Rock-a-Bye, Baby: Self-Rocking Finnish Mattress Gives Parents Earned Rest

By her own admission, her daughter Solina used to sleep badly and gave the whole family a hard time. Since nothing helped, not even soothing the infant in a pram or a crib, the ingenious Finnish mother came with a clever solution. After this, she had the opportunity to test the newly invented mattress herself after her son Elmer was born last year.

The breathable baby mattress works by rocking infants to sleep with a soft up-and-down motion, while at the same time reducing the risk of suffocation. Air keeps passing through the mattress, making it safe for the baby to sleep face down.

The product was launched earlier this month, rose quickly to international fame and was nominated to compete in the trade fair Kind + Jugend ("Child + Youth") in Germany.

"We are now making every effort to manufacture more mattresses," Hanna Sissala told Finnish news outlet Uusi Suomi.

Sissala firmly believes that the success of new Finnish start-ups and companies does not have to be limited to mobile applications and games.

"Finns can be pretty good at manufacturing some of the world’s best products for ordinary people," Sissala told Uusi Suomi.

​Today, Finland is highly regarded as one of the top countries in the world for family and maternity care. For more than 75 years, Finland's expectant mothers have been handed out 'baby boxes' by the state which serve as a starter kit for their new baby. It contains clothes, blankets, and other newborn necessities, whereas the 'baby box' itself is lined with a mattress and is used as the child's first bed.

Pioneered in 1938, the 'baby boxes' are believed to have helped Finland achieve one of the world's lowest infant mortality rates. In the 1930s, Finland was a poor country and infant mortality was high, but the figures improved rapidly in the decades that followed. In Finland, the ‘baby box' has become part of the established rite of passage towards maternity and fatherhood.