Moses basket or straight to the cot?

[Bellyrub1980]

Hiya,

This is my first pregnancy and just wanted to gather some opinions on sleeping arrangements in the first few months as I'm getting varied opinions from friends/family.

We live in a newly built very small 2 up 2 down house. The nursery is about 3 paces from our room, If my partner sleeps in the spare room I can hear him breathing!! So with the doors open it's pretty much like being in the same room.

I guess the options are:

1: Moses basket in our bedroom initially, prior to moving to the nursery and then into the cot when Moses basket too small.

2: Moses basket in nursery eventually moving to cot when basket too small

1. Straight to cot in nursery.

We've had people very passionately advocate each of these options for their own reasons.

We're leaning towards trying to start put with the baby in his/her own room. But is this potentially dangerous? There's enough room for a Moses basket in our room so we have the option.

Thanks in advance!

Home - then I guess I'm fortunate that DH has never suggested the baby goes anywhere else but our room

If DS is having a rough night, constantly waking and crying I send my DH off to the spare room so he can get some sleep before he has to go to work and he's more than happy to go

makemine exactly (again). It "can" reduce the likelihood by up to a certain percentage. That stat has been arrived at by looking at the number of babies that slept in a different room and died of SIDS or who we're away from adults. We're essentially agreeing here, my point is that they know that statistically if an adult is in the room, the risk is lessened. My point is that there are reasons behind that, it's not just physical proximity. They also know, for example, that if you're a low-income family living in certain parts of the country, the risk of SIDS is significantly higher, but that's something that isn't generally bullet pointed. It's prevalence rather than risk you see, it's all about an increased incidence rate.

Can you tell I work in quantitative medical research? ?

Interpreting stats correctly is important, and stops the "they can hear you breathing" rumours and similar which are really unhelpful and can be dangerous. But the bottom line is the same, babies that die of SIDS tend, statistically, to be slightly more likely to have slept in a different room. Based on a very small sample. There are so many other factors at play, that I will probably do the same as all of my friends and move DS to the nursery when he's a month or so old, but it's an individual decision and I think it's important to know why they advise it.

writer I can imagine anyone would be !

we didn't bother buying a moses basket and used the carrycot most of the time, most of our friends didn't bother with a moses basket either as they don't last long and seem a waste of money.

we had our dd in our bedroom for 4 months then she went into her own room in a proper cot but by then she was sleeping right through the night. she has always been a good sleeper - DH used to go through to her room and prod her to make sure she was still with us as she used to sleep so much. In the early days we only took her through to our room when we were going to bed, didn't seem to be any point of her being in our room on her own when we were sitting watching tv in another room - this was one of the reasons we liked the carrycot - she didn't get disturbed when we went to bed - DH just carried the cot through to the room with her in it sleeping.

So is a Moses basket at the end of the bed ok?

I think so Lucy, from what I've read since posting this topic.

If I made it sound like my DP is 'demanding' that the baby won't sleep in our room, that isn't the case at all. We've only just started thinking about it and we've kind of been led to believe that we should avoid same room sleeping by friends and family, including our mums which is obviously quite a strong influence. I'm sure that with the explanation about SIDS he won't mind at all, and will just go with what's best. It's just that the evidence would have to be quite convincing to over-ride the opinions he's already heard, so something from a professional source is required. I shall check out the websites and leaflets that have been recommended. Hopefully he'll be able to attend a midwife appointment too.

That's snuzpod looks gorgeous.

If DP does have any strong feelings about baby sleeping in our room, I could always sleep in the nursery with a side-crib for the first 6 months. That wouldn't be a problem. I'm in here now as I'm finding sleeping on my side an absolute nightmare and keep tossing and turning and don't want to wake him up. Only 19w4d and already can't get comfortable :(

Definitely have the baby in with you although if I could go back and do it again I wouldn't bother with the Moses basket. He outgrew it after 8 weeks and never slept in it in the day anyway.

He wouldn't go in his cot so I have ended up co-sleeping. If I'd just used the cot from day 1 maybe things would be different?

Those who didn't have a Moses basket, where did your babies sleep during the day? Mine napped in a Moses basket in the living room in daylight (paediatrician said to have them nap during the day in daylight to help with regulating circadian rhythms and sleeping longer at night, seemed to help). If babies are supposed to be near parents to regulate their breathing while sleeping, does this include daytime too or can you leave them to nap in a room alone? Why?

Someone posted this a while ago, it's lovely
www.pregnantchicken.com/pregnant-chicken-blog/2010/5/4/what-you-need-to-know-about-newborns.html

Have fun moving your room around, ignore well meaning advice from others, except from those who inow what they are on about (like your mw) and you willbe fine!

Health visitors & midwives recommend that baby sleeps where you are, so your room at night and in the lounge with you during the day. Think most people use a moses basket or pram downstairs

Also just to add, they dont have to move out of your room at 6 months, they can stay longer! [Grin?

