are more fundamental
in tackling the problem of infant mortality.
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