Product Spotlight: Cribs, bassinets, and sleeping surfaces

emmylou78

What do you plan on doing for babe regarding sleeping? Do you room-in for a specific number of months or plan on going straight to the crib? 

Drop links for safe sleep practices. This one I stole from the July BMB: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/sleep/Pages/A-Parents-Guide-to-Safe-Sleep.aspx

link to previous and upcoming topics: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mqlBWywDw6uR06rrrZZ0pQ5FdUpa5hMt4aB6jpO4ha4/edit

BourbonBiscuits

We'll keep baby in our room in a pack'n'play bassinet until they get too big to comfortably sleep there. The nursery is right across the hall from our bedroom, so it's not a long trek to get there! Then baby will be in the crib that DS and DD have used. Gotta work on getting DD out of there before we move baby in ...

cyanope

My first two babies stayed in our room in a co-sleeper until 6+ months. We'll do the same with this baby. Then, baby will move to the kids' room in the crib. 

mrspants0809

We are planning on renting/buying a Snoo for the first couple of months for in our room. After that I have no idea. We have a 6 bedroom house but 4 of the rooms are in the basement (it’s hard for me to move DD into the basement). She will most likely move down there and baby boy will move into her room. 

bmo88

Planning the same set up as last time. 

Pack n play in our room for 6 months. Then we will move to crib. Our 3 year old is in the converted crib now as a toddler bed, so will need to get a new bed for her.

the_most_happy

Would love to hear any of the pros and cons you all have for keeping the baby in the room vs. straight to the nursery! I'm assuming the major advantage of keeping in-room is convenience, like just not having to walk far to grab them for night feedings/soothing etc.?

claireloSC

I planned to keep DD in our room for a while and made it about 4 weeks before I couldn't take it anymore and moved her to her room. She was SO noisy making little snuffling noises and my anxiety was sky high so I just couldn't sleep at all with her in a sidecar bassinet. Her room was close by so it wasn't a big deal and had the added benefit of preventing me from falling asleep with the baby while nursing. She stayed in her crib till she was 18 months ish at which point she moved over to a twin and she has been in there ever since. I had stomach surgery at the time and couldn't lift her in and out so it was easier for us.

emmylou78

DD was in my room for a year, first in a Rock n Play (since recalled!!) and then her crib. I liked her being in the room in the early weeks just because feeding and diapering is sooo frequent. I also only had a 1 bedroom apartment 🤪. I think I’ll do a bassinet this time in my room and set up a crib in what will be their room. That room is clear on the other side of the house though, which makes me cringe. 

Where do you rent a Snoo? DD was such a terrible sleeper as a newborn and infant. Everything woke her up. I’d do about anything for this one to be more of a deep sleeper. I think MH wants to make a bassinet though, as well as the crib. 

emmylou78

@claireloSC my daughter was so noisy too! I remember comparing her to a billy goat. 

mrspants0809

@emmylou78 you can rent them from here: https://www.happiestbaby.com/products/snoo-smart-bassinet?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgo-hwbzv7gIVL_LjBx3HJwjDEAAYASAAEgICVPD_BwE

@the_most_happy We moved DD into her room pretty early. She was on a light bed for about a week for jaundice so she was on that in her crib and we took turns sleeping on her floor. After that we just kept her mostly in her room. 

pickle-chips

Health Canada recommends room sharing for the first 6 months. AAP says ideally up to a year, but at least 6 months. 

Our first we kept in our room until he was 7 months or so? And just in his crib. His sleep and our sleep sucked for the first 10 months of his life haha.

For our second, we kept him in our room in the uppababy bassinet on a stand for the first couple of months and then moved him to a crib still in our room. We moved him into his own room at 4 months. We will go this route again. It’s definitely convenient in the early days when the waking, diaper changes and feeding happens every few hours. But I found that we both (me and baby, MH can sleep through anything—rude) slept so much better NOT in the same room. Both of my kids sounded like pugs and if their snuffling didn’t wake me up, any little movement they made did (and vice versa).

