Maternity package

These clothes were included with linens and hygiene items into "rotating baskets" (kiertokorit in Finnish) and were loaned to local mothers who needed them.

In 1938, the Finnish government began to provide "maternity grants" for low-income mothers in the form of either an in-kind goods "baby box" or an alternative cash benefit.

[12] In 1938, two-thirds of new mothers in Finland received a maternity grant, which was valued at more than one-third of an industrial worker's average monthly wages.

[9] In 1944, additional legislation was passed and municipalities became responsible for ensuring that maternal and child health clinics were available, free of charge, to all families.

[13] Although other European countries introduced maternal benefits during the world wars to improve the health of mothers and children and thereby increase birth rates, only in Finland did the maternity grant evolve into a permanent, universal, in-kind grant with the unique focus of not only increasing the birth rate, but also of improving public health.

[14] In 1949, the box given was standard to all expectant mothers who visited a doctor before the fourth month of pregnancy[3] per the Finnish Maternity Grants Act.

[5] The current package contents include bodysuits, a sleeping bag, outdoor gear, bathing products for the baby, nappies and cream, bedding, a hooded bath towel, nail scissors, hairbrush, toothbrush, wash cloth, muslin squares, a picture book, teething toy, bra pads, and condoms.

[17] After in-depth interviews with 29 of these 60 programs, researchers found that the baby box concept has been highly adapted to fit many cultures and has been used with the aim to promote various messages, such as safe sleep or breastfeeding, in contexts from rural prisons to capital cities.

[17] In 2017, an experimental study[13] was conducted in the United States on the use of US baby boxes (a.k.a., "cardboard bassinets"), in combination with safe sleep education, for reducing bed-sharing, which is a risk factor for SIDS and sleep-related deaths (SRD).

The researchers concluded that the third condition (i.e., both types of instruction plus a gifted baby box) reduced the rate of bed-sharing during the first week of the infant's life (as self-reported by the participating mothers), particularly for exclusively breastfeeding mother-infant dyads.

In July 2015, Argentina's Ministry of Health under then-president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner introduced "Plan Qunita" which distributes maternity packages to parents of newborn babies.

The bundle contains picture books, mats, a first aid kit, a sleeping bag, thermometers, and consumable child-care products such as cloths and wipes, with a total retail value of AU$300.

[20] In 2016, a program modeled on the Finnish baby box concept was launched in the northern territory of Nunavut, as a way of combatting its high infant mortality rate.