Little Baby Bundle programme to be launched later this year

The Government has announced plans to pilot the ‘Little Baby Bundle’ programme later this year.

The initiative consists of a welcome gift from the state to parents and newborns – filled with a range of key items, such as blanket, a hooded bath towel, a digital thermometer, a bath sponge, a babygro, a vest, muslin cloths, socks, mittens, nappies and cream, wipes, nursing and maternity pads, nipple cream, a breast pump, a sling, a changing mat, and a baby monitor.

The Little Baby Bundle will also include information on breastfeeding, safe sleep, and post-natal depression.

A resource to inform parents about accessing the national childcare scheme will be provided, too.

A booklet with helpful information and advice for expectant parents, including links to online parenting resources and a library card, to “encourage families to build a relationship with their local library, and to encourage reading and parent-infant bonding,” will also be included.

The programme is part of the Government’s Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families 2019-2028.

The pilot will be undertaken in collaboration with the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin and University Hospital, Waterford.

Designed to promote the health and well-being of newborns and help parents in the first days and weeks of a baby’s life, the Little Baby Bundle is inspired by similar successful initiatives in Scotland and Finland.

The pilot is expected to begin this Autumn with 500 families set to receive the first bundles.

Launching the scheme, Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman TD said: “The Little Baby Bundle is about giving each of Ireland’s newest little arrivals a welcome gift, while also providing parents with practical supports as they navigate those special first few weeks and months in their child’s life”.

A procurement process for the Little Baby Bundle managing agent is now underway and a request for tenders for the Little Baby Bundle evaluation partner, who will examine whether the Little Baby Bundle is suitable for wider roll-out, will be published later this Summer.