Maternity and Babies in Finland (by Liisa Salmi)

There are some 58000 babies born in Finland every year, which means that every mother gives birth in an average to 1,83 children. Finland has a well developed maternity and infant health centre system, which has strongly lowered infant mortality, it being now 2,7 babies of 1000 newborns, and just one baby of 1000 dies during the first week of life. These world-record figures are very similar in all Fennoscandian countries.

When a future mother gets pregnant, she visits the maternity health centre once a month, where a qualified midwife-nurse checks that everything is well. This goes on up to the 30th week of pregnancy, when she visits the centre every other week, provided everything has gone as it should. From week 36, the checkups take place every week. A physician makes a physical examination once in every trimester, and an ultrasound examination is performed twice during the pregnancy.

When the baby is born the parents get an allowance of circa 140 euro or a box with all the things that a newborn baby needs, the value of this box being much more than 140 euro. Thus the parents are encouraged to choose the necessities for the baby. The contents are very useful and even the box can be used as the newborn's bed.

After the birth, a nurse-midwife visits the family immediately when the mother and baby are at home. An alternative is to visit the baby health centre after they have arrived at home. The visit to the centre go on first twice and then once a month until the baby is six months, then every two months until the baby is 18 months and once a year after the baby has reached the age of two years.

Vaccination against eight different contagious diseases is started at the age of three months and it goes on until children are 15 years. Tuberculosis is so rare nowadays in Finland that Chalmette's vaccine is given only if there is an obvious risk.

Maternity leave is 105 days, and after that either the mother or the father has right to 158 days of leave, or they can share it. After that the mother can stay at home with the child for three years without losing her job. The allowance she gets monthly during this time is up to circa 300 euro. All children have a subjective right to day care before they go to school and it is the community's duty to organise it. For the time being, this right has been questioned because it is rather costly for the communities, but it is a system that works well. It has once again fuelled the discussion who is a better mother: she who stays at home with children or she who works. This is something you never hear of fathers; on the contrary, young fathers say that it is nowadays a special merit in the CV, if you have stayed at home with your baby for e.g. six months. We still have to go a long way to full sex equality in these matters and in my opinion; it can be reached only if an equally long paternity leave is also made obligatory.


Liisa Salmi