We have a beautiful new Nez Perce cradleboard in our current exhibit, and two historical photos of children in cradleboards. Tomorrow’s noon Brown Bag talk will have Cece Whitewolf talking about cradleboards.
All the talk and the pictures sent me in two directions: first, remembering a recent NPR story on cardboard “baby boxes” as a safe way to raise children; and secondly, my 1965 discovery as a new Peace Corps Volunteer in a Turkish village that babies there were still “wrapped in swaddling clothes.”
Seventy-five years ago Finland was suffering from a very high infant death rate—65 of 1000 births. The government developed a program of information and tools to give to new moms to attack the problem. A small cardboard box with a firm mattress, basic baby clothing, nail scissors, bath thermometer, etc. was given to all poor families. The box itself served as baby’s first bed. A few years later, the program was extended to all Finnish families, and the results have been dramatic. Infant SID deaths dropped dramatically—Finland now has one of the lowest rates in the world; moms loved the feeling of safety, and children loved the security.
(check out Finnish baby boxes)
I heard the news on National Public Radio, where I learned that the State of New Jersey and some cites are giving out baby boxes, and that private companies are picking up the Finnish idea and running with it. You can buy one for about $70 shipped to your door.
Looking at the well-crafted doeskin cradleboard in our exhibit, one American mom couldn’t help a smile and “of course!” How safe a baby—and a mom—must feel, and, with the cradleboard, you can—and Indian moms have always—propped the baby up so that he or she can watch you at work and see whatever else is going on.
Which reminded me of the Turkish babies I had seen wrapped tightly in swaddling clothes, packed easily from one mother task to another, propped up in the field or the kitchen to watch mom work.
So—looking again at the real cradleboard and the cardboard baby box pictures online, I applaud the cities and states that are adopting the Finnish model. Something must be done to curb the high numbers—3500 annually—of babies who succumb to SID in America. But I wonder when US states and cities will look further back, to cradleboards and swaddling clothes, to make for happier children and moms, and further improve our dismal SID statistics.
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