Baby boxes are all the buzz, but are they all bunk?

Company stands behind its product

As part of an effort to reduce sudden infant death syndrome in the USA, more than 300,000 infants could sleep in cardboard boxes before year’s end.

That idea doesn’t rest well with prominent doctors, researchers and organizations focused on SIDS who say the boxes are untested and unregulated.

The Baby Box Co. maintains its box is as safe as any crib. Doctors and public health professionals who work with the Los Angelesbased company echo that view.

They said its low cost and educational component make the product promising in states where it’s offered at no cost, including New Jersey, Ohio and Alabama.

About 3,500 infants die each year in the USA from sleep-relat- ed causes, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, whose Task Force on SIDS said enthusiasm about baby boxes has outpaced knowledge about them.

“I don’t think that we can be gung-ho, let’s do baby boxes,” said Rachel Moon, a University of Virginia pediatrician who leads the task force, “because the evidence just isn’t there.”

In Finland, which has one of the lowest infant mortality rates, expectant mothers receiving a prenatal checkup can get a free box of baby necessities such as blankets and clothing. The Baby Box Co. said it was “born from” this tradition, but in the USA, parents complete a video-based course about safe sleep on the company’s website before receiving their box. Baby Box CEO Jennifer Clary said the boxes have been tested for bassinet standards.

“I hope it comes out that it’s effective and safe. It’s easy to be supportive of this,” said Thomas Hegyi, medical director of the SIDS Center of New Jersey. “It’s harder to say: Wait a minute, where is the evidence?”