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Hello ladies!
I am a little unsure on wether I should buy a bassinette or not. The thought of putting our tiny little man into such a big huge cot is a little daunting to tell the truth. Is it best to put bub straight into a cot so he can get use to it though??? I’m not sure what to do.
I haven’t had a look at any bassinette’s yet but would I be right in saying they are about $250??
Renee
XOXOX
IMO they are a waste of money... babies grow out of them so quickly. I went straight for a cot...but thats my choice... easier and chepaer.. DD went really well.. they look so cute in such a huge cot compared to their little bodies!
I was given a bassinette for jett when he was born (I didnt want it but it had been in the family for 60 years so I felt obliged to at least take it home!) He slept in it twice and that was it, he didn't really like it and now that he is 3 months old he doesn't fit in it!! I think it is better to just buy the cot, if you want bub in your room you can put the cot in there and move it back into the bubs room when you want, they take much longer to grow out of a cot too!!
You can buy cot snugglers to go inside a cot. You can get them at the baby shops and they're about bassinet sized.
Another option is the baby hammocks. Imran used his from birth until a bit after his 1st birthday for his day sleeps. We have an amby hammock.
Hey Renee,
I've had this discussion with myself many many times. My mum has been telling me that it would be good to get a bassinette to keep Avaleigh in during the day so she is close to me and then at night, she can go in to her cot. So this is what I am going to do. I am not buying a bassinette tho, I am borrowing it off my sis's MIL. If you are able to get your hands on a bassinette that you can borrow then go for it. But if you are going to buy one, try look for one thats cheaper. I think I have seen some around Perth for $150.
And I am sure your lil man will be fine in his cot!! Putting straight in the cot is what most people do I think...
I have a moses basket that DS still fits in - most useful as he's not sleeping through yet and we can't fit his cotbed (a cot that turns into a toddler bed when you remove the bars) into our room. Depends on how much space you have, I find I like having the basket next to the bed at night, but push-awayable when we get up.
Another option is to have the portacot in your room with you (these often have a bassinet attachment or similar)
I think dachlostar mentioned the baby snuggler things you can put in the cot, I think they are heaps cheaper, I'm sure you could buy one on ebay or borrow one to see if it suits you.
Personally both babies went into the cot, although no. 2 slept in the portacot in our room for 90% of the time until 4 months old (so I could have her nearby).
There is no medical/physical reason why you should use a cot over a bassinet or vice versa so do what you feel most comfortable with, although the option of borrowing is a really good idea as They do grow out of them very very quickly. The hammocks seem to last longer.
I am having this debate with myself as well!! MIL was going to buy us one but I had a huge fight with her and told her we wee raising this baby our way and not her's cause she was getting concerned that we hadn't gone out and chosen one yet and I told her why I thought it was a waste of money on one hand and on the other hand it was a good choice!!
Then I had the thought of the hammock, but SUPRISE SUPRISE I mention that to MIL in the fight and she said.....I don't like them so I am no putting my money towards that!!
But then there is the option of the snuggler like someone else mentioned so I think I will look into that myself as well!!
I will be keeping an eye on this thread as well to see what everyone elses opinion is.
I too have been having this conversation with myself for ages now. DH and I decided that a bassinet was an extra expense we didnt need, but last night at our antenatal class our midwife suggested having bubs in one durring the day out in which ever room you are in so they can hear some noise. Her point was that while in the womb it is noisey and in hospital no matter what time of day there is some form of noise. She said if bubs is in, say the lounge room with the tv on durring the day and in his cot at night it will help him distinguish day from night too. Hope that makes some sense. DH and I are now going to look for one on ebay for bub's day sleeps.
I put both DD's straight into the cot in their won rooms down the opposite end of the house, both were fine I dont like monitors, but I still easily heard them when they needed me...
But as Indah refuses to get out of her cot I started looking at an alternative.
Then the most precious of Ladies offered me her Amby hammock to borrow & ofcourse I snapped up the offer! Thanks HUN! MWAH!
BUt had Indah moved out of the cot I'd have not bothered wasting money on something you use for such a brief amount of time...
I used a bassinet for DD and loved having her in my room with us at night, I will be using one this time too.
You don't need to spend heaps of money on them, I borrowed one from a family member for DD and this time around I brought one off ebay for $30. (I will buy a new matress for it). They are also VERY handy when you are out and about visiting, you will need somewhere for bub to sleep while out and a bassinet is a much more comfortable and safe option than a pram etc in my opinion.
