Help a FTM to be… does a new baby really need 3 beds?!

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Everyone says we need: a cot for the nursery, a next to me crib for our room, and a Moses basket for day sleeping downstairs.
Do we really need to buy all this while I’m pregnant? They’d only ever be in one at a time!

We have been looking at the Mamas and Papas Lua as a next to me, I like that the side of the crib has a button to push it up or down as opposed to a zip. It also doesn’t need attaching to the bed, which is great as I would never want to cosleep anyway.

We only have a small house. Would it be so inconvenient to bring the Next to me up and down the stairs each day from living room to our bedroom?

How did you make it work? Trying not to be suckered in by marketing & overspend, in order to redirect my money into savings for mat leave. Thanks

When you buy a cot for their bedroom, make sure it's one that converts to a cot bed. Then it will last til they are at least 5.

Yes they'll need somewhere to sleep in your room - either the cotbed if there's space or an alternative smaller bed you can put right next to you.

I had a moses basket for dc1 which was easy to bring upstairs and down, however they outgrew it by about 4mo. Then we swapped to a travel cot in our room and playmat or carrycot from the pram downstairs.

Dc2 we just put the big cot in our room and used a Tiny Love 3 in 1 Napper for daytime sleeps - lasted til about 8mo as its both a bed and then a chair

Yep, things have changed. Parents are advised to be in the room with their baby for all of baby's sleeps. So now there needs to be somewhere for baby to sleep in the main rooms of the house that you would spend most of your daytime in, and in your bedroom overnight.

We used a moses basket and had 2 stands. We also had a cot from birth but he moved in to that quite quickly for both naps and bed.

We had a slight variation on this...
Chicco Next2Me in our bedroom for night times.
In her room we had a cot bed which saw us well through the third birthday; then we upgraded her bed on moving house so that we have the cotbed for our soon to be here baby. The cotbed did get used early on, around 4.5 months as we were disturbing her at our bed times - but we had a video monitor on her as soon as she was put down.
Downstairs in the front room we had a hauck 'sleep and play' (other, better models probably available). This worked well for us as there was an upper zipped level which acted as a bassinet with mattress for sleeps from newborn stage through to the weight limit. We then had then benefit of the play pen which was great to keep her safe and secure as she got older when the doorbell went etc, and also to provide some extra separation between her and our dog. It lasted so much longer than a Moses basket, but like others our baby preferred to sleep on us during the day so beds weren't the best all and end all. Perhaps baby wearing could be an option but that comes down to individual preferences and what your baby enjoys as well.

I would not advocate carrying any form of bed up and downstairs especially in the early days if you have a c-section. The 'portable' ones are a great piece of marketing but I think best used in apartments/flats on one floor where you can wheel it between rooms.

First post nails it, as always.

I don't think so.

I borrowed a family moses basket for the first month to put beside my bed. It's not worth buying one because they grow out of them so fast. After that, ds & I co-slept because he was bf and permanently attached.

We had a borrowed cot for ds' room, which we started using at about 6 months, and swapped for a single bed at 2yr.

Downstairs we had a thick padded play mat/pen and an isofix baby carrier.

https://www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/baby/bouncers-swings-and-rockers/baby-bouncers/tiny-love-3-in-1-baby-rocker-napper/p/184232?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces_across_google&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_rS4_uaFhAMVcpJQBh2i4A1gEAQYASABEgIKe_D_BwE

we had one of these for downstairs, as they grow it is also a chair. I always stored my pram in the boot of my car so I wasn’t dragging mud through the hall multiple times a day

Do they still do the NHS baby boxes, ours napped better in that than the next to me!

We've had just one cot bed in our room from birth for all mine no moses basket or next to me or bassinet (we had a compact strollers from birth that lies flat). Lived on a flat on one level and they slept in there for all naps (one of us would stay in the bedroom while they napped rather than having them sleep in the living area). Eldest is 5 and still sleeping in the same cot bed she slept in when she came home from hospital.

We had a Moses basket that was in lounge during day then through to bedroom at night. Then as they got older, a cot in their own room. Put the Moses basket next to your bed - voila, a next to me bed!!

Somewhere to sleep at night (can be your bed if practising safe cosleeping) and somewhere that can be in the room you are in in the day (unless you are in a bungalow or flat and your bedroom is close by anyway). This can be the one bed if it's a moses basket you can move around, but they will need somewhere bigger to move to when they outgrow that.

We quite often would lay the baby on their change mat on the floor (blanket on it) in the living room. Worked a charm!

