is there a need for a moses basket?

bumpintraining

Hey all; happy new year to everyone!!
I'm in 2 minds about buying a moses basket for our baby when s/he arrives. Is it ok to put newborn into a cot straight away or is it a definite 'no no'?
I don't want to get a crib as the only crib I can find is a rocking one and I dont want baby to get used to the rocking motion when going to sleep.

ebmma

afaik, nothing wrong with using a cot straight away. The baskets are awfully cute though...
I won't be buying one, but will get one if it's going free.

January

I personally hated having DD in hers and put her in her cot from three weeks old. Don't think there's anything wrong with not using a moses basket...

Ciara7

Hi there I think the moses baskets came into affect years ago when there was no heating in houses they were warmer than a cot. I used one but felt it was a total waste of money cos he was out of it at six weeks old!!!
Now houses are quite warm so I would just use the cot!!

Ddad

We had one for all three newborns and it was very useful. The baby will sleep at all hours of day and night and its really useful to have something that you can keep near you to put the baby to sleep in. Hauling yourself up and down stairs to puit the baby down/up up/down down/up gets old quickly when your wrecked. I was never that comfortable if the newborn wasn't close to me so it's brillaint for that. Theri also great if the baby falls asleep downstairs and its your bedtime. Just pick them up and off to bed with the lot of you. Best of luck anyway, it was a really great time in my life when they were that small.

Moonbeam

We got a lend of a huge 20 year old moses basket,she slept in it until she was 8 months old:)
I would not buy any of the ones that I have seen in mothercare etc though they are tiny.

A travel cot with bassinet is a much better investment.

Nicki123

I just want to reiterate what Ddad said. I wouldn't be without mine specifically because the baby was much more portable in the basket than if asleep upstairs in a cot. We even went so far as to have a stand upstairs beside the bed and downstairs in the living room for it. Then we could just move her around to whatever room we were in ( kitchen, dining room, sitting room, bedroom) without disturbing her sleep.

Our babs is a petite little thing and we got 12 weeks out of our basket before moving her into the cot and then we just left the basket downstairs for her daytime naps. Altogether we used it for about 5 - 6 months.

btw, there's no need to spend a fortune on a moses basket - they're all basically the same - just be careful of the carrying handles! We got ours on sale this time last year and we intend on using if for the rest of our babies ( if/when we have them), just replacing the mattress each time. Hope this helps.

LegacyUser

Moonbeam wrote: »

We got a lend of a huge 20 year old moses basket,she slept in it until she was 8 months old:)
I would not buy any of the ones that I have seen in mothercare etc though they are tiny.

A travel cot with bassinet is a much better investment.

i have to agree here plus with the travel cot its a grand size, sadly with the moses basket after 5-9 weeks he/she will be grown out of it, i no my little lad was out of his at 6 weeks he was a monster lol,

maybe if you got one off a friend that is finished with theres use one but i wouldnt ever buy a moses basket again, 100 for the moses basket, stand and mattress and to be only usd for 6 weeks, a cot costs a little bit more like 130 i got one in mothercare and you get 1- 2 yrs out of it depending on when he/she figures out how to climb out

caprilicious

Argos are doing a nice plain one for €25 with mattress on it. (stand seperate)
I only got one because we had assembled the cot in the nursery and found its too big to move it in our own bedroom

So our plan is that baby will sleep in moses basket in our room from birth then when she's a little older move to her cot in the nursery.

I'm planning to put her down for her daytime sleeps in the cot though then night time in moses basket just so that when she gets too big for moses basket and has to move to cot that its not unfamiliar with the cot/the nursery.

cbyrd

moses baskets are great for mobility or when they're tiny they don't look as lost in them.. but they sleep as well in a cot too you just have to put them feet to the bottom for the first while so they don't squirm their way under the blankets.. once they sleep you pretty much won't care where they are:D:D:D:D as long as it's for hours and hours !!!

AbigailE

I didnt use one, I bought a travel cot with a bassinet. Now shes in her cotbed i use the travel cot as a ball pit and just to throw her toys in

AbigailE

Oh and you could also leave the baby to sleep in the buggy during the day if you dont want to go up and down stairs,I have a bungalow so I never had that problem

Nevyn

A newborns shouldn't be left sleeping in a buggy unless it can go completely flat for the same reason as they should not be left in car chairs to sleep as it effects the developement of thier head as the bones start to knit together, they should be lying flat.

cbyrd

Thaedydal wrote: »

A newborns shouldn't be left sleeping in a buggy unless it can go completely flat for the same reason as they should not be left in car chairs to sleep as it effects the developement of thier head as the bones start to knit together, they should be lying flat.

my first never slept longer than 2 hours for 3 and a half months unfortunately:( i breastfed and for some reason i couldn't express.. (you make all the mistakes on the first:eek:) she'd wake up for a 20 -40 minute feed and by 5 weeks old i had to devise a system in bed where i could feed her and sleep at the same time... lots of pillows and cushions!! i was a zombie !! she'd scream if i put her flat and she was tiny 5lbs 8ozs at 6 days over.. lol she's 11 now and no matter what time she goes to bed she'll be up by 7am bright as a button my second slept all night from 5 days flat in a cot;).. first night she did i was afraid to look in the cot the next morning:D i'm 11 days over with this one so hoping it's a very lazy one too!!

bumpintraining

Thanks everyone for your replies. Think i'm just gonna go with the cot. I can always get a Moses basket after baby is born if I feel it'll be handy

themysteriouson

As a suggestion a swinging crib would be a good choice before using a cot. I would definitely avoid a travel cot as they are only meant for occassional use and not on a daily bassis as the mattress is not thick enough.
If you are going to use a cot/ cotbed from the beginning a cot divider is a great option to reduce the space in the cot so baby isnt wrigggling all over the place. Basically it just cuts the lenght of the cot in half which gives the effect of the moses basket or crib.

