This year, a Finnish tradition is helping new parents get some help preparing for baby. A program started by The Baby Box Company provides expecting and new parents with a free baby box after they’ve completed a short online parenting class.

The boxes, made of durable cardboard, come complete with diapers, baby wipes, a onesie and more. Plus, newborns can sleep in these boxes for the first months of their lives.

Baby boxes are a Finnish tradition that is catching on around the world. In Finland, the government provides expectant mothers with cardboard boxes containing items for when baby comes home. The actual box, which is lined with a mattress, is used as the child’s first bed.

The use of baby boxes has been linked to improved health outcomes for newborns and reduced rate of SIDS. The concept originated about 80 years ago in Finland, where the infant mortality rate is the world’s lowest at 1.3 deaths per 1,000 births.

The Baby Box Company plans to distribute about 105,000 boxes – the average number of babies born in New Jersey in a year. The company is kicking off this year’s distribution on January 26 at Cooper University Health Care.