My honest thoughts on Scotland’s Baby Box
New parents might not realise it, but there are loads of freebies they can get as soon as their little one arrives.
One of the first things me and my wife got for free was our Baby Box from the Scottish government. If you're not aware, all new parents in Scotland are sent a "Baby Box" - it's basically a large box full of baby-related goodies. As far as I'm aware this is currently only offered to parents in Scotland - usually your midwife will ask if you want one of the boxes and will arrange for it to be delivered to you shortly before your baby arrives.
When our midwife asked us if we wanted a baby box, we didn't really think much of it at the time. But when the box arrived, we were pleasantly surprised by how big it was, and how jam-packed with goodies it was.
For starters, it's worth saying that quite a few of the items in the Baby Box won't immediately be particularly useful to you, but they're absolutely worth hanging on to. You'll get a number of books, and obviously a baby that's a few days old is unlikely to take much interest in a book (unless you've birthed a genius!), but it won't be long before they do start showing interest. My baby especially loved the high contrast black and white book (called Things That Go), which is specifically designed to appeal to very young babies.
But there are lots of things in the box that will be immediately useful, starting with the box itself. Part of the reason the box is so big is because it's designed to double up as a baby bed. You get a thin microfibre mattress in the box too which is ideal to use if you plan to use it as a bed. I'll be honest, I didn't use the Baby Box at all as a bed for my little one, but I know plenty of parents who did and found it very useful. There's a guide on how to set the box up as a bed on the underside of the lid of the box, as shown in the image below:
The teethers that come with the Baby Box are excellent - even now that my wee one is almost 8 months old, we still regularly use this one (in fact, it didn't really become useful until she was about 6 months old):
And then lastly, condoms! For those of you who aren't in a rush to have another baby....in all seriousness, my midwife said that contraception is really important in the weeks after you've given birth, so these were useful.
So overall, I really can't complain about Scotland's Baby Box - yes there are a few things that we didn't find useful, but my was still able to share them with other mums, and there was so much in there that we found extremely useful. And ultimately, it was free!
If you've received one of the Scotland's Baby Boxes, let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Finn H
Finn is the editor of You Well and has been writing about travel, health, and more for over 10 years.