What do I put in the moses basket?

[Sheen4272]

I have been given a wicker moses basket and stand, it's one of those hard wicker ones. It has a mattress but no cover. The ones I have seen for sale all have some sort of cover around them. I have sleeping bag for when baby comes, do I just put the baby in this and lay it on the mattress (on a sheet). Do I need to worry about a cover?

Mine doesn't have cover. A sleeping bag / blanket will be fine on matress with fitted sheet.

The baby and a sheet - no cover needed with a grobag.

No you don't need a cover. It's only for decoration. You may want to get a wee blanket for the first few weeks though before lo goes in the sleeping bag. Bags are not usually recommended until lo is a few weeks.

No - the cover is for aesthetic reasons. Your baby won't be able to move from the position you lay s/he down in so will never end up with its face crushed against the wicker.

Yes - a swaddling blanket would be better at the beginning - they like being really snuggled up. I used to wedge my ds3 at the top of his as he liked his head touching something!

I never used the cover for ours cos it's usually like a duvet/polyester wadding material, and I think cotton cellular blankets are recommended for new-borns because easier to regulate their temperature by adding/removing, and less dangerous if they go over baby's head because of the air holes.....or am I talking rubbish??
Grobags are great when LO big enough - can't remember about age recommendation - think we used ours from about 2 months?

Thank you all for your advice. I've bought a 2.5tog sleeping bag, will baby need a long sleeve gro under this......can you tell I haven't done this before!!

Your baby!

Long sleeve sleepsuit until the high summer we are hoping for!

I put a pillow case over the Moses basket mattress and wrapped LO in a sheet, dependent on how warm it is.

I remember - yes, swaddling great for first few weeks. Get MW to show you how - it's a definite art to do properly and safely.

The sleeping bags usually come with a temperature/clothing guideline - will look up what it says and come back......

think most gros are long sleeve anyway aren't they?

They need a vest (short sleeved) and a long sleeved babygro in this weather.

Then you add things like blankets, Ahhh which ones.

I would swaddle a baby in this weather.

I think grobags are a pain the first few weeks as they poop everytime they feed and to take it off in the middle of the night is a pita. Swaddle baby and what I used to do was to put the t-shirt I wore that day over the mattress, it smelled of me and it made ds sleep better.

Right - clothing guidance, according to Grobag - I have followed this and seems to be pretty reliable:

To wear with 2.5 tog:

at 20oC room temp., Long-sleeved body suit
at 18oC, Long-sleeved body suit + pyjama top (or I use short-sleeved body suit + sleepsuit most frequently during the winter)
at 16oC, Long-sleeved body suit + sleepsuit/pyjama set

To wear with 1.0 tog:

at 24oC room temp., Short-sleeved body suit
at 22oC, Long-sleeved body suit
at 20oC, Short-sleeved body suit + pyjama top

You may find swaddling very useful at first though.

SpacePuppy - what a great idea...wish I'd heard of that at the time! Doh! (t-shirt thing)

Thats lovely space puppy

Hey thank you all

and i thought i was the only one who used pillowcases on the mattress! if you really want a cover tho try ebay as i bought pink ones on there (got a bit overexcited when told i was having a girl lol).

Just make sure that the basket and stand are straight. My dd's (covered) basket, or stand is on a slope and she always ends up sleeping with her face squished against the side. Luckily she seems to like it like that as nothing I do to straighten it makes any difference!

Might be a bit uncomfy snogging a wicker basket in your sleep though so get your spirit level out!