Would you put your newborn baby to sleep in a cardboard box? Surely not, basically because having cribs, mini-cribs, bassinet, beds and things like that, it wouldn't make much sense to use a box to put the babies. In fact, if we explained it ("Yes, my baby, my precious baby, sleeps in a cardboard box"), they would look at us strangely or try to give us an economic help to buy a crib or offer us a solution.
In Finland that does not happen, because there it is normal for a baby to sleep in a cardboard box. The funny thing is that there are few economic problems there, if we compare them with us, the parents, in fact, receive much more help per child than us (it is not difficult, because here we receive almost none) and the cultural level is, of Average, superior to ours. Why then do babies sleep in cardboard boxes?
By tradition and by philosophy
The reason is more emotional than anything else, because they could certainly put their children to sleep anywhere rather than in a box, however It is a tradition that is 75 years old and that comes from the cardboard box with things for the baby that the State gives to recent parents (Well, they give it away before the baby is born, in fact).
The purpose of this box is that all Finnish children, whatever their social status, have an equitable start of life, that all arrive with the same. That's why the box is given to any couple who has a baby.
If you are wondering what the box contains, tell them many things. Just look at the photo to see that it is rare for parents to buy clothes for their newborn baby, as they come pajamas, sleeping bags, street clothes, cloth diapers, cold insulated boots, bath towel, thermometer bath, nail scissors, etc. and a small mattress. He mattress fits the bottom of the box and that way the box becomes the baby's first bed.
Mothers can ask for the box or receive cash ($ 214), but most ask for the box, because the content is more valuable than money.
It all started in 1938
The first time the State delivered boxes for babies it was in 1938, when it was decided to help low-income families. In the box there was what was necessary for mothers to take care of their children and also information to guide mothers towards health professionals, in order to prevent possible problems. The reason was that at that time the country was very poor and infant mortality affected 65 of every 1,000 births.
In the year 49 it was decided to give the box universally, to all parents, so that all babies were equal and had the same beginning of life. Between this measure and the arrival of social security in the 1960s, mortality fell considerably. Let's not forget that colecho is not dangerous in itself, but yes it is if it is not done safely, and that groups of people in precarious socioeconomic status are generally recommended to put the baby to sleep in a place away from the parents' bed, as Unicef said a few days ago. The box, with its small mattress, had the function of making the place where the baby should sleep in a safer place.
The box as a tradition
The box has been around for 75 years, so It is already a tradition known for generations, with designs that have been changing over time and with contents that have been renewed. This has made the new couples receive the box with illusion when having a baby, and that the mothers who already received them years ago, also expect it with melancholy and wanting to see how it has changed over time.
According Save the Children, Finland is the best country to be a mother. It is true that they pay a lot of taxes, but it is also true that parents see very clearly where they are invested and they see that much of what they pay comes back in the form of services. That is why they feel so well treated, with very long maternal and paternal casualties and such comforts, that they have no complaints. The free box, with everything it contains, is a sample of this.
As a curiosity, so you can see how the contents of the box have changed over the years, in the 30s and 40s the box contained fabrics, since it was the mothers who made clothes for their babies. During World War II, given that cotton and textiles went to the Ministry of Defense, mothers received sheets of paper and a cloth cover. Already in 57 the first ready-made garments were added and in 69 disposable diapers were introduced. In 2006 it they changed the disposables for cloth diapers and the bottle that was delivered until then was removed, to encourage breastfeeding.
Is it safer to sleep in cardboard boxes?
At that time probably yes. Currently, and although some countries are trying to extend this custom, probably not. I speak of probabilities because one of the countries that wants to import this tradition is the USA, where they have a serious problem with sudden death, because many parents make use of soft bedding around the baby (cushions, quilts, etc.) , because there are parents with significant overweight sleeping with their children (it is not advisable to share a bed in this case) and because many parents put their babies to sleep in prone position: face down.
If instead we go to one of the societies that most worries about this issue, Japan, we discovered that babies do not sleep in cardboard boxes, but with their parents, and have always had very low SMSL rates, which have declined further in recent years.
He Dr. James McKenna, Professor of Anthropology and director of the Maternal and Child Sleep Behavior Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, says the following in his book Sleeping with your baby when referring to Japan:
The Family Organization and SIDS in Japan reported that sudden death rates continue to decline in that country as the number of smoking mothers approaches 0, and that exclusive breastfeeding is around 70-75%. In fact, a report shows that with increasing breastfeeding and breastfeeding and reducing the number of smoking mothers, the SIDS rate decreases. This suggests, again, that the dangerous thing may not be the colecho itself, but certain ways in which it is practiced.
So we can say that cardboard boxes are a very beautiful tradition, but that putting the baby to sleep in it has already become outdated: the home of a baby, day and night, is the body of your primary caregiver, habitually Mother. That is where it is quieter, safer and where it is more likely to be breastfed on demand and for longer.
Via and Photos | BBC In Babies and more | The differences between the Spanish and the Finnish education system in "Salvados", Finland's educational system on video, at daycare or at home?
