Moses basket? Crib? PLEASE help a clueless auntie with newborn sleep solutions!

[ClumsyMcMumsy]

Hi all, please can you help me out! I’m trying to help out my lovely lovely niece who is due her first baby in 10 weeks. She’s had an awful pregnancy with hypermesis throughout and I’m trying to help her get ready. The trouble is I’m clueless-my lovely boy was adopted by us so came ready made at 12 months so I never did the newborn thing! We found a lovely Moses basket that I would have loved to buy for her but she’s worried it’s too big. She doesn’t know what to get for the best for upstairs, for downstairs, doesn’t really want to be lugging things up/down the stairs all day? She wants something lovely and something that will last as long as possible. She has a cotbed for later but needs something for when he’s newborn and the first few months. She’s panicking a little as being so ill she’s been so fed up and hardly had time to think about all these things. What did/do you all do?! She’s ready to just let me buy whatever I think for her but I want to get it right! Thank you!

I wouldn't bother with a moses basket. They're not in them very long. If she has a pram with a carry cot, use that for them to sleep in downstairs and then put them in a crib upstairs. This is what I did with my youngest.

I'd really recommend the Next to me crib. It's small enough for a newborn. We had this with my youngest and it lasted him well over six months. You can adjust it onto an incline and put it next to your bed to be close to baby, although we just wanted a big crib. They hold their value if you then sell it on.

We had a Moses basket and put the stand in the living room to,use during the day. At night we put the Moses basket in the cot, then when dd was big enough we just used the cot and she would nap upstairs.

Would say exactly the same. We used the Snuzpod as a next to the bed crib which was good and lasted til DS was about 6 months and he was a big baby. However I wouldn't advertise it as movable- the too is quite heavy, it isnt really portable around the house (but very useful if you're going to stay somewhere).

Sorry posted at the same tine - I wouldn't bother with a moses, I did pram bassinet downstairs and crib upstairs

Has she seen if 'baby boxes' are offered by the midwives in her area? Dd is collecting one and plans on utilising it in a seperate room to the lose a basket.

We used the Snuzpod bedside crib upstairs and it was good but if i was buying again I would get the Tutti Bambini Cozee bedside crib instead, because it's portable (it folds up for travel) and that would have been really handy.

Like PPs we used the pram carrycot for downstairs naps. We didn't have a Moses basket.

DS wouldn't tolerate being put down so we ended up buying a Sleepyhead and he slept in that (both upstairs in his Snuzpod and downstairs on any flat surface) but they are expensive and not always necessary so I wouldn't recommend getting one in advance. We didn't try swaddling and I've heard that's good, it would certainly be cheaper than a sleepyhead

www.madeformums.com/reviews/8-of-the-best-co-sleeping-cots-and-cribs-for-safe-sleeping/

I have a 3 week old who is very hard to put down. She’ll sleep downstairs in her pram (we have a secondhand Bugaboo with a sheepskin liner which looks really snuggly) and upstairs we have a Next 2 Me cot which we bought as it was the largest of its type when we looked (the Snuzpod was much smaller and dd was never going to be small with dh being 6’5 and sure enough she’s between the 91st and 98th centile so I’m glad we bought big!) We have a sleepyhead in it which makes it more snuggly as she just looked lost in it at first and would wake up as soon as she was put in it. I think the sleepyhead makes her feel like she’s still being held. I was totally against them when I saw them in the shop when I was pregnant but I see their value now!
I know it’s nice to be prepared but it’s worth waiting til baby is here to see what kind of sleeper they are. I’ve breastfed all of my dc and the reality is that if I want to get any sleep at all, they all end up co sleeping with me. Which makes all the fancy, expensive gubbins pretty obsolete in truth.

All of mine slept in a Moses basket in the living room during the day for the first few months - they were quite big babies (and had long bodies) so I didn't like the Moses baskets after that stage as they didn't look very comfortable or secure.

After that they slept in a portable travel cot during the day, similar to these:
www.argos.co.uk/product/3811849
www.argos.co.uk/product/8042008

You can buy them with an in-built bit for newborns and as they get older you remove that and place the baby in the bottom of the cot. Moses baskets look nice but the travel cot is much handier and lasts longer (in terms of the age of the child).

How you described your son as being 'ready made' made me smile - you sound like you are going to be a fabulous Great Aunt. Good luck.

Can't beat a next 2 me with a sleepyhead imo. My first baby hated her Moses basket 😂

I didn't want a next to me crib so I bought a babylo snug sleeper instead. It has mesh on all sides so very breathable and you can see baby easily. It's much sturdier than a Moses basket. I also ended up pushing it up right next to my bed so could easily reach baby during the night.

It's not very movable but I second using the carrycot downstairs xx

The crib:

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=<a class="break-all" href="https://www.[[//amazon.co.uk/BABYLO-BL11837-BabyLo-Snug-Sleeper/dp/B079SBWRJN&ved=2ahUKEwjs3qHwjIXiAhXZXRUIHSYVDwwQFjACegQIBhAC&usg=AOvVaw1zTwAi1o9x1DuXiLX5d0xa?tag=mumsnetforu03-21"" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.[[//amazon.co.uk/BABYLO-BL11837-BabyLo-Snug-Sleeper/dp/B079SBWRJN&ved=2ahUKEwjs3qHwjIXiAhXZXRUIHSYVDwwQFjACegQIBhAC&usg=AOvVaw1zTwAi1o9x1DuXiLX5d0xa?tag=mumsnetforu03-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">amazon.co.uk/BABYLO-BL11837-BabyLo-Snug-Sleeper/dp/B079SBWRJN&ved=2ahUKEwjs3qHwjIXiAhXZXRUIHSYVDwwQFjACegQIBhAC&usg=AOvVaw1zTwAi1o9x1DuXiLX5d0xa]]

Thank you all so much! We are talking through all your suggestions. Really helpful, thank you! Feeling a little less clueless now

I used an amby baby for all of my DC's first year BUT that was 10 years ago. Am sure there are lots of new and improved versions of the baby hammock now, but all of my kids loved this so much

Moses basket for downstairs. Mine fitted into basket till about 12 weeks. Daytime naps here. Upstairs I had a wonderful little bed nest that fitted onto my bed. So my baby had his own space but was right next to me with no barriers. If he woke I could easily calm him just by putting my hand on him.

A sleepyhead really helped me with my second baby and I wish I'd had one with my first. Put it in the sidecar cot. It does seem like a gimmick but honestly it was amazing

For both kids we had a Chico next to me upstairs and a moses basket downstairs. The basket fit perfectly into the next to me so I could just carry sleeping baby upstairs in basket and plonk in crib. When outgrown Moses they slept in next to me with a sleepyhead.

We actually loved our Moses basket.

We put the stand by the bed and just carried it up and downstairs.

Baby didn't sleep much though, maybe would have slept better in one of the other suggestions?! Who knows! 😊

Our's fit in basket until nearly 5 months!

I actually really rated the Moses basket as it could be moved up and downstairs easily. Just don’t buy an expensive one as they don’t last long. Then she went straight into the big cot when she outgrew it at about 4 months (she still fit but was rolling and we were worried she’d tip it).

If it will fit in her room and the baby doesn’t hate it she could just use the cot from day 1 and the bassinet of the pram for downstairs naps.

Our's fit in basket until nearly 5 months!