We have two IKEA cribs—a Sniglar (the plain wooden one) and a white Sundvik. They both convert to toddler beds (our 4yo is in this set up now), but we just got twin beds and will move the kiddos into those and then use one of the cribs for BB3.

claireloSC

@emmylou78 We had a Rock n Play too, we used it for naps and I'm kinda sad they recalled it! @pickle-chips
We had the ikea crib also, I think it was Henvik but I don't think they make the exact one anymore. Can't beat the price!

alexa_94

For DD1 her crib was in my room and DD2 slept in a fisher price soothing motions bassinet I borrowed from my sister. She was between that and her crib until she outgrew the bassinet.
I’m now thinking about getting  soothing motions, ingenuity dream & grow or Graco Sense2Soothe.

cyanope

I'm also REALLY sad about the Rock n' Play recall. That thing was a life saver in the early days!
@the_most_happy, pros for keeping baby in the room is convenience. Plus, I just feel massive anxiety when my baby isn't close by. I calm down a bit once they hit the six month mark. I also feel like sharing a room from the get-go helps make the baby a deeper sleeper? They get used to sleeping through stuff. Both of my big kids will literally sleep through ANYTHING since they have basically shared a room their entire lives. At least, that has been my experience. 
Cons: babies are freaking loud. And I'm a light sleeper. I sleep with a sound machine, so that helps. And if it gets too noisy, I'll shift the baby into our bathroom. It's open to the master, so I am still close, but there is enough separation that I don't wake up at every little noise.
I have used the "arms reach" co sleeper with both of my children, but the thing is so massive and clunky. I'm definitely in the market for something new. I love the idea of the Snoo, but I am also terrified of creating any sleep crutches. DS was a HORRIBLE sleeper and I used every sleep crutch known out of desperation (swaddling, pacifier, rocking/nursing to sleep, Rock n' Play, etc.). It made for some really rough transitions and he didn't sleep through the night until 14 months old (which is probably why I waited so long to have a third). 

the_most_happy

Thanks to everyone who has shared their perspective on the pluses and pitfalls of sleeping with baby in the same room, this has given me a lot to consider! Including the following sort of weird question/issue: I currently fall asleep listening to audiobooks every night, and the idea of not doing that makes me slightly panicky. But is that going to disturb the baby? Is that bad for the baby, like having constant talking in the background of their sleep? I'm assuming that won't be enough to drown out me hearing if the baby is crying, but are there quieter noises I'll want to be on alert for that the audiobook could potentially cover up? Oh man, did not think about this until right now and now I'm stressing out! Haha.

surrenderdorothy

Gosh, reading this thread is bringing back all the anxiety I had for the first two months about infant sleep. Our learning curve was a rough one- we realized quickly that room sharing wasn't going to work. Our little guy HATED any flat sleeping surface (which goes against every safe sleep practice.) We resorted to holding him on his glider and taking shifts being awake with him. It was awful. Months after the fact my husband told me he was taking naps in the Target parking lot on the way home because he was just so tired. Thankfully, DS grew out of the needing to be held to sleep thing around the 6 week mark and into his crib he went.

I am really hoping for a better solution this time around. We will need some type of bassinet. I am hoping this babe will go down in it so we can room share for the first few weeks when he is nursing on demand. However, the goal is to get him in his room as soon as possible. Like many mentioned above co-sleeping was not ideal for us for a bunch of reasons but mainly because none of us (baby included) slept well. Also, I kept falling asleep nursing in bed. I sleep with a ton of pillows and two dogs so co-sleeping in our bed is not safe at all.

I'm looking at the Snow (rental), 4Moms bassinet, and Halo. I heard great things about all of them. Also, for all our medical mamas the Snoo offers a discount for medical professionals (per my BFF.) If anyone is interested I cn get the info from her to pass along. I am also concerned about causing a sleep crutch so I'd prefer to just do a regular bassinet and make the Snoo rental a 2am desperation purchase, if need be.

I also want a bassinet to just move around the house so he is up off the ground and safe when I'm doing other things. Something smaller than a pack-n-play would be ideal. A friend is giving me her dock-a-tot and I may buy a Moses basket or something similar to for the dock a tot. We have two dogs that (regrettably) are allowed on the furniture so I don't trust the baby not being in some type of container, preferably up off the ground.

Also really sad the Rock-n-Play is not safe. I still have it, but have no plans of using it for sleep anymore.  

hannelorre

@surrenderdorothy doc a tot also not recommended for sleep due to suffocation risk.

I had halo bassinet with the side that you can push down and liked it. Have fallen asleep with my hand on the baby but both of us in our own sleeping space.. My first got to stay in there until... 3 mo or so? Then she was in pack n play for couple months and then crib in our bedroom until we moved when she was 14 mo. 

emmylou78

@surrenderdorothy  My daughter slept so bad that I would lay her in the rock and play and literally move ONE FINGER AT A TIME out from under her back so she wouldn’t wake up. It was awful. 

You can return the part of the rock n play for a refund. I just threw mine away in our move in august because I was too lazy though. 

emily1052

@surrenderdorothy we got a Halo bassinet and DS slept in it for a total of 14 minutes.... we still have it but plan on getting rid of it.  I’m hoping to rent the Snoo and see if that gives some relief. 

