I'm a bit confused about where to put a newborn baby to sleep and in what

[MediumOrchid]

I wonder if someone could help clear this up for me...

So I read that the advice is to have the baby in your room for the first 6 months. But do you put the cot in your room, or just something like a Moses basket, and keep the cot in the baby's room? Is it alright for the baby to sleep during the night in a Moses basket, or are they just for naps? And if the baby's cot is in our room, then what is the point of all the decorating etc people seem to do of the 'nursery' before the baby is born? It just seems a bit odd if the baby won't actually be in that room for 6 months!

I'm only 9 weeks pregnant so a bit early to be thinking about all of this but I can't stop looking at things we might want to buy so would like to get this straight in my head!

Thanks very much.

Baby sleeps (at least theoretically!) in the Moses basket in your room. Cot stays in baby's room unless you have space in your room and want to move it in after baby outgrows basket. Baby's room is decorated early because it's exciting, looks cute and you won't have time when baby's born!

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

The answer is that you do what works best for you. Our DD was in a moses basket next to our bed until she outgrew it. I used to sleep at night with her hand curled around my finger. Once she outgrew the basket (about 6 weeks!), we put her cotbed next to our bed so it was like one big bed but with space for her, and she slept in that until she was one year old, at which point she moved into our bed.

Cosleeping isn't for everyone, some people can't sleep with a baby/toddler in the same room, but remember that cosleeping is normal and what 90% of the world do, so if you want to do it, don't feel strange.

The "6 month" guideline is because it is safer for your baby to sleep in the same room as you for the first few months as your breathing will help regulate your baby's breathing and can help prevent SIDS.

As for decorating the nursery, we have a beautifully decorated nursery, all dark blue with moons and stars, so it looks like you're sleeping under the sky. I cried when I saw it finished. But two-and-a-bit years later, it's still a boxroom as DD has never spent a night in there, we love cosleeping too much.

my 2 started off in a crib in our bedroom and when they outgrew it we moved the cot into our room (sat along the bottom of the bed). The cot got moved into their own room around 8 months.

DD started off in a crib next to my bed, but two weeks later had made her way into my bed as I was just too tired to pick her up out of the crib to bf ten times a night! Eight months on she's still in the bed! :)

If you want to decorate, decorate before the baby there is no way you will have time afterwards! Plenty of years for him/her to enjoy it though, doesn't have to be the first few months.

You will find that some babies like some things and some like others. My dd2 loved her Moses basket and slept very happily in it. Dd3 hated it but slept well in the carry cot from the pram. Whatever they sleep in MUST have a good mattress - you can buy them in different sizes from places like Mothercare.
You might also want to think about co-sleeping and if it's something you want to consider then look at co-sleeping/bedside cots instead of a basket. You will find you need somewhere upstairs for baby and somewhere downstairs (assuming you don't live in a bungalow/flat). The pram is fine for naps downstairs as long as it goes totally flat and has a good mattress - which most will have.

My 5 month old DD sleeps in a crib in our room, its a bit bigger than a moses basket but smaller than a cot, she only still fits in it now though as she's quite small and is swaddled. We sorted out the nursery before she was born and I'm glad as she likes playing in her cot during the day which lets me hang up laundry etc and its a safe place to pop her after nappy changing while I sort out her dirty clothes/nappy etc. I think lots of people don't bother sorting the nursery till their babies are ready to move into them at night but I was glad to have it sorted before then.

Could I just ask re the co-sleeping, not being trolley or anything, isn't it a bit odd when you are having sex with child right there? (Like a troll I mean)

Ds didn't have his own room (or furniture) until he was 7 months old, I decorated his room then.

Before then his cotbed was right up next to my side of the bed, when he was very little we put the Moses basket in the cotbed during the night but he outgrew the moses basket by 6 weeks anyway.

Mine slept in cribs by out bed, till they outgrew, then cots by our bed, then into their own rooms at about 8-9 months I think, they now are in big beds in their own rooms, and go to sleep in them, but somehome are in my bed when I wake up! :)

Busty I've never had sex in front of my child. We have a spare bedroom, a sofa, a kitchen, a bathroom . . . . . . . . . . .

If they're asleep I don't see the problem (although ds was never actually in the bed with us much )

Wouldn't do it now he's 18 months though.

busty sex is the last thing you think of when you've just had a child & are still BF-ing!

otherwise babe gets left in the cot or you improvise outside the bedroom!

OP -I had my DD1 in with me for about a week but she was a noisy sleeper (shuffled & mewed & chomped her gums) so I was always listening for her & never slept. So she went into her room next door & I could hear her when she properly cried. Also we both liked sleeping in a cooler room than is advised for a new born, and it was a larger room. Her room was smaler & cosier so it worked better that way for us.

I've never used a moses basket. The first three had a swinging crib in my room then a cot, then a toddlerbed, before moving into thier own room. Mostly in my bed though, lol. With the youngest we just put the cot in our room and she slept with us or in there, she stays in her cot now since she's been sleeping through the night (still in our room at 21 months).

If you co-sleep you just pop them into thier cot if you fancy getting jiggy, doesn't happen often though while bfing, it lowers your libido, lol.

Thanks everyone, that is really useful. Glad to know a Moses basket is an option then. If we put the cot in our room it would have to go at the foot of the bed as it wouldn't fit by the side. But I suppose it may have to if babies outgrow the Moses basket quickly!

I think we will decorate the baby's room beforehand, I've just seen pictures of rooms people have decorated with the cot and everything looking lovely, and thought 'but will the baby actually be sleeping there?'!

OK everyone, I just wondered!

We had a moses basket next to the bed and the cot in DD room on the highest setting. It was very useful for putting her down while you wash your hands etc after changing her nappy. We then had the cot in the bedroom untill she moved into her own room at 8 months. Moving her had little to no effect on her night waking. But did mean we could watch TV (and other stuff) in bed again

We never bothered with a Moses basket or crib - just put DDs in cot (feet to foot) from the start.

Don't really see the point of having something different for 6 weeks.

Downstairs used carrycot for naps.