Foxytocin

bumpintraining wrote: »

Hey all; happy new year to everyone!!
I'm in 2 minds about buying a moses basket for our baby when s/he arrives. Is it ok to put newborn into a cot straight away or is it a definite 'no no'?
I don't want to get a crib as the only crib I can find is a rocking one and I dont want baby to get used to the rocking motion when going to sleep.

Neither of my children would sleep in one. The first slept in a bouncy chair when she was a newborn. Obviously I lowered it as low as it went and she was strapped in! Sounds irresponsible now when i type it years later but it was the only way she would fall asleep when she was slightly upright. she just wouldn't fall asleep flat which is not uncommon i believe.

the second child would only fall asleep in his pram with the hood up. i guess it was a bit 'womb-like'.

If i had a third which i won't then i wouldn't bother with a moses basket. but somebody else might have found them invaluable.

Foxytocin

Thaedydal wrote: »

A newborns shouldn't be left sleeping in a buggy unless it can go completely flat for the same reason as they should not be left in car chairs to sleep as it effects the developement of thier head as the bones start to knit together, they should be lying flat.

but newborns often dislike being totally flat... and won't sleep if they're flat!

Princessa

My little girl is 9 weeks old, or the first three nights when we came home from hospital, she woke up and screamed everytime i lay her in her crib, i ended up carrying the pram up to our bedroom and she slept in that until her next feed. then my partner mother suggested getting a moses basket as it would be the same shape as the pram. since i got the moses basket she goes fast asleep, its brilliant, she like being all snug so i assume she just felt the crib was too big and open for her... fun times when it comes to putting her in the big cot id say....:eek:

littleredspot

I vote for the moses basket. As said its very handy for baby to fall asleep in it downstairs near to you during the day. Then when you're going to sleep just carry basket up with you with baby still asleep in it. I got a basic Argos one and stained the stand walnut, everyone thought it was an expensive antique:)

wolfpawnat

My son hate the two I got for him. I bought him a rocking crib in the end, he adored it. If I have another baby I will not for one minute consider a moses basic.

A good travel cot and a good crib is all you need!

cbyrd

Princessa wrote: »

My little girl is 9 weeks old, or the first three nights when we came home from hospital, she woke up and screamed everytime i lay her in her crib, i ended up carrying the pram up to our bedroom and she slept in that until her next feed. then my partner mother suggested getting a moses basket as it would be the same shape as the pram. since i got the moses basket she goes fast asleep, its brilliant, she like being all snug so i assume she just felt the crib was too big and open for her... fun times when it comes to putting her in the big cot id say....:eek:

put the moses basket into the cot for a few weeks before you move her over... it also gives you the peace of mind if they're getting to big for the basket that they won't fall far!!;):D

DubDani

Our 3 week old daughter hates the moses basket. It seems she doesn't like to be restricted.

We have a big (1mx1m) height adjustable wooden playpen downstairs in which she sleeps during the day with no problem. So we moved her from the Moses Basket into her big cot after about a week, and she sleeps like an Angel for up to 7 hours every night.

TargetWidow

I used a moses basket till DD was 8 or 10 wks (but shes a leggy girl!). They say that some babies like the security of the sides and hood on the moses basket and I found I had no trouble getting her to sleep in it. Like other posters have said its very portable and you can just bring them with you around the house. Then when she was getting a bit bit for it I put the moses basket into the cot for a few nights and then just put her into the cot. No problems.

Two words of warning though that need to be borne in mind.
Firstly the moses baskets often come with linings and frilly hoods and coverlets and the mattress is bought separately. Since as others have said modern houses are usually quite warm nowdays the coverlet could pose a risk of overheating as it is difficult to judge just how much heat it is generating not being tog rated. We swaddled with a thin baby sheet and dressed her in her vest and babygro and kept a close eye on how warm her chest was (hands are nearly always cold and a lousy indication of core body temp). That seemed to work nicely and the swaddling settled her immensely.

As the regular user of a travel cot for nights and weekends away these days my huge tip here is spend the extra money and have a custom mattress made to the same quality as the one in the main cot. I kept the travel cot at work until DD was 1 year and on saturdays from 5 mths she napped in this cot for 2 glorious hours just like she would have done at home. Prior to getting the mattress made she barely slept in it at all because those "mattresses" that come with travel cots are really hard and uncomfortable looking. I got mine custom made by the nice people at Baby Elegance and have never regretted it.;)