What does your baby sleep in?

[JaneBanks]

First baby due in July and I'm a bit clueless as (despite being 29) I'm one of the first of my friends to be pregnant so don't have anyone to ask! Sadly my NCT classes were cancelled due to insufficient numbers and my NHS ones don't start for a month yet!

Anyway... DH and I have been looking at what the baby should sleep in for the first 6ish months? We want to have him in our room per SIDS guidance, but our room's quite small so his eventual cot won't fit in.

I've heard good things about Next to Me cribs, but they're quite expensive. Are they worth it? One of my friends has a Moses Basket with a stand, but I've heard babies grow out of them quite quickly.

Grateful for any advice!

Babies tend to grow out of Moses baskets by about 4 months or so, so if you can't fit your cot in your room and you want to keep baby in your room until 6 months then you'd need something else for that interim period. That's why we decided to get a crib. We actually ended up using the carrycot part of the pram for the first few weeks as it was the only thing she would settle in (probably because it was more enclosed and cosy) but after that she was fine in the crib. We moved her out into her cot after about 6 months but she would have been fine in the crib for longer if needed.

I have friends who have the next to me and some love it (especially if breastfeeding) and some have said that they think it's then been more difficult to transition them into their cot in their own room as they're used to being so close to you rather than in the crib which is a bit more separate from you.

You can rent a Bednest (another bedside crib) for as long as you need for about £80. You get a new mattress and new fabric sides each rental. We had ours just over 6 months and DD is a bit of a chunk - but if you have a very, very big baby or they're very wriggly they might grow out of it quicker. It's a cheaper way of doing it than shelling out for a different brand of bedside crib.

We had a next to me crib for dd, they are good. I didn't expect her to actually dislike it though because it was too big. We ended up buying a sleepyhead to go in it as well (another £100). But she slept brilliantly in it. We ended up moving dd into her own room before 6 months, I'm pretty sure she was about 4.5 months. Mainly because DH is a horrendous snorer and dd is very loud when she sleeps! DH would wake her up, then I would wake at every snuffle and whine she made!

I'd definitely recommend the next to me crib though. We went visiting family all over the country while I was on mat leave, and the crib is very portable (in a car).

Thank you all so much for great advice. I had posted a detailed reply but my page reloaded ! In short, I will look into renting Bed Nests as an option and great advice about pram carrycot too!

jellytots - did you use the Sleepyhead for downstairs naps as well or just keep it in the crib?