All new mothers in Scotland are being offered free baby boxes including clothes, thermometers and books in an effort to improve their children’s life chances.



The boxes, worth about £160 each including distribution costs, are being made available to about 58,000 mothers a year from Tuesday, in a voluntary opt-in scheme. The initiative mirrors a programme running in Finland since the 1930s.

The cardboard boxes come with a fitted mattress, a sheet and bedding to allow them to act as temporary cribs as part of efforts to reduce cot death rates and promote safe sleeping.

They include a digital ear thermometer worth about £45, fleece jackets, bodysuits, sleepsuits, anti-scratch mittens and muslin cloths.

The extent of their potential impact on preventing sudden infant deaths remains unclear, with Scotland’s main cot death charity arguing that proper cots and cribs were still the safest options.

The £8m-a-year scheme was announced by Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, at the Scottish National party conference before last year’s Holyrood elections.

She told delegates: “This simple but powerful idea originated in Finland. It provides practical help for parents and has reduced infant mortality and improved child health.”

Ministers stress the boxes are not expected to prevent cot deaths but are instead part of a broader “safe sleeping” education campaign aimed at mothers in particular who may not be aware of the risks. Each box contains safety tips and a sleeping guide.

Catherine Calderwood, Scotland’s chief medical officer, said the scheme would be evaluated to see what impact it had on sleeping practices and cot deaths.

“Our safe sleeping message has always been that the baby should have a separate safe place to sleep with new mothers. So this baby box provides that,” Calderwood said as she and Mark McDonald, Scotland’s childcare and early years minister, watched the first boxes being assembled and packed in Edinburgh.

They said the boxes had been accredited as cribs with a British safety standard. McDonald said many new mothers in Orkney and Clackmannanshire, the two pilot areas, had enjoyed using them as beds, while others who were sceptical became converts.

“We have evidence that parents can, will and do use them as safe sleeping places,” he said. “We know there are parents out there who don’t have anything available for their child; we know there are some parents out there who have their children sleeping in an unsafe manner.”

Lynsay Allan, the executive director of the Scottish Cot Death Trust, said: “The important thing is that a box itself cannot reduce infant mortality. What’s important is an understanding of safe sleep messages. If [parents] don’t have a safe sleeping environment, then the box may provide the safe sleep environment.”

Calderwood said there were about 18 unexplained cot deaths among the 40-50 sudden infant deaths in Scotland each year.

Allan said since that number was relatively low and varied from year to year, it could be many years for enough evidence to emerge that the baby boxes were responsible for reducing cot deaths.

She said the boxes would be useful to parents because they were portable, but warned: “There is no evidence base to say baby boxes are safer than cots, cribs or Moses baskets.”

Ministers do not yet know how many mothers will request the boxes. Although parents need to apply, the Scottish government has budgeted for a 100% take-up for all 58,000 or so newborn. In Orkney and Clackmannanshire, take-up was about 85%.

Asked whether some parents with adequate incomes would take the boxes simply to get the expensive digital and bath thermometers, but discard or give away the rest, Calderwood said that would still be beneficial.

“Many parents who may be able to afford some of these high-value items might not buy them or might not know they are desirable,” she said.

The project is supported in principle by Scottish Labour, but the party is critical of the speed with which it has been rolled out and argues that the boxes should contain breastfeeding equipment.

Monica Lennon, Scottish Labour’s inequalities spokeswoman, said poor nutrition among newborns was a critical factor in later ill-health.

Scotland’s breastfeeding rates are low, with fewer than half of newborns being breastfed at about 10 days old.

“The baby box presents a unique opportunity to improve breastfeeding support as part of the aim to provide every child in Scotland with the best possible start in life,” Lennon said last week.