A box can reduce infant deaths
GIVING new parents a box for their children to sleep in could save babies’ lives, a new study has found.
Handing out “baby boxes” – cardboard containers lined with bedding that contain supplies for newborns – and educating parents about the risks of sharing a bed with their babies reduced rates of this dangerous sleeping arrangement, said US researchers.
Previous research suggests bed sharing increases the likelihood of sudden infant death syndrome fivefold, with the risk even higher for mothers and fathers who smoke, drink or take drugs.
Scientists at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia said faceto-face information sessions and the distribution of baby boxes had reduced bed-sharing rates by 25% during the first eight days of life.
The research team working in North Philadelphia, an area with high levels of deprivation and one of America’s highest infant mortality rates, gathered data from 2 763 new mothers as part of the study.
Their baby box scheme was found to reduce bed sharing rates by a quarter overall, and by 50% for exclusively breastfed infants, who are more likely to share a bed with their parents.
Baby boxes have been used for 75 years in Finland, where the government provides one for every parent-to-be.
The cartons contain clothes, sheets and toys, as well as providing a safe place to sleep. The initiative has been lauded as one reason for the Nordic country’s extremely low infant mortality rate.
“The education is the most important part of it. The baby box itself gives babies a safe place to sleep for families who can’t afford a cot,” a spokesperson for the social enterprise told The Independent. “The size of the box also prevents babies from rolling on to their stomachs, which is a factor involved in cot death.”
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), also known as cot death, is rare but the risk can be lowered by placing a baby to sleep on its back, not exposing them to cigarette smoke or allowing them to overheat.
The new study, presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco, tested the efficacy of a scheme in which new parents received advice on how to sleep their babies in person by registered nurses supervised by a paediatrician.
They were given a baby box with a foam mattress, cotton-fitted sheet and baby supplies, and a summary of the teaching points and also watched a three-minute-long video on how the box should be used. – The Independent