Rock-A-Bye-Baby…In the cardboard box!!
Yes you heard it right, a cardboard box. If you are thinking why would anybody ever think of cradling a baby in a cardboard box, you should know that in Finland it’s a tradition where babies have their first naps within the safety of a box’s four cardboard walls.
A box for every mother
For last 75 years, expectant mothers in Finland have been given a box by the state. It’s like a starter kit of gender neutral clothing, toys, bedding and a small mattress that can even be used as a safe comfy bed. With the mattress in the bottom, the box becomes baby’s first bed.
Mothers have a choice between taking the box, or a cash grant, currently set at 140 euros, but 95% opt for the box as it’s worth much more.
“Babies used to sleep in the same bed as their parents and it was recommended that they stop,” says Panu Pulma, a professor at the University of Helsinki.
“Including the box as a bed, meant people started to let their babies sleep separately from them.”
Related: Create your baby checklist
To promote good parenting
The box is now an established part of the Finnish rite of passage towards motherhood. It has spared expecting moms more than a few shopping trips and plenty of money, but its real value lies in its message of social justice for all children.
The essentials in the box propagate good parenting values. For instance, baby bottles were removed to promote breastfeeding. Cloth nappies made a return and the disposable diapers are out, on environmental grounds. A rhyme or picture book is included to encourage reading in children as they grow up.
You may ask why sleeping in the cardboard box could be a better option for your baby to sleep in?
Firstly, Finland has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the entire world. The stats speak for themselves that cardboard boxes are not just usable but also the safest. Secondly, though kids can be safe in cribs but purchasing and putting one together can get stressful.
Related: Good sleeping habits for your baby
Here is a list of the top baby essentials for a baby:
• The warmth of a caring mother
• Milk – breastfed or formula
• Bottles if formula milk
• Clothes
• Sleeping bed
Related: Sleep, baby sleep
Babies don’t require much. Yet we end up purchasing the most promoted baby item available on the racks. What we’ve come to see as necessary for our babies really isn’t. Our materialistic nature combined with the huge emotional commercialization of baby items have made us to think that being good parents is not ‘what’s required’ but ‘what’s available’.
The little cardboard box bed of Finland indicates to us just that, simple is better and in this case even safer.
Would you let your baby sleep in a cardboard box? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
Sources:
Sleeping in a Cardboard Box Could Be the Safest Thing for Your Baby