Bassinet's - How important? And what about organic cotton sheets, towels, etc..

atraveller · May 2014

Okay - so I thought I definitely wanted a bassinet - have one registered for and everything, but now I'm not so sure. Everyone I've spoken to says you want to tranition baby into crib as early as possible - even as early as 3-4 months, so seems a lot to spend just for as short time. My friend is giving me her Rock-n-play and was planning to use that downstairs while keeping the bassinet upstairs just for at night sleeping, but now wondering if i should use the rock-n-play for all sleeping an skip the bassinet? I've heard some concerns about safety of rock-n-plays for night sleeping and sids, but so many seem to use them, i wonder if that's just safety sites being over cautious. My mom wants to buy the bassinet, so the cost wouldn't necessarily be ours, but wondering if I should let her save her money. Would love some already mom thoughts? Thanks a bunch!

Then there's the whole organic thing - I'm pretty close to 100% organic on a lot of my food, but wondering about sheets, towels, etc.... Seems a lot of money to spend and is it really that impt. Most of my friends do not use all organic stuff, and their babies and toddlers seem fine. I'm getting a crib mattress that is a top one with all the best certifications and chemical and vinyl free and thinking I should stop there. Again though would love some thoughts. I have a friend who is part of a local holistic mom's group and of course she is ll about organic everything....but not sure I'm sold on organic everything. Any thoughts?

Jennifer18131 · May 2014

We're going to get a Pack N Play with the rising base to use in our bedroom until baby transitions to crib instead of a bassinet.

atraveller · May 2014

Jennifer18131 said:

We're going to get a Pack N Play with the rising base to use in our bedroom until baby transitions to crib instead of a bassinet.

Jennifer - yeah we thought of that - but our bedroom just won't really fit a pack and play very well - so we need something a bit smaller or should I say less wide.

frootyloops · May 2014

Canada's new health and safety recommendations state that baby should be in parent's bedroom for the first 6 months (not co-sleeping, in a safe location - crib, bassinet, etc). This is new from when I had my first baby.

megsandjohn · May 2014

We are skipping the bassinet this time as I want to avoid the transition from bassinet to crib. We are putting the crib in our room for the first several months.
I like organic sheets and blankets if the price is decent but it's not a must for me. I will just wash with a natural soap. I love the muslin swaddling blankets though! My daughter is 3 and still loves hers as a light blanket. They're so nice and big

HappyCianci · May 2014

We skipped the bassinet simply because they grow out of it too soon, so it didn't seem worth it. Best thing ever? Mini crib. It's small enough to keep next to your bed, but big enough for a growing baby. The weight limit is close to that of a full-sized crib, and you can lower the mattress and everything.

I think the organic, chemical-free mattress is very smart (off-gassing is scary!) I wouldn't worry overly about chemicals in non-organic cotton, however, and that's coming from someone who's very persnickety about conventionally-grown produce. I just don't see how chemicals in fabrics have a point-of-entry into baby's body, unless they're chewing on the fabric...

ETA: this is the crib we got: https://www.amazon.com/DaVinci-Emily-Mini-Crib-Ebony/dp/B000FT9J3U

Saragoeswest · May 2014

In regards to when to transition baby to their crib/room, you could read about attachment parenting vs. other styles of parenting. That may give you a better idea of when to transition and why. And I'm sure it will all just depend on you, your baby, and your family.

MorganWP · May 2014

My daughter was in her crib from day one but we had it in our room with us. She still is with us but we're going to transition her to her own room before the baby comes. Just so to her it feels less like we're kicking her out and more like she's growing up.

Then for the baby we figure we'll use a bassinet until it's around 6 months, hopefully it lasts that long, then we'll switch DD to a 'big girl' bed and put the baby in the crib.

As for organic sheets and such, I don't think its necessarily that important. I agree with HappyCianci and I know you can still absorb toxins through your skin but I would think that processed or non-organic food would be more harmful as you're ingesting it? Does that make any sense?

persephonerose · May 2014

In regards to a bassinet, we did not use one, but a friend gave us her arms reach co-sleeper and that thing was great for the early months. It is much smaller than a PNP, very portable, and we used it as a changing table once we stopped using it for sleeping. You can find them on Craigslist for a decent price. I also liked that the mattress pad was sectioned so it made it easy to prop up the head for our son who had bad reflux. It can be securely attached to the side of the bed as well and one side drops down to make it easy to lift the baby out at night for feeding.