As for whether they grow out of them quickly or not - it depends on the size of the baby and the size of the bassinet. My DD was in hers till nearly 6 months! She slept in her cot during the day and in her bassinet at night in our room.
Like everything, it's a personal choice, but if you can borrow one, I would do it - that way if you don't like it, you haven't wasted your money.
we have a cot which bub wont sleep in, got a bassinette and wont sleep in it (even with the anti roll snuggler). Now bub will only sleep in her cocoon (which we put in the bassinette). our mw thinks that she feels more conforted in the cocoon cause it is smaller and more snug than the openess of the bassinette. so will stay in that until she i too big and move into bassinette cause i am sure cot will be too open just yet.
however we were alo never getting a basinette - we borrowed from a fiend - and it is great cause you can wheel it right next to whichever side of the bed you like in our room. which is good because it is too cold to walk around the house at 3am!
I love our bassinette! It has wheels, so I can move Nicky around during the day to be where I am if I want to. And there's no way I'd be ready to leave him in his room at night yet. When we first brought him home his cry was so tiny we wouldn't have been able to hear him, even though his room is next to ours LOL! I love that I can just reach over to settle him without getting out of bed, especially when it's really cold.
Ours is a family heirloom too, but we had two others on offer to us as well. I'm sure if you ask around you'd be able to find one, either a giveaway, loan, or cheap to buy. As Willow said, if you can borrow one, and bubs doesn't like it you won't have wasted any money. IMO it's definitely worth having.
ETA I would guess that Nicholas will be in his for at least another three months, and ours is on the small side. And we had a new mattress cut at Clark Rubber.
Hey Renee
I'm going to be using a family handed down bassinet. If we didn't have one given to us then I wouldn't have brought one though, unless pretty cheap. It is a good idea to let Rory get used to day time sounds when sleeping so that if he has a sleep at someone elses house or out shopping (which I know you love doing) then he won't be so bothered with noises. Those hammocks sound like a good idea as well, I would love to have someone lend me theirs to trial once lil miss is out but until then unless someone else offers to buy one then I'm sticking with what I've got.
Good luck making the decision.
i had a bassinet for my DD and i loved it,
i could put her anywere in the hosue, if she cried during the night i could wheel her in the lounge room, if i wanted her near me at night i could wheel her in
casue our bath was far away from her bedroom i put it outside the bathroom and put a towel on it and straight from the bath in her towl on the bassinet and dried her there
she was inn it for about 4 months, we borrowed the 1 we had but
when im pregnant im deff buying one as we plan on having more kids so it will be money well spent
We put Claire straight into a cot. We were given a bassinet - it is one that gets passed around the family - but i didnt feel it was safe enough for her. Its old and the matress seemed crappy, so we didnt use it. She is fine in the cot, and she has been since her first night in it. We still have the bassinet floating around the house - never used it or even put it together, but she would still fit in it now, at 3.5 months. Some seem bigger than others.
We did not bother with a bassinette for DD but I had a cot snuggler/moses bed instead.We actually put up the porta-cot in our room and used the snuggler for the first 4 months, then she went into her cot with the snuggler for another couple of months.
This time I will use a bassinette only because my SIL is lending me one. If I had to buy it then I would go the other way.
Also if you get a good snuggler you can take that every where and they are great for bub to sleep in until they start rolling. HTH
We used a wooden cradle for our DS until he was 5 months old and I loved it, but you could just use a Snuggle bed in the cot to snug them in. I think it really is a personal choice and it certainly isn't a must have item. We also used an Amby baby hammock which was the BEST baby item we ever bought and ended up using it for my son's day naps until he was 18 months old (he just wouldn't give it up!).
We've purchased a wooden cradle too (Boori) which is a largish cradle so should suit bubs til they're quite a few months old. When she outgrows it, then we'll pop her into the full sized cot. For day sleeps, I'll have her in the port-a-cot downstairs with me. Having a quick squizz around at basinettes, they really do vary in price (as does everything else!)
hey renee - i received a brochure recently for a company that hires out baby equipment. Maybe you could look into something like that if you did want a bassinette but don't want to outlay all of that money.
I used a bassinet for DD, it was something that we took ages to decide on but in the end got one. I found it great for many of the same reasons as the others, I could wheel it around the house and have her wherever I was during the day, Her cot wouldnt fit in our room and I wasnt ready to have her in her own room. It was middle of winter when she was born so Ifound that she always seemed more cosey in there. The other rationale was that we knew we wanted more than one baby so figured that it wouldnt be such a waste.
