went baby shopping this weekend and ended up with a headache! [confused]

[Beesok]

...and some cute sleep suits ;)

I was sort of scouting the shops but also checking out cibs and cots ...I plan on having baby in our room for at least 6 months then moving him to a montessori floor bed in her own room. Ideally I wanted to buy ONE sleeping solution for those first few months with the following:

• can be attached safely to our bed so we can "co-sleep" (I am too scared to put baby on our bed, not an option at all)
• wheels so that I can take it to other rooms in the flat and use the "motion" to soothe her to sleep if needed
• small and suitable for small baby - I don't need a cot later on so want her to be as comfortable as possible

And sadly there is nothing out there that meets all of the above :(. A close runner up was the Sleepi but it cannot be attached to bed, but I love the shape and wheels and found it on sale with option of buying only a mini.
Can anyone who used it comment and tell me approx. how long will it last the baby for? Will it be enough for 6 months?

Also - how much storage do you actually need for a baby?!

Would love to hear other's experiences!

hahaha sorry for using "him" and "her" - we still haven't confirmed the sex but were told probably girl :)

Not seen the sleepi before but it looks lovely. Unless the mini is substantially bigger than a standard moses basket it won't last you 6 months. Would probably need to be 1/2 way between moses basket and cot size for it to last long enough. Moses basket size would probably only last you for about 10 weeks.

Hi notasausage I'm not sure what the standard size of a moses basket is and also I guess it depends on the baby :)

The stokke in mini mode is 82cm long - does anyone have an idea how long that would last a baby on average?

If it will last at least 5 months am happy to buy it :)

I'm interested in the answers to this. My DD is still in her cot (converted to toddler bed) and the plan is that #2 will be in our room for 6 months and then take over the cot and DD will get a Special Big Girl Bed. So I don't want a full cot either, but I do want something that will last for six months.

Does a Moses really only last 10 weeks? What the blinking hell are the point of those, then?

i think you should be ok, DD is on 91st centile for length, always has been, and we managed nearly 6 months with the moses basket,

DD is 84cms now at 19m, and i've just checked, i had her measured at 5mth and she was 68cms then, hope this helps :)

I use our moses basket for 5-6 months and we lent it to a family who used it for 9 months! Depends on the baby. some need space!

oops sorr thats supposed to say nearly 5months, darn my fat fingers, i'll never be a piano player

Moses baskets definitely depend on the baby, some are only in them a few weeks and others are in them for months. DS was 9lb 3oz and was in his until he could sit up unaided (about 5/6mo) at which point I was worried about him tipping it over on the stand, my nephew is 8 weeks and has almost outgrown his because he's so long, and my aunt had her DD in one until she was almost one because she was so tiny and she prefered the basket to the cot.

What about a travel cot? You can get models with wheels on, it folds away when not in use, and when it's no longer needed as a bed you can use it as a play-pen or for when/if the little one sleeps over anywhere. The only drawbacks are that the base is quite low so you'd have to bend to put baby in and out, it can't be attached to the bed, and the mattress supplied with them is always thin and a bit hard (but you can buy a thicker mattress reasonably cheaply).

Setara and Northern thank you so much! This is really helpful! Seems like the stokke will be fine for us then yipeeeeeeee (I must admit I love the way it looks :)

Thanks CBear6 I guess it really does depend on baby but so far we've measured "average" on all scans hahahaha
Not sure I want a travel cot - to be honest we won't be travelling much with the baby in early days, if we do I can just use the pram carrycot which I will probably take with me anyway and I actually want a proper, safe and sturdy little bed :) I can get it for £246 which while not entirely cheap is not tragic if it lasts the 5-6 months and then can be used for, hopefully, baby nr 2 in the future :)

Look up the Arms Reach bedside cot - don't think they have it in shops but you can buy it online. I have one, though my babies always end up in the bed with me, but will be hauling it out again hopefully for no. 3 soon!

