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help? exactly what kind of baby sleeping crap do i need?
hi, all. excuse the urgency, but my mother is in town this weekend and just announced she wants to take us to buy some baby furniture in the next few days (i'm due in june). not having done this before, i'm not exactly sure what to tell her i want--but we certainly can't pass up the freebie. i think she's thinking crib, but i'm so flummoxed by the plethora of co-sleepers, play-yards with bassinettes, convertible cribs and what-all that i don't know what to tell her that we want.
we'd like to try the co-sleeping thing, but probably with the baby near/next-to/attached to the bed rather than necessarily in there with us. i'd like to buy as little stuff as possible . . . will having one of these "co-sleepers" be materially different from scooting a crib next to the bed? if we get one, will the baby need a crib eventually anyway? if we get the play-yard thing, can the baby sleep in it? is there any *one* piece of furniture we can buy that will do as many duties as possible?
i may ask again later about car seats and strollers. i don't know why it's the *stuff* angle of prepping for the baby that gives me headaches and flop sweat. i know it's just stuff. we don't have much money or space, though, and have some carbon footprint guilt, so i'd like to set us up well do this with as few . . . *products* as possible.
aaaaa. blerg. thanks.
we'd like to try the co-sleeping thing, but probably with the baby near/next-to/attached to the bed rather than necessarily in there with us. i'd like to buy as little stuff as possible . . . will having one of these "co-sleepers" be materially different from scooting a crib next to the bed? if we get one, will the baby need a crib eventually anyway? if we get the play-yard thing, can the baby sleep in it? is there any *one* piece of furniture we can buy that will do as many duties as possible?
i may ask again later about car seats and strollers. i don't know why it's the *stuff* angle of prepping for the baby that gives me headaches and flop sweat. i know it's just stuff. we don't have much money or space, though, and have some carbon footprint guilt, so i'd like to set us up well do this with as few . . . *products* as possible.
aaaaa. blerg. thanks.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Herasmus B. Dragon on
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We just pulled the crib next to our bed and left the front side off.
When I was in Buy Buy Baby last week looking at toddler beds, I saw they now have "minicribs". When they're ready, it turns into a.twin sized head- and footboard, like a lot the regular ones turn into full size beds now. If they were around when my girls were babies, I'd have gotten that.
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Permalink Reply by mightyninjamom on -
We had a co-sleeper, and while I loved it, it became yet another piece of obsolete furniture once our kiddo grew out of it. If I got do-overs, I'd stick with a convertible crib and just keep it close to the bed.
Play yards with bassinettes can be handy for when you want to visit someone, because they are portable. I used mine as a changing station for quite a while as well.
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Permalink Reply by Mamawho on
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We used our Pack n Play as a bedside bassinette. It had a drop-in insert so the baby wasn't sleeping in the playpen part. And the changing table attachment for it was great for middle of night diapering.
GirlWho never used her crib. Not once.
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Permalink Reply by MamatothaMax on -
We have our baby in a pack n play next to the bed. I'll get a crib at some point (probably when Finn can sit up on his own). We have very little room but really for the first 6 months a baby doesn't need a lot of room. With our older boys we had a bassinet next to the bed which had could easily be moved to another part of the house.
Do you live in a two story? If so I'd recommend getting something like a bassinet or sleeping basket for downstairs. It's really handy.
We were thinking about getting one of these but never did as the pack n play is so easy to move in next to the bed. I'm not a bells n whistles type but the napper on ours is really nifty.
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Permalink Reply by kanachick on -
Laundry basket...
We did basically every form of sleeping you can imagine with our kids - from co-sleeping to cribs to regular beds. Personally I loved the crib because it was a safe place to stick the baby when the walls were closing in...um...I've probably said too much.
Co-sleeping can work if you're careful to do it safely (no extra bedding...no alcohol or drug use etc.) and if both parents can sleep with the baby there. Some people don't sleep well with the baby between them. They can't relax.
Part of why it's nice to have some separation between you and the baby as they grow is that they make noises in the night and if you're a light sleeper then they'll wake you up when they don't really need you and it messes with the limited sleep you're getting.
Of course, there's no right way to do any of this...I just learned that one the hard way.
I'd get a crib if I had to do it over again...but if I had to do it over again I'd also get a wet nurse and a night nanny.
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Permalink Reply by MamatothaMax on
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We bought a crib with Mo thinking that we'd get years of use with it and we did use it as a crib and toddler bed for Mo and a crib for Max. Then it sat in storage for 3 years and when I checked it online to use with Finn the crib had been recalled and the company went under.
Herasmus B. Dragon said:We just pulled the crib next to our bed and left the front side off.
When I was in Buy Buy Baby last week looking at toddler beds, I saw they now have "minicribs". When they're ready, it turns into a.twin sized head- and footboard, like a lot the regular ones turn into full size beds now. If they were around when my girls were babies, I'd have gotten that.
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Permalink Reply by kommishoner on -
We used a co-sleeper, but in the crib position next to our bed. Space constraints were the only things that informed that decision; if we had more space we'd just have gotten a convertible crib and put that next to the bed instead. For us, having the little man in the same room was the most important thing - until he got to be about 9 months old and stopped sleeping more than 45 minutes at a time (turned out he wanted his own room; we were apparently keeping him up).
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Permalink Reply by rommie on -
We got a pack & play with the bassinet and changer attachments. He was in that for about the first two months or so upstairs, originally in our room. We moved him out into the loft, just outside our room, at maybe a month and a half, transitioned him to a crib in his room downstairs after that point. I was worried we'd never get use out of the crib, since several people here have said they didn't, but he's quite happy with it. Then again, he's generally an extraordinarily easy-going and happy baby, so that may have something to do with it.
For the first few days, he refused to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time unless he was physically attached to one of us. He slept on J's chest for a while, and we finally laid him in our bed between the two of us and took turns sleeping. We didn't want to cosleep for a variety of reasons; it just wasn't for us, though I hope it works wonderfully for you. It was a big relief when he started sleeping in his pack & play.
We got a crib that converts to a toddler bed and then a full-size bed, so hopefully we'll avoid having extra furniture around collecting dust later. The pack & play's useful for travelling, as well, since I previously went on semi-regular overnight trips. I'll be taking it with me next month when we go see friends.
Offsprung was a great help when I was figuring out my "stuff" list. Ask away!
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Permalink Reply by rommie on
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One more thing: Mini-moose was and is pretty big, so he was too long for some of the smaller basinnets/cosleepers I've seen from the time he was about a week old. I looked into a few smaller cosleepers while I was pregnant, but I don't know if he would have gotten any use at all from them. So much stuff out there seems like it's made for just the super short period after birth, and then only if he have a 7 lb.-ish baby!
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Permalink Reply by bethany on -
Also depends on the layout of your house. We have a big old house with all bedrooms upstairs. So, the bassinet and then crib went in the baby's bedroom upstairs, and during the day we used the pack and play downstairs for naps and such so we weren't running up and down stairs a million times per day. We have a downstairs changing table too. Made life a lot easier.
We have a crib that turns into a toddler bed. It's nice, but was expensive (a shower gift). It's a big ticket item that will go from crib to toddler bed to headboard for a full size bed, so will be a piece of furniture we will have for ever. Probably worth having someone buy for you...we wouldn't have sprung for it if we were paying!
I also bought a lot of the other stuff (pack and play, 2nd changing table, bassinet) at garage sales and/or craigslist. way cheaper.
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