We had our son in his cot from the moment he got home. All sleeps were in his cot. We have never had any trouble with his sleeping....we will be doing it the same way this time.
This is really interesting, as when we were doing a shopping list of baby stuff, my in laws were really bassinet focussed! They even sent me an email which offered me their family one, and then said 'much better than those silly people who think baby can go straight into a cot'!!!!! I emailed back telling them I was one of those silly people as that is where bubs is going!!!
They did bring up the bassinet and stand, it's in good condition but the mattress is stuffed so it's not going to be used unless the cot thing doesn't work. We would have to find the $$ to buy a new mattress and sheets etc (and drive 1 hr each way to the shop) - and if the sizing isn't standard, then we'd have to get one cut - and there's no Clark Rubber anywhere near here!!!!
I do have one of those bassinet baskets that fits into my jogger, and have made 2 sets of sheets for that. I figure that will be good for during the day in the loungeroom, and also when visiting people.
I borrowed one too from my cousin, and you can even use pillowcases as sheets cause the mattresses are so little. Now it will be a matter of whether bub likes sleeping in there once he/she arrives!
I love bassinets, it was one of the first things I wanted to buy for my baby. The ones I looked at were $170 from Baby World, and came on wheels which would be great to move the baby from room to room.
I want the baby to sleep in our room for the first few months even though he has his own room and cot, so an alternative I thought of, considering the price of bassiets for only a short time of use, is a portacot with bassinet built in/addition which you can buy for about the same price. So you get a bassinet for now, and a portacot for later.
Anyway I did not end up buying either, as I was given an amby baby hammock. Dachlostar ~ I'd love any info about the amby baby hammock. Mine is all set up and looks beautiful but I'm wondering about how warm they are to sleep in for a winter baby, what linen to use etc. I might ask about this is the recommendations thread...
we jsut put DS straight into his cot and had no worries (he co-slept for first 2 weeks). however this time around i will be hunting downa bassinet on wheels as DS used to have to sleep in the lounge in his stroller during the day as he liked the noise. if i can't borrow one with wheels mum just got her hands on an old Emmalunga pram with bassinett bit so i will just use the bassinet bit on the floor. When DS was 2 weeks old we went away for a week aand he slept in a cocoon, he slept extremely well!
So yep i say if you can borrow or buy a cheap bassinet/moses basket/cocoon go for it, they are very handy.
augustmoonmum - we used a hammocy for a couple of months to help with reflux, i found him to be really snug and warm in that and only used to put a couple of folded up bunny rugs over him, he used to sleep on a towel folded into quarters(soaked up the constant spews and easy to change constantly!) so that prob kept him pretty warm too.
Hi there,
My DD went straight into her cot from day one and every sleep, have never had a problem. I was going to put her into a bassinet but was told babies hit their little arms on the sides of the bassinet when they stretch them out and can wake themselves up. Not exactly sure how true but that was a final reason to go for the cot. I always have music on at home during the day so our house is alway full of background noise and my DD can hear it in her room so she knows im always around. Im happy for her to be in her room because i dont have to worry about tip toeing around her whilst she's asleep. (And im still a bit clumsy so i drop things alot and make heaps of noise).
I bought a cradle on wheels but my baby isn't due until August so I can't tell you if it's a good choice or not! Everyone has told me that I'm mad and to just put the baby into a cot in the spare room. Anyhow, I ignored them because:
a) I want the baby in our room to start with, within reach and eyesight so if he's making a bit of noise, I can gauge whether I need to get up or just give him a little rock. I've chosen a cradle that rocks so hopefully I can just reach over without getting out of bed myself. Obviously, I will be getting up if he needs feeding/changing!
b) Our bedroom isn't massive so I'd rather have a cradle than a cot in there. We were told that portacots weren't suitable to put the baby in every night. Don't really believe that but that just made the choice of cradle easier.
c) I don't really like the idea of baby monitors. I know I'll be lying there listening out for something. I'd rather have the baby next to me at first so I know exactly what's going on. I realise that I may rapidly change my tune after a few weeks and be a baby monitor convert!
d) The cradle's on wheels so I can move it into the living room during the day (though I might use something else for daytime).
Fiona - They are the same reasons I was thinking too! DH and I went to baby on a budget on Saturday and bought a lovely blue bassinette for $169. I really wanted to go for white incase we have a girl the next time around but the blue one came with a net which is fantastic because we have nosey little furbabies :) Its beautiful!
Thanx so much for all your help again everyone!!