Clobert

we’ll have the arms reach cosleeper as a bassinet for the first few months.  My first 2 were mobile by 3-4 months so didn’t feel safe with a shallow bassinet after that and they had to be in the crib (or cosleeping if I had woken up a thousand times that night).  That’s when we put them in their room, for at least the beginning of the night.  I try to use the bassinet or crib but plan for safe cosleeping in bed with no blankets if I’m getting too tired.  I think it’s safer than falling asleep in a chair or couch or something and I think it’s safer than all of these snuggle mes and dock a tots and in bed cosleepers.  

halfconvert

FTM here - we are planning to use a bassinet in our bedroom for the first three months or so. After that, we're thinking about buying an ikea crib since the price is good and the reviews seem decent. My question is, do we really need to get a white noise machine? Our neighborhood is pretty quiet. We do make some noise in the evening - washing dishes, watching TV, etc. and I don't want to feel like we're walking on eggshells.

claireloSC

@halfconvert you definitely don't have to! it might help your baby, it might be unnecessary! we still use one with my five year old since we live in a smallish apartment and the tv sometimes wakes her up. 

cyanope

@halfconvert, I'm a HUGE fan of white noise machines! Most sleep experts will tell you that black out curtains and white noise machines are the only "acceptable" sleep crutches, because they don't require YOU to be there. You turn on the machine, close the curtains, and walk away. I'm a major believer in both. After having the world's worst sleeper and reading every "sleep training" book out there, those are the two I will hang on to. Plus, I don't have to worry about not vacuuming, or keeping the TV low when we have the white noise machine blasting. AND, it's a great, "hey it's time to sleep" cue for my kids. The one I have has batteries, so we take it whenever we travel. And, if I'm without the machine, I use an app on my phone. So, basically my kids never have to be without their white noise machine. 

litzi-2

@cyanope my second didn't STTN until 14 months either. it was rough and we tried everything too, from the Snoo to 20 different swaddles to every sleep crutch to cosleeping to CIO after I don't know how many months. My first was a little better with STTN at 10 months. But I have no expectations for this one. I just know that it'll suck despite anything I do, and no amount of sleep coaching makes time pass faster.

cyanope

@litzi-2, SO. Much. Solidarity. I cannot tell you how many middle-of-the-night purchases I made out of desperation. And it did not matter what I did. He just sucked at sleeping. He was still waking up every 2-4 hours at 14 months. And I was getting maybe 4-5 hours of interrupted sleep every night. Plus, teaching full time. It wasn't until I was on the verge of a (literal) breakdown that we finally, successfully sleep-trained him. People have been asking me for about two years when we would have another one, and my response has always been, "once I get over the sleep-deprivation trauma from my last one." I always said it jokingly, but it is totally legitimate. I'm planning on implementing some changes from the get-go this time around (and I'm taking a newborn/infant sleep class that many people I know have RAVED about), but I also fully expect to just have another crappy sleeper. DD started sleeping through the night at six months, so I was NOT prepared for DS...but this time around, I'm just setting my expectations WAY lower and hoping to be pleasantly surprised. I doubt it though! 

alexa_94

Both DD1 and DD2 did not STTN until after a year old. I think DD2 was 18 months? I’m not sure now but it felt like a very long time. Just have to remind myself STTN is developmental and every child is different. I also expect to have another crappy sleeper and it sometimes comes with the territory. I’m jealous of parents with “unicorn” babies😂😅 Extended nursing and not STTN scared me and I wasn’t sure about TTC when DD2 turned 2 but here I am. I had a change of heart in November but I am nervous to go through it all again.

surrenderdorothy

@halfconvert yes to the white noise machine! It was one of those things that someone gave us when my son was born. We opened it and thought ‘we’ll never use this’. But then he loved it and it helped so much with cueing sleep time and blocking our other noise in the house. The one we used when he was little was a bear that looked like a stuffed animal. Now we just tell the google pod in his room to play ‘forest sounds’ or ‘beach sounds’ and it works great. Also, like @cyanope mentioned there are free apps that work well for travel so you don’t have to lug an extra item with you. 

doodlemom131

For the white noise lovers... have any of you weened off? As someone who fell asleep to music a lot as a kid, I find as an adult its still sort of a crutch. 

fitmomma1989

We first used a white noise machine when our daughter was born. She’s now 10 & we all use them & have them in every bed room in our house for sleep. I can’t sleep without one. Like others said, you can even use your phone to play white noise. On trips I use a ocean sound track on repeat that’s in Apple Music. Even my friends on girls trips ask me to turn it on at night! 🤣

pickle-chips

We love the Marpac Dohm white noise machine (aka a sound conditioner which sounds so fancé). It is actually just a little fan that generates a whooshing sound, so there are no electronic loops or other digital blips that some people might find annoying. There are two sound levels and by rotating the outer case and top of the machine you can adjust the overall sound. It's quite compact, so we throw it in our bag whenever we have gone on holidays, but it does have to be plugged into an outlet.

