For almost 80 years, Finland has given newborns a baby box filled with baby clothes and other essential items like bedding, towels, and child-care products. There’s even a mattress, which allows the box itself to be used as crib for the beginning of the baby’s life.
With a 95% take-up rate, the baby box or ‘maternity package‘ has been credited with cutting the Finnish infant death rate from 10% to 0.2%, giving Finland one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world.
Starting next year, Scotland will be adopting the popular Finnish program, offering all new parents a ‘baby box’ filled with essential items. First announced in April, Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, confirmed the new policy during the closing remarks of her party’s conference in Glasgow last week.
Below you can see all 50 items included in Finland’s 2016 version of the Maternity Package. Scotland has already launched a competition for their country’s baby box design with the first boxes to be delivered to newborns in pilot areas on New Year’s Day.
For more information on Finland’s Maternity Package, visit www.kela.fi
[via The Independent]
The 2016 Finnish ‘Maternity Package’