I loved it, if you can't tell.

BreandMikewedding · May 2014

Jennifer18131 said:
We're going to get a Pack N Play with the rising base to use in our bedroom until baby transitions to crib instead of a bassinet.

This is what I did with both mine. With my first I borrowed a bassinet and she started scooting at night when she was about 6 weeks. When I would wake up she would have her legs over the side of the bassinet. I moved her to a pnp at that point and it gave her more space. My ds was even more active than his sister and we didn't even bother with the bassinet.

Waterlilly11 · May 2014

Can I suggest something else? It's called arms reach co sleeper. What an amazing product! A bassinet was probably one of the things I really regretted buying. (Expensive, short term use, DS absolutely hated it) The co sleeper goes right next to your bed and makes night time feeding a so much easier.

https://www.armsreach.com

MrsSarahRenee · May 2014

frootyloops said:
Canada's new health and safety recommendations state that baby should be in parent's bedroom for the first 6 months (not co-sleeping, in a safe location - crib, bassinet, etc). This is new from when I had my first baby.

That is really interesting!

jcsumm0 · May 2014

MrsSarahRenee said:

Canada's new health and safety recommendations state that baby should be in parent's bedroom for the first 6 months (not co-sleeping, in a safe location - crib, bassinet, etc). This is new from when I had my first baby.
That is really interesting!

The AAP has recommended this for several years, at least since before DD was born. It's to reduce SIDS risk.

HappyCianci · May 2014

amcclindon said:

We skipped the bassinet simply because they grow out of it too soon, so it didn't seem worth it. Best thing ever? Mini crib. It's small enough to keep next to your bed, but big enough for a growing baby. The weight limit is close to that of a full-sized crib, and you can lower the mattress and everything.

I think the organic, chemical-free mattress is very smart (off-gassing is scary!) I wouldn't worry overly about chemicals in non-organic cotton, however, and that's coming from someone who's very persnickety about conventionally-grown produce. I just don't see how chemicals in fabrics have a point-of-entry into baby's body, unless they're chewing on the fabric...

ETA: this is the crib we got: https://www.amazon.com/DaVinci-Emily-Mini-Crib-Ebony/dp/B000FT9J3U
Skins absorbs everything it comes into contact with, as well as when the baby breaths they can inhale the toxins.

That's not actually true. Our skin is a barrier, and it's not always porous. My doctor game me permission to handle lead in my chemistry class while pregnant, for example. (For the record, I still said HELL NO.)

Breathing in toxins is still a concern for me, but I'd be more worried about upholstered fabrics (like the mattress, as OP mentioned) than thin, washable clothing fabrics.

Another oft-ignored option for avoiding the nasties of the manufactoring process of simple fabrics like clothing and blankets is to buy second-hand. Anything in a thrift store is likely to have gone through many washes. From my experience, most baby clothing in thrift stores is in perfect condition, because we all know how long babies fit into the 0-3 month (or any) size.

atraveller · May 2014

Thanks for all the great tips ladies. I have thought about a co-sleeper but got scared off by some safety stuff I read on consumer reports sight about bassinets, co-sleepers, etc....that said overall recommends don't list co-sleepers as the best option - that said, best friend has had her 9 month old in one for the last 9 months and loves it. I have heard though that people get very attached with the co sleepers and have trouble with the transition. The smaller crib in bedroom is an option to consider - thanks for the tip amcclindon - and the pricing isn't bad compared to bassinet, only concern is then have to buy a small crib mattress too and can get expensive quick.....will have to think about it and weigh all options. Seems a lot though skip bassinet. Anyone have thoughts on using a rock-n-play as sole option?

Re: organic sheets, bedding - lots of good info here - I think I'm not going to worry about it too much. I bought some just cause it was so soft - but in general I think about the fact that I didnt have organic bedding nor did many of us growing up and we all seem to be okay

Thanks again

Rickaroo922 · May 2014

Our son was in his crib in his room from the start. It was just next door. He did very well. I liked having my space and he likes his