Free Baby Box helps new families
It offers safe sleep environment and meets all the Health Canada’s requirements for a bassinet.” Heidi Wagg, the client advocate and marketing co-ordinator for Peterborough Pregnancy Support Services
A pregnancy support organization is giving out a box to new moms that acts as a bassinet.
Peterborough Pregnancy Support Services is distributing the Baby Box, a bassinet made from a box that’s also filled with items for mom and baby.
The blue cardboard box is lined with a mattress that’s covered with a fitted sheet. It’s designed for newborns to babies up to about five months, or when they start to show signs of being able to roll over.
The 27-by-16 inch box is also packed with baby supplies such as diapers, creams and wipes and deodorant. And it comes with a membership card to Baby Box University, an online educational resource for parents.
Baby Boxes are free and are valued at $150.
Peterborough Pregnancy Support Services started handing them out on May 4.
The non-profit organization offers services including crisis intervention support, one-on-one educational classes, early-bird prenatal instruction, and peer support to women who’re expecting as well as their families.
The group teamed up with The Baby Box Co. to give out the Baby Box to new moms in the area.
The Baby Box Co. adopted a 75-year-old tradition from Finland, where the state hands out Baby Boxes to help get new parents started.
The program has helped Finland achieve one of the world’s lowest infant mortality rates, according to The Baby Box Co.
Heidi Wagg is the client advocate and marketing co-ordinator for Peterborough Pregnancy Support Services.
She said the Baby Box is convenient and safe.
“It offers safe sleep environment and meets all the Health Canada’s requirements for a bassinet,” Wagg said.
Many of the Peterborough Pregnancy Support Services clients’ pregnancies are unplanned and the women are in crisis, she said.
The Baby Box helps reduce stress for expectant moms because it provides a place for baby to sleep without any financial burden.
“Not everyone can afford a $200 to $300 crib,” Wagg said.
Peterborough Pregnancy Support Services put an announcement on Facebook stating they’d be starting to distribute the boxes.
Wagg said she was shocked by how many residents already knew about the program and wanted to take part.
“I thought there was going to be two people – we were unprepared for the response,” she said.
To get a Baby Box, expectant moms register through The Baby Box Co.’s website. The box is then shipped to Peterborough Pregnancy Support Services on Alymer St., where it’s assembled and picked up.
Since joining the program a few weeks ago, Wagg said they’ve already got 120 boxes lined up and expect to prepare many more.
Peterborough Pregnancy Support Services plans to continue to distribute the Baby Box as long as can, Wagg said.
NOTE: To sign up for a Baby Box, go to www.babyboxuniversity.com