One thing to consider with white noise is to make sure that it's not too loud or too close to baby. But this is kind of a common sense thing. If it sounds too loud to you, it's probably too loud. If you hold it near your ear and it sounds too loud for you, probably don't use it at that distance for baby. If you are nervous about exact decibel levels of your white noise, there are apps you can download to measure decibels to give you peace of mind. But white noise is such a great tool! I use it to help with my tinnitus.  

BourbonBiscuits

@cyanope @litzi-2 uhhh DD didn't STTN (truly sttn, not this 8 hours nonsense pediatricians say counts) until she turned 2. I've been up with her at least once a night for the past two years. Which has been okay actually - she just wasn't ready yet and I wasn't willing to sleep train her because of all the other mayhem happening in our lives at the time. But she figured it out! 

cyanope

@BourbonBiscuits, yeah, DS still wakes up at least 1-2 times a night at 3 years old. I count it as STTN though, because it usually just takes me re-tucking him in or getting him a drink of water (if I forgot to leave him with a cup the night before), and then he goes RIGHT back down. Now that I'm pregnant, it takes me a while to fall back asleep, but I'll take it any day over how he used to be! He also wakes up EVERY morning between 5:00 and 6:00 and climbs into bed with me. He usually falls back asleep, but not always. Basically, he's the neediest sleeper ever...and always has been. Thankfully he's also the world's easiest and sweetest child during waking hours, so I can't get too mad at him.

BourbonBiscuits

@cyanope my DS is the same way. He's 4 and is still up every once in a while for a quick hug or potty break. He's my sweet, tender little lamb, and I'm still relishing the sweet snuggles while I can.

Kenneylynn3

Totally planned on having DS in our room for at least 6 months in a pack n play. He got kicked out at 4 weeks because he and dw are noisy/ light sleepers. I had such mom guilt about it we tried to move him back in, but he moved back to his own room less than a week later. We'll try to have this one in our room and hope it goes better. DW has a better schedule this time around, so that should help.
DS has slept through the night, but usually wakes 2x still and I'm still nursing him. This makes me worry how it will go when it comes to delivering this baby come August.

dancingnarwhal

My husband and I sleep in separate bedrooms because we both get much better sleep that way. We only have a two bedroom apartment right now so baby will sleep in my room. We'll be moving at some point during baby's first year and we'll see about either 1) getting a place with a big enough bed for a king sized bed so we can sleep in the same room and have a nursery or 2) get a three bedroom place. But we don't actually know when that move will be happening so baby is bunking with me for probably at least the first 6 months. 

I'm not sure if we are going to skip the bassinet or not. Due to my hours at work being cut we're on a bit of a budget and I don't love the idea of buying something so expensive that the baby is only going to be able to use for a few months. I'm still researching our options at this point. My mom is giving us a pack'n'play with bassinet that she originally bought for my brother and sister-in-law but they never used. 

alexa_94

Is there a style of crib that sits up higher? I’m short and I keep looking at our current crib (sorelle Paris crib and changer) and I feel like it’s highest setting is so low. I remember DD2 would always have the startle reflex when I put her down. I don’t know if a step stool would really be safe?

cocoliso13

we're in a 1 bedroom apartment so we'll be rooming with baby for sure lol it's fine I'd want her in the room with us to begin with anyway. I'm planning on getting a Halo bassinet to begin with, I'm having a scheduled c-section and the reviews are good for healing moms, I hope she takes to it. My cousin recommended renting a Snoo but idk I'll see how it goes with the Halo. Our bedroom is big enough to fit a mini crib once she's out of the bassinet. We'll move into a bigger place in a year or two, for now we're not too rushed. We've gotta deal with coastal SoCal housing prices and I am just finishing my doctorate this week then having a baby, so it's gonna take a bit financially to re-calibrate. 

grogu

@cocoliso13 we had a mini crib for DD1. He nursery was our walk in closet. 
She was happy in it until she was 2! I loved our minicrib! 

claireloSC

@alexa_94 I think most cribs have a higher setting and a lower one for once they start trying to climb out. Definitely the ikea ones do.

claireloSC

Congrats on the doctorate @cocoliso13!

cocoliso13

Thank you!! @claireloSC it was a ROUGH final term with first trimester brain but I’m submitting my final papers today and I’m officially done tomorrow! Feels surreal!