boxes for babies

Alexandra Lange on Mamdani’s (and Adams’s) baby boxes in NYC and their Finnish origins. A long overdue idea in the US:

The outside of the NYC Baby Boxes — the ones spearheaded by Adams’s City Hall — features a custom graphic of the cityscape, including brownstones, tenements, elevator buildings and the distinctive spires of the Chrysler Building and One World Trade. Same for the many-pocketed canvas diaper bag inside the box. Floating above the graphics are abstract sleeping babies, well swaddled and capped. A proprietary onesie and hat declare, “NYC loves me.”

image of the NYC baby box as displayed in the Museum of Art and Design show called “Designing Motherhood”

Also in the box: gauze swaddles, starred one-piece PJs and more gender-neutral onesies, plus almost 100 diapers in two sizes, diaper rash cream, three packages of wipes, a towel and Cetaphil baby wash, a thermometer and grooming kit. For the birthing parent there are maxipads, nursing pads and soothing lanolin ointment. Guides for mothers and new families plus a copy of Margaret Hurd Brown’s classic Goodnight Moon, provided by United Way of New York City, round out the offerings.

via Jarrett Fuller