Hi wolfhound thanks I did look at the Arm Reach as well as the Bed Nest and both have the function of co-sleeping but I can't see them to be easy to move around and also am not sure they can attach to our bed.

Out of curiosity - how long the Arm's Reach last your baby before they outgrow it?

Well, I kept the Arms Reach attached to our bed for a year, and it was easily still big enough - moved DCs to their own rooms (which had cotbeds I'd already bought) at that point. If I remember correctly (it is currently in loft, due to be brought out in a few weeks!) the way you attach it to the bed is quite straightforward - a long fabric strip that goes under your mattress. That way, the 'fourth side' of the cot is down, so it is flush with your bed.

Or, you can just stand it next to the bed and keep the fourth side up, so it is more like a travel cot (but with mattress high up like a normal cot, not floor level like a travel cot).

Reasonably easy to move around (i even think it has wheels though perhaps i'm misremembering), though again if I remember correctly, it was too big to push through our bedroom doorway so not very easy to move from room to room. Same with a travel cot of course. It's advertised as being quick and easy to fold up like a travel cot and take away with you - but we didn't need to do that, so can't comment.

Hope you find the perfect solution. And that you don't find that, like me, when you've got it, the baby disagrees and decides it only wants to sleep snuggled into you... :)

I'm also baffled by all the choices! DP thinks we should co-sleep, but I'm absolutely terrified that I'll kick LO out of bed so I've insisted on getting a bedside cot. I've just bought one on ebay for about £60 (will buy the mattress new for about £90) It will convert into a 'proper' cot when LO moves into his own room. I can't be bothered with moving it around for the first few months through so I'm also going to get a moses basket for 'downstairs' so I can move baby around for daytime naps. No idea if that will work, but it seems logical to my (inexperienced) mind.

£246 seems really cheap and it's gorgeous!

IME the reason baby's often come out of moses baskets is not necessarily their size but more the fact they can't see anything. My DD was only 6lb 14oz when she was born but only lasted a few weeks before she was too nosey to want to stay in it. Then she slept on a playmat where she could see everything as she fell asleep and if she opened her eyes, or I took her upstairs for a nap in her cot.

That stokke one seems better because it's relatively small but they can actually see out. I think my DD would have been happy in it.

What about an Amby?

I co-slept with my first from birth and intend to with this one, but used the amby in the front room and the occasional time when I showered and she slept, etc. Only used it until 8 months but have lent it to friends and will reuse it and could move it from room to room (no wheels though) Also kept her head up slightly which was good after feeding.

For all other carrying purposes I just used a length of interlock jersey and strapped her to me. Meant I could feed while walking too. Never bought a pram or stroller and she's 2-1/2 now.

www.amby.co.uk/

I used an Amby and thought it was great (although not entirely what you are looking for)

Once DS was too big for the Amby and I FINALLY cracked feeding lying down, we assembled his cot next to our bed, on some wood to raise it up to the same height, took one side off and voila, home made semi co-sleeping option! Not very moveable though, it was firmly positioned!

Hope you find a solution that works for you.

You don't have to spend money on Kari-me, Moby's etc.

Buy 5 metres of interlock pure cotton jersey (will be about 120 cm depth I think) from eBay or a cloth shop and cut down the middle and no need to seam. Can also buy in nice patterns or nice colours instead of the mud/black/snot colouts a lot of commercials carriers come in. Costs about a tenner and you get two wraps so one can be in the wash when you use the other.

When the baby is too big for stretchy wraps (4-8 months) I'd actually buy a properly sewn thing as unless you have sewing chops and decent thread a well-made carrier (I like mei tais and the Ergo is easy to get and for bigger toddlers I like the Girasol wraps and my husband uses a Boba)

I got the Silver Cross Sleepover set so it will sleep in that for first 3-6 months then moving to a cot which converts to a bed later on. In the meantime, the cot/bed can be used as a bench (if we want).