Alabama will join Ohio and New Jersey as one of three states in the nation to offer expecting mothers a free Baby Box.
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley announced earlier this week the program, a partnership with The Baby Box Co., Alabama Rural Development Office, Alabama Department of Public Health and numerous others, expects to distribute 60,000 Baby Boxes in 2017. The boxes, available after a mother watches a 15-20 minute video online at the Baby Box University website, are made of durable cardboard and contain a firm box-sized mattress and other baby care items in an effort to decrease the state’s infant mortality rate. The program, which is based on Finland’s program for encouraging expecting mothers to receive prenatal care, is being used to raise awareness of safe sleeping practices and help prevent …show more content…
“This statewide program encourages new and expecting parents, of all socioeconomic backgrounds, to take advantage of this free educational program, which can be the difference between life and death. We ultimately want to reduce the infant mortality rate in Alabama and assist families in raising happy, healthy babies.”
Experts and researchers do caution expecting parents not to think of the box, as a basinet, which has firmer frames and leg supports, if it is used as a baby bed and not to let the Baby Box University program substitute prenatal care, which is still the best way to ensure a baby’s health. Overall, the Baby Box program has proved effective: It has helped Finland drop its infant mortality rate to one of the lowest in the world, 3.0 per 1,000 live births.
To receive a baby box in Alabama, register for free online at babyboxuniversity.com as an Alabama resident, watch the instructional video and then select to either pick-up your baby box or have it delivered to the address you provided when
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley announced earlier this week the program, a partnership with The Baby Box Co., Alabama Rural Development Office, Alabama Department of Public Health and numerous others, expects to distribute 60,000 Baby Boxes in 2017. The boxes, available after a mother watches a 15-20 minute video online at the Baby Box University website, are made of durable cardboard and contain a firm box-sized mattress and other baby care items in an effort to decrease the state’s infant mortality rate. The program, which is based on Finland’s program for encouraging expecting mothers to receive prenatal care, is being used to raise awareness of safe sleeping practices and help prevent …show more content…
“This statewide program encourages new and expecting parents, of all socioeconomic backgrounds, to take advantage of this free educational program, which can be the difference between life and death. We ultimately want to reduce the infant mortality rate in Alabama and assist families in raising happy, healthy babies.”
Experts and researchers do caution expecting parents not to think of the box, as a basinet, which has firmer frames and leg supports, if it is used as a baby bed and not to let the Baby Box University program substitute prenatal care, which is still the best way to ensure a baby’s health. Overall, the Baby Box program has proved effective: It has helped Finland drop its infant mortality rate to one of the lowest in the world, 3.0 per 1,000 live births.
To receive a baby box in Alabama, register for free online at babyboxuniversity.com as an Alabama resident, watch the instructional video and then select to either pick-up your baby box or have it delivered to the address you provided when