‘Baby box’ could be coming to a hospital near you
A POLITICIAN has called for the ‘baby box’ scheme, on trial in parts of the South East, to be extended nationwide.
The cardboard boxes are designed to be used instead of the traditional Moses baskets, for babies up to six weeks old. They come with a firm mattress, waterproof mattress cover and a fitted cotton sheet. They also contain such useful items as thermometers and nursing pads.
They have been distributed to parents in Wexford, Limerick and Tipperary in a pilot scheme with Wexford General Hospital, South Tipperary General Hospital and University Maternity Hospital, Limerick. When the scheme was launched it was suggested that, if successful, it could be extended to Kilkenny, Waterford, Cork and then to the country as a whole.
“The success of the pilot scheme shows the appetite among new parents for the baby box to be distributed to every new parent in Ireland,” said Senator Neale Richmond, a new father who is enthusiastic about the boxes.
The boxes are routinely given to new parents in Scandinavian countries where it is claimed that infants using them are much less likely to suffer cot death — because they are too small for the baby to roll over onto their tummies.