Inspired By Finland’s Program, Dallas Native Gives New Moms ‘Baby Boxes’ For Safe Sleep

Advocates hope the boxes will lower the infant mortality rate.

By Lauren SilvermanMay 11, 2017 9:30 am, , ,

From KERA:

Across the country, new babies are sleeping in cardboard boxes. It might sound strange, but the boxes are part of a larger initiative to lower the infant mortality rate. So far, more than a million “Baby Boxes” have been distributed across the world.

This month, the company behind the boxes launched in Texas, where it plans to hand out 400,000 boxes this year. Soon, new parents in Texas could be unpacking boxes instead of fancy bassinets.

Bassinets without legs

Around 8:30 PM every night, Taylor Freed places her baby, Penelope, on her back into a cardboard box with a printed bluebonnet border. Penelope is a smiley four-month-old, who’s passionate about blowing bubbles. Freed, who lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Dallas, got the box for free after taking an online course about how to get babies to sleep safely.

“It came with some wipes, some breast feeding stuff, some diapers and a little onesie, too, that on the front of it reminds you always have [the babies] sleep on their backs so it’s safe,” Freed says.

Across the country, more than 3,500 babies died unexpectedly and suddenly in 2015. In Texas, the infant mortality rate is below the national average, around 5.8 deaths per 100,000 births, but there are big differences among ethnic groups. And in certain cities areas – like Fort Worth – the rate is much higher.

One of the most common ways babies die is by accidental suffocation — being smothered by sleeping too close to parents, pillows, soft toys or blankets. The idea behind the boxes is to remove all those objects and promote safe sleep — cheaply — for all moms.

Getting Americans on board

Jennifer Clary, the co-founder and CEO of Baby Box Co., is a Dallas native. “Baby boxes are essentially durable cardboard bassinets without legs,” she says.

Clary first heard about baby boxes in a news story highlighting the success of Finland’s baby box program, which is more than 75 years old. There, infant mortality rates are among the lowest in the world. In 2013, Clary and a friend, also from Dallas, founded the Baby Box company and began partnering with hospitals to distribute boxes to new moms in states like New Jersey, Ohio and Alabama. In May, they launched in Texas.

“We had to be very careful entering the Texas market because it is the largest state to date,” Clary says. “To give you a comparison, there’s 105,000 births in New Jersey annually and there’s almost 400,000 in Texas each year.”

In north Texas, the company is working with a handful of hospitals. The challenge in the U.S., Clary says, has been familiarizing people with the concept.

“In the U.S.,” Clary says. “Parents are kind of like ‘Why would I put my baby in a box?’”

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