A hospital in West London has become the first in the UK to give parents so-called "baby boxes" that newborns can sleep in.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.
1 How many children have been given the box before Jackson?
2 When and where did this tradition start?
3 What does the box contain?
4 Apart from being a safe sleeping environment, what does the box provide?
5 How much does the box cost?
At just a few days old Jackson is the first child to be given a baby box from a UK hospital. The gift is now being offered to all parents to give birth at Queen Charlotte's, a helping hand in those nerve wracking early days. The idea is based on a tradition from Finland beginning in 1938, with every new mom being given a baby starter kit, and it's credited with cutting infant mortality rates. The baby boxes contains several newborn essentials and, crucially, they contain a mattress, which turns the box into a bed. It also discourages parents from placing a newborn in their beds.
Something portable, like this, that's really, really good and he loves it.
He seems to love it in there, yeah, that's the thing… He’s really enjoying in there.
He absolutely loves it.
I’ve never seen him so happy so far…
Yeah, he’s transfixed.
Yeah. He loves, loves owls, I think.
It's nice, it's big you might think, if you got any old cardboard box you would be like, I won't, I would never put my child in that but actually… it does actually work.
As well as providing a safe sleeping environment, information provided with the box means parents can tap into a host of educational resources.
So the box obviously is lovely, it’s a lovely safe sitting area but in addition we will give all women membership to baby box university so it’s a huge platform of educational resources, you know, giving people, empowering them to build and understand how to take care of a child to the best of their ability is… I think that's the greatest gift.
What may come as a surprise is the boxes aren't costing the NHS a penny. An American social enterprise company is funding the scheme with backing from businesses. Plans are in place for other hospitals across England to give out the boxes and should it be a success, Jackson could be the first of thousands of British babies to benefit from a box.
Key:
1 none, he's the first one
2 1938, Finland
3 several newborn essentials and a mattress
4 educational resources
5 nothing
