There is a website with free information for new and future parents called the Baby Box University. The goal of the website is to provide support and information on health and safety for babies.
The website is convenient and free of charge.
The format of Baby Box University is a wide selection of very short videos, usually from one to four minutes. Topics include everything from selecting a car seat to breastfeeding to maternal mental health.
The suggested activities with infants promote healthy physical, emotional, and intellectual development.
Besides being a source of information, Baby Box University offers a free baby box. What in the world is a baby box? It’s a research-based idea, more than 40 years old, that is just catching on in the U.S.
The safest way for babies to sleep is ABC: Alone, on their Back, in a Crib.
In order to encourage parents to put their babies to sleep safely, free baby boxes are shipped to families who don’t yet have a crib for their newborn. A baby box is made of sturdy cardboard and equipped with a pad and a fitted sheet that can be used for the first weeks of life.
How do you get a baby box? Go to the Baby Box University website to register. You will watch some of the brief videos and take a short quiz.
Be aware there are look-alike websites that sell baby boxes. The original website does not charge for any information or for the baby box itself.
When ordering a baby box, you will have the choice of picking it up in a specific location or paying $3 to have it shipped to your address.
Even if you aren’t in need of a temporary safe place for your infant to sleep, you will enjoy and benefit from watching some of the videos on from Baby Box University.
Ann Cochran is the health navigation coordinator with the Dallas County Public Health Department.
