All new mothers in Finland receive a “maternity package” for themselves and their newborn babies. The practice was introduced in 1938 when the infant mortality rate in the country was 65 deaths per 1,000 births. Today that figure stands at 1.3 deaths per 1,000 births—one of the lowest in the world; the U.S. scores high with 6.5 deaths per 1,000 births. The “baby box” is filled with useful items from diapers to nipple cream. The concept is now going global, and soon all new mothers in New Jersey and Canada will receive a baby box. The key to the box is not actually the box, but the education that parents are required to get before they are given the box paid for with government money.
