Unboxing the Finnish Maternity Box 2023 (Äitiyspakkaus): A Remarkable Finnish Tradition |🇲🇲🇫🇮

You are totally right, that maternity box comes handy in time and it´s been around so long...since 1938

[@Aquelll]

You are perfectly correct. The hope is now that people would save the stuff in the box for their next babies too and apply for the money for consecutive babies. Because everyone gets the stuff in the box, you cannot really sell it to anyone. And what ends up happening as the result is that a lot of the perfectly good stuff gets thrown away instead and replaced with a new box of stuff. An environmental consideration for when you are waiting for the next one. 😊

[@susannaviljanen1708]

I still have some items, like thermometer, dishes and washbowls, extant ftrom my own baby box which my mom and dad got so many years ago :-)

[@boombita]

Such amazing box 😍 tears me up I’m one month from delivery and still not able to get it yet due to administration issues between my country and Finland where I am living now 😞 I really hope I will get it before baby come ❤️

[@just42tube]

It is a fairly theoretical situation where the box would be all that a new mother has for then baby. It is just a box of some essential items. 38 items in this year. You mentioned in the title that it is a tradition. I also see it also as partly a tradition and not just practical help for new mothers or families. That it is available for all mothers has also some symbolism in the society. As you mentioned, initially the idea was to give better start for babies in poor circumstances. Nowadays it still has that old justification, but has also more symbolic value. The items in the box have been changing in some details. Some items seem to have been removed from the list of previous years like condoms.

[@karinyman3436]

The idea or design of the box was and is universal, aka one size fits for all. So if you or your family feel it's somewhat unnecessary, maybe you need to think outside of your baby box.

[@just42tube]

@@karinyman3436 The most obvious alternative, out of the box way of thinking, is to choose the offered alternative: You can choose between a maternity package and a cash benefit. But it's clearly not just a practical benefit for many people in Finland. It can be experienced as a welcoming gift to the newborn and the mother. Sometimes people keep some of its items as memento, which suggests significant symbolic value. This doesn't take away the practical value of the items.

[@CocoinFinland]

You look great ❤️ oooooh I want that Moomin snowsuit so bad 😳 Can’t wait to see the little one. Wish you all the best ❤️

[@just42tube]

Nännivoide - Rinnanpäiden hoitoon imetyksen aikana. Voide on tarkoitettu herkille, aroille ja haavautuneille nänneille. It is applied to mothers tender nipples and not for the baby's nose.

[@natashaelise4852]

I am obsessed with that licorice onesie 😍

[@Spicypoptart1]

Ahhhh congrats Julia!! ❤❤❤

[@clairefinley6513]

Is there anyway to get a box delivered to America

[@butterflytattoo5201]

You aparently don't know what a maternity box is..do you.

[@Lunaholic94]

That box is different each years. Ours in 2019 had a wolf, an elephant, a giraffe. not very Finnish but it was still nice 👍🙂 Ours also included bibs, condoms, plushies and more clothes. Seems like they reduced it a lot 😮

[@Midnight_mysterious_rain]

If someone is not a Finnish Citizen can they apply and get this box?

[@jazzx251]

Scottish people now get this box for every child, regardless of whether you are rich or poor - or what child this is (1st child? 14th child? doesn't matter - you're getting the 'baby box'!)

[@cdl0]

Baby Pon should have a good start in life with such a wonderful box of good things, and such sweet and lovely parents. I wonder what language baby Pon will learn first, and will baby Pon have a Finnish name or a Burmese name?

[@just42tube]

Kids can learn two languages at about the same time and have several names. One practical way, which is used, is that parents use different languages to enable kids to become bilingual from the beginning. If the parents have different native languages, they each simply use their own native language. Sometimes native language isn't their strongest language. In that case they might use their strongest languages to enable the best learning opportunity to their child. Later they might start using also weaker languages. It is important for the children to have at least one language where they can achieve native level fluency. Bilingual families are nothing unusual in Finland. Then there are also practical things to consider. Having a language which the other kids and the society around them is using gets very important already at preschool but even more at school age. In their family in Finland Finnish seems like the default language candidate for that purpose. But they might have different ideas.

[@cdl0]

@@just42tube Yes, I know all that; I have long experience of these things, and have seen it all before. I am wondering what will happen for baby Pon, because everybody is different, and babies are so funny and random. You never know what they will do next. Naming baby will be fun, as well.

[@just42tube]

@@cdl0 Babies are indeed individuals and have differences in their development. Those things are not predictable. Parents just need to be observant and patient to see what works and what doesn't. I don't know about situations where using just one language would have been a better working solution. But I can imagine that simplifying the language situation for the small baby could help in some situations. At least initially, if the development of language skills seem to be delayed, it could be worth trying. Do you know if that is used or such advice is given to parents?

[@cdl0]

@@just42tube There is no special advice, so far as I know, other than babies in bi-lingual families usually start talking slightly later than usual, as you already noted. Just let them work it out for themselves. About the name, I would not be surprised if baby Pon ends up with a nickname from one side, and a formal, give, registered name from the other side. This does happen!

[@just42tube]

@@cdl0 Since the Finnish legislation allows 3 names, I seem to recall, so why just gives the baby names from parents both cultures and then one more. I gave my children several names partly thinking of how well those would work in Finnish, English and other cultures and language areas.

[@emiliasdaily.8128]

Do ypu have video of ypur baby now?

[@tiinau6562]

👍✌️❤️🤗🇫🇴🇫🇴🇫🇴🇫🇴🇫🇴👍

[@andersrefstad8235]

In the "United" States of America they won't giwe you an abortion if you need or want one... ... A BOX ..? I like how the nordic countries operate , and use ower taxses 👍

[@verone272]

They will if you take a drive to an other state