Next to me or Cot?!!

[elizabethxxx]

Hello!

I am 28 weeks and looking into buying my babies cot. I am planning to have a Moses basket downstairs, but I’m not sure if to have a next to me or regular cot?!

I have enough room next to my bedside for a cot. What puts me off the next to me is I’m not planning on co-sleeping and I’m quite a hectic sleeper (move around a lot etc). So would want the cot atleast a few feet away from me anyway!

any advice?!

TIA. ,,,

If you're having them a few feet away a cot will be fine, though they can be quite big so a tiny newborn may be a bit lost in one! A next to me is smaller so baby might feel safer so if you don't mind buying a cot when they're about 6 months then a next to me will be fine :)

With my first, I had the next to me but always had the sides up as I was worried I'd kick my duvet onto them in the night, so I could have just had a cot with hindsight. If you're worried about the same, just get a cot. The next to me is only good for about 5 months anyway.

With my second, i used a cot but I found it too big when she was newborn, so I just put her Moses basket inside the cot initially and she seemed to settle better. So if you're getting a Moses basket anyway, you'd have that option if you felt the same.

Next to me is great in those first months IMO as you’re up several times a night and feeding then putting them down within arms reach is very comfortable. You can pat baby when fussy, put dummy in (if you’re using) and not get up and wake yourself up in the night. My DC was fine going in to bigger cot after.

We weren't going to bother with a next to me, just bassinet and then cot. But we were given one, and it's the best thing. I loved being able to see baby and check they're ok just by opening my eyes, my postpartum hormones were wild and I woke repeatedly to check! As well as being so much easier for night time feeds.

Also, I think most people start off saying they won't cosleep. But 6 months in, and I think all but one of my NCT group do for at least part of the night. Your sleep completely changes when you have a baby, I don't move an inch when they're in the bed, despite being a restless sleeper pre-baby.

Personally, I'd have the next to me and wouldn't bother with moses basket. We used the pram bassinet on the rare occasions baby would let you put them down to sleep in the early days. Pretty much all day sleep was contact naps (sitting down or in a sling) for us

My granddaughter had a next to me that was then used as a cot and then her first bed.