The New Mom Project
Baby Box Initiative
Prepared by Gwen Broda and Richard Utama
2016-2017
Thank you to The Ontario Trillium Foundation for their
Generous support of this Project
The New Mom Project’s Baby Box initiative was modeled after Finland’s Baby Box. For over 75 years, the Finnish government has given out a box to expectant mothers, which contains bodysuits, a sleeping bag, outdoor gear, bathing products for the baby, as well as nappies, bedding and a small mattress that can be used as a bed. The baby box initiative was initially intended for families on low income, but now it has become an established part of the Finnish tradition towards motherhood.
The aim of the New Mom Project’s Baby Box initiative was to provide similar cardboard baby boxes to 100 vulnerable mothers-to-be, and to evaluate the various benefits of the box, which may include safe sleeping and well-being of the newborn, as well as to assist low-income families to meet their newborn’s basic needs. The initiative ran from February through August 2017.
In order to gather information in regards to the feasibility of the box, the mothers-to-becompleted the initial survey at the time of the box distribution at the New Mom Project office and the referring agencies, and a post/follow-up survey was then completed within 3 to 6 months thereafter. At the end of the project, 68 initial surveys and 19 post-surveys were collected.
In the initial surveys 28 (41%)expectant mothers indicated that this was their first child, while the remaining,40 (59%), stated that they have more than one child, ranging from one(10, 27%) to four (1, 2%) children. Twelve (17%) expectant mothers indicated that their newborn will sleep in the Baby Box, and 43 (63%) indicated that their newborn will sleep in the crib most of the time and 14 (21%) indicated they will sleep in bed with them. For those mothers who already have children, 26 (45%) stated that their babies slept in the crib, and 10 (17%) in bed with them.The post survey indicated that 14 (73%) respondents’ newborn slept in the Baby Box
Secondary information that were also gathered from both initial and post surveys include: whether or not respondents attended prenatal parenting class and what they learned in the class if they attended, and what the participants planned or currently feed their babies.
For full survey results, please see attached.
Project Learning
What did you learn from this project?
We learned from the post-survey that the majority of newborns slept in the Baby Box between 1 to 3 months (46%). The primary reason that they stopped sleeping in the box was because they outgrew it (52%) or they did not like sleeping in the box (10%). The duration of use reflects the indicated standards of the baby box in terms of baby’s size and ability to roll. The useful period of the baby box, as indicated by our respondents, was between 1-3 months, which corresponds with the high-risk period of time for SIDS and other sleep related infant death risks. We feel that this is a positive finding, and will encourage us to recommended rooming in with an infant using the baby box but not co-sleeping in the future.
We also learned that while crib and in bed with the mother are still the most preferred place for babies to sleep in at night (68% and 21% respectively), two participants (10%) stated that their babies sleep in the box. As for daytime nap, crib (10, 52%) and baby box (5, 26%) are the preferred place. Due to the portability of the baby box, it lends itself well to naps and travel.
As indicated in conversations during the post survey, we learned that families were very happy with the support the box provided them. They indicated to us that they used the baby box in different ways, such as allowing the infant to sleep in the box while getting some sunlight on a balcony (helping with jaundice as directed by their physician), and using the mattress as a change pad when the baby outgrew the box. The economic implications that the box has are therefore further reaching than only replacing a crib or bassinet as the families had multiple uses for the box that would not be possible with a crib.
Lastly, we learned that the majority of participants (58%) found baby box useful, and their family and friends somewhat supported them (36%) and supported them a lot (31%). The families indicated through conversation that they appreciated the support and would use the box again with another child.
What would you do differently if you were to do this project again? Why?
One of the biggest challenges that we encountered during this initiative was conducting the follow-up/post survey;this was due to the nature of the transient and hard-to-reach participants. Since some of the mothers-to-be were new immigrants and temporarily resided in settlement shelters, they did not have a fixed contact number and only provided us with the agency number, and when they moved outthey failed to provide us or the referring agencies with their new contacts. Other challenges were language accessibility and staffing time since the surveys were only available in English and we relied on our partner agencies’ staff to conduct the surveys.
If we were to do this project again, and in an effort to ameliorate the above issues, we would conduct an outreach session at our partner agencies and, as indicated in the post-survey that 10% of respondents were unsure on how to use the Baby Box, we would provide workshops on the safe-sleeping in the box for newborns. We would personally conduct the surveys ourselves to avoid adding extra tasks to the already-understaff and under-resourced agencies. Depending on the available resources, we would also translate the surveys in other languages or request a staff that speaks the same language as the clients to interpret for them.
How do you plan to use what you learned from this project?
We plan to share the survey results as well as the challenges and what we learned from this project with our partner agencies, and sought constructive feedback for future projects. We also plan to expand our collaboration with other agencies, such as women’s shelter, and to explore ways to assist low-income and marginalized mothers-to-be. Finally, we plan to seek a more sustainable funding opportunities; this will enable us to acquire reliable and consistent resources. As we continue to provide the baby box to the community, it enables us to promote safe sleep and make it a key message that our organization stands behind. The New Mom Project is modeled after the Finnish maternity care package, and we are proud to be continuing the tradition here in Canada.