I used a carrycot in the pram downstairs and had a travel cot with an insert for small babies I used in our bedroom. I'd have got a next to you but was a bit skint back then - we were lucky and could have the cot in our bedroom for as long as we wanted ... which turned out to be when I asked Dh to get up through the night and he literally picked it up and moved it himself into her bedroom 🤣 ... if you don't have a carry cot just use a travel cot downstairs And a next to you upstairs ... or even just sleep when they sleep and have just the next to you plus cot

We only had the moses basket as we coslept at night. In the day he used the basket then moved to the bed (downstairs bedroom). I was lucky that he always stopped at the edge of the bed and would not crawl off so we didnt need a cot.

We had (this was 21 years ago) a Moses basket that we moved around the house - in the early days when I was very nervous the Moses basket would be placed on the dining room table when we ate, like an elaborate centrepiece.

The Moses basket came upstairs to bed with us for the first few months and she slept almost next to me - we had a ridiculously low bed and I could reach into the basket without much effort (bed wasn't bought for that purpose - I suspect it was an Ikea trend in the early 00's..) Then Moses basket into cot in our room, then cot in her room and then a toddler bed.

She was a bugger to get to sleep though and still struggles a bit now - she was very ill a couple of years ago with an eating disorder and could only fall asleep watching/listening to Brooklyn99 - she'd kick butt with B99 as her specialist subject on mastermind!

When DC was born, we just had the moses basket. Got a cot a couple of weeks later.
When I was a baby, my parents didn't have much money so my bed for my first few weeks was a drawer removed from a cabinet.

We used Moses baskets (DT’s) to start with - moved from our bedroom to the living room for during the day. we then had two cots in our bedroom-after six months they moved into their own rooms. We didn’t use cot beds but just regular beds.

For our first we bought a Moses basket for downstairs and a next2me for upstairs, she ended up hating the next2me for the first 2 months and would only sleep in the Moses so we ended up having to lug that up and down the stairs every day.
With our second I used the pram bassinet downstairs and left her in the hall so she could actually have peace to sleep away from the noise of my 3yo but wasn't too far away from me and we kept the Moses basket upstairs.
You don't need to buy a cot straight away, both of mine were in the next2me until 8 months, so just wait until you need it.

I’m old, just had a cot and used the pram downstairs for the first few weeks, though remember using the cot for all naps and for the night from a couple of months. It’s not the modern way, but it worked fine.

We did exactly this too! Clair de Lune do nice and very affordable ones too, I picked mine up in the sale.

You don’t know what type of sleeper you will have until they come, so I would advise starting with a Moses basket, and get a next to me later on if think you need it.

we got a cot bed when she was 6months and that will do her until age 4 😊

I just had a moses basket. It can be carried around and the stand too, although that mainly stayed in my bedroom.

You don't need the cot until baby is 6 months old so it's up to you if you do that now or later.

We had a next to me crib upstairs.

We didn't bother with a moses baskets and just planned to use the pram. I'm glad we didn't because she never slept in it so it would have been a waste of money. On the other hand, for my friend her moses basket was worth it's weight in gold because baby loved it. So very much up to you!

I lasted about a day with only the bedroom bassinet before I sent DH to the store to buy two more baby containment devices. Our house was large and we had cats. I also was recovering from a rough csection so the last thing I wanted to do was go up and down the stairs unnecessarily. I quickly realized I had nowhere to set the baby down safely while I went to the bathroom if I wasn’t near our bedroom. So I decided I wanted a safe place to set her down on each floor. We had 3 floors, so 3 bed type devices.

We had a travel cot (2nd £7 on ebay) downstairs or a bouncer chair. She slept in both about 5 times combined. I was her preferred bed.

Overnight we had my crib from when I was baby. I believe she was the 5th baby in it. Once she got to sitting around 7months we bought a 2nd cot bed £25 gumtree and got a new mattress. It's 140cm and as I'm only 5ft2 I can just about fit in it with my toddler and put the crib into storage. She mostly coslept. We had it as a giant sidecar on our bed for a while. She has really only used it since we turned it into a bed when she was 2.

As a general rule I say buy nothing unless you really have to (most things can be ordered with next day delivery or click and collect). If you think you need it buy second hand.

We had a next to me and the pram, the next to me was a wonderful bedside table and the pram was a fantastic coat stand. She never slept in either, we didn’t buy a cot in the end, she slept with us, now she’s two she has a bed and will generally sleep in that now.