Health visitors & midwives recommend that baby sleeps where you are, so your room at night and in the lounge with you during the day. Think most people use a moses basket or pram downstairs

butterflies - when my baby naps I tend to be in the same room as him whether he's asleep in the living room or whether I'm sitting in the bedroom with him upstairs.

Sometimes I use the free time to get some housework done etc so I'm not doing a bedside vigil. If I do leave him alone I always pop the baby monitor on him but still go and check on him at least every 5-10 minutes.

I was wondering this too. We have a 3 bedroom bungalow and can't agree on which room to use as a nursery. The bedroom we use is too small for a cot but we have an ottoman at the foot of the bed. We have a travel system and are thinking of putting the pram top on top of the ottoman for the first few months then she'll move into the nursery into a cot when she's big enough. Thinking we can just use the pram and don't need a Moses basket.

Foody, I loved reading that link you put up. It's incredible how everyone you speak to is an 'expert' and keen for you to do it their way. I guess everyone's 'way' is different depending on the baby. X

butterflies we didn't get told anything about where to put DD to sleep during the day or night, we just done what we thought was right for us. during the day she normally slept in her car seat as we were out or she slept in the pram when we were out - I made a point of going out every single day in the early days so we done a lot of walking/seeing people.

I'm going to sleep in the nursery. I want the baby to start in her own room - so there aren't nightmares when moving her in there if she started somewhere else. Also means that husband can get a proper night sleep - one of us needs to! He has is own business so it is a bit critical. Fortunately the room has space for a cot and a single bed... so I think that is what is going to work best for us.

I think I may do the same Jersey. Makes sense for lots of reasons.

I ended up buying moses baskets as am moving house and thought it would be easier than assembling cots at the last minute (exchange still hasn't taken place and am 27 weeks on Monday). Also it would take up a lot of space for me as am expecting twins. I know I will have to cross that bridge when it comes to it but at the moment the room is so small if the move didn't take place in time I would literally have to step over my own bed to get to each cot. However, I had a lot of people telling me the moses basket is pointless and to go straight to a cot.

Definitely have them in your own room - as mentioned reduces the risk of SIDS. I was also worried about this so bought movement monitors but apparently they don't work in a moses basket - have to be completely flat (on plywood in the cot) and a certain distance from the cot threaded through the bars. The moses baskets don't allow either of these conditions to be met, so they are not recommended.

As for the marriage issue - can't comment personally as am on my own but your H will have to put up with it at least for 6 months if he wants the safest option for your baby.

I ended up buying moses baskets as am moving house and thought it would be easier than assembling cots at the last minute (exchange still hasn't taken place and am 27 weeks on Monday). Also it would take up a lot of space for me as am expecting twins. I know I will have to cross that bridge when it comes to it but at the moment the room is so small if the move didn't take place in time I would literally have to step over my own bed to get to each cot. However, I had a lot of people telling me the moses basket is pointless and to go straight to a cot.

Definitely have them in your own room - as mentioned reduces the risk of SIDS. I was also worried about this so bought movement monitors but apparently they don't work in a moses basket - have to be completely flat (on plywood in the cot) and a certain distance from the cot threaded through the bars. The moses baskets don't allow either of these conditions to be met, so they are not recommended.

As for the marriage issue - can't comment personally as am on my own but your H will have to put up with it at least for 6 months if he wants the safest option for your baby.

I used a moses basket with each of my three. I liked the fact that I could take it downstairs, so the baby had somewhere to nap during the day, and I could just pick it up and take the baby with me, if I needed to.

They all slept in our bedroom when they were little, and then when they were old enough to go into their own bedroom, I started off by putting the moses basket into the cot, so they were still in a familiar bed, if you see what I mean, and then moved to putting them into the cot itself.

Sorry for double post - silly computer!
Moses basket in cot is a fab idea!

Jersey - I have to say I never had any problems moving the boys through to their own room from ours - as I said in the earlier post, I think moving them through in the moses basket helped, because it was familiar to them. I also used a cot mobile for them, and I think that that helped too.

We're going to have a cot on the side of the bed with the side down, so I can reach over easily, but put the moses basket in the cot. I can't imagine I'll be 'sliding' a baby between me and the cot, I'm too clumsy for that, so lifting over a moses basket lip is fine. I reckon we'll aim for 3 months in the room with us, then in their own room - mostly because for those 3 months, boyfriend is planning on being in the spare room, and I don't want that to go on for too long.

I have enough space between the wall and my bed for a very narrow bedside table. I still have room for the Moses basket there too, on a rocker.

Yes the midwife will give you a leaflet on SIDS when you leave hospital, plus when you have your home visits after the birth you'll get more leaflets, all telling you to keep baby with you for at least six months. Frankly, night feeds are enough of a pain without having to traipse into another room anyway IMO.