SCOTLAND’S midwives and paediatricians have entered the row over the baby box, to try to calm fears over the safety of the cardboard cot.

The interventions from the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health came as the debate over the free box available to every newborn in the country became increasingly heated. So hot in fact, that the Scottish Sun even took a lighter to one of the cardboard boxes to see if it would catch fire. Unsurprisingly, it did.

READ MORE: Twitter users respond to the Scottish Sun setting a baby box on fire

The row stems from comments made by Dr Peter Blair, an expert in cot death, earlier this week.

He said the government shouldn’t just tell parents the box was safe, but rather, rank the safety of the box compared to other sleeping solutions.

Because the high-sided nature of the boxes restricts the sight-line, and the possible fire risk of the unlaminated cardboard, he suggested they should be ranked below all the established alternatives.

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He didn’t say the boxes were unsafe, but rather just not as safe as some other places where you might put your baby to sleep.

That led to Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs calling for all “official documentation relating to the safety and the certification of baby boxes must be published immediately”.

The Scottish Government said this was already fully available.

The box was inspired by a model that has operated in Finland for the last 35 years.

Kela, the Finnish welfare agency, says it’s wrong to claim the box on its own is responsible for reducing infant mortality.

A spokesman said it was down to “the improving of our healthcare system, of which the baby box is a part, that our low infant mortality can be attributed to”.

Professor Steve Turner, the officer for Scotland for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health told The National that more research needed to be done on the boxes.

However, doctors see them as a “helpful benefit” that “achieve a number of aims, including highlighting the importance of setting every newborn baby off on a pathway to good mental and physical health.”

Turner said: “Child health in Scotland is among the poorest in Western Europe with more than 210,000 children living in poverty, 28% overweight or obese and about 400 infants, children and young people dying each year – and we know that inequalities play a pivotal role.

“Many of these challenges need to be addressed early and baby boxes do contain some of the tools to help – a selection of clothes, books, a thermometer and information about safe sleeping for example, not to mentioned the box itself in which a baby can sleep.”

Turner added that more research was needed to “determine the true health impact of the scheme, but: “In the meantime, we see the baby boxes as a helpful benefit for new mothers”.

Mary Ross-Davie, Royal College of Midwives director for Scotland, agreed, saying: “There are some studies from New Zealand, the UK and the USA that indicate that providing families with something like a baby box can reduce the rate of co-sleeping.

“We also know from research that families living with deprivation have a higher risk of sudden unexpected death in infancy.

“Some new families who have limited financial means or family support may not have the means to buy their new baby a Moses basket or cot and in these circumstances the provision of a baby box may be particularly helpful in ensuring that babies are given a safer sleep space. It can also be helpful for parents to have an alternative sleep space for their baby other than their cot in a bedroom. A baby box can provide a good, flat, firm sleeping space for a baby, which is a better alternative than lying a baby on a settee or having them sleep for long periods in a car seat or bouncy chair.”

Ross-Davie added that the box can be a “helpful teaching tool” and allows midwives and health visitors to “have useful conversations about safe sleep positions with new parents”.

Ross-Davie said ministers should “continue to meet regularly with health professionals” to ensure the box is “the best it can be to meet its aims of reducing health inequalities.”