Women who give birth at a hospital in Edmonton in London will be provided with a Scandinavian-style ‘baby box’
The North Middlesex University Hospital is the second hospital in the UK to offer the boxes. They come equipped with a variety of things a baby needs at the start of its life, and contains a hard mattress for the baby to sleep. Parents who receive the box will also be able to access educational videos help reduce the risk of infant mortality during pregnancy and the first year of life. The videos are available in up to 17 different languages, including Turkish and Somali, the two most commonly requested local languages at the hospital.
‘Crucially, by providing translations in the languages used by the women we work with, we hope more will recognise the need to get help earlier should complications arise,’ said Michelle Lynch, bereavement midwife at the hospital. ‘We believe the project will help us to improve the health of mothers and babies and help tackle the area’s high rates of stillbirth and death in infancy,’
The baby box was pioneered in Finland, where it has helped to reduce the infant mortality rate from 65 infant deaths per 1000 births in 1938 to 2.26 per 1000 births in 2015.