PHILADELPHIA---Doctors and nurses hope to lower the city’s high infant mortality rate by distributing baby boxes that encourage safe sleeping habits for newborns and their caregivers.
Temple University Hospital this week began giving out the cardboard boxes that are lined with a mattress and function like a bassinet. They’re meant to discourage parents from sleeping with their babies, which could lead to accidental suffocation.
The program is the largest effort of its kind by an academic health system in the U.S., hospital officials said, though that could not immediately be confirmed. It’s based on a successful baby box initiative in Finland that began in the 1930s and lowered that country’s infant mortality rate.
At Temple, Brianna Devero received the first box a few days ago after her son, Steven Tonzelli Jr., was born. The boy arrived two weeks early - before her house was ready for the new arrival.
Temple patient Victoria Mack received a box Friday for her son Reign - who also arrived unexpectedly early.
“It’s nice to know that you have something that you can go home with ... until when you finally have everything ready to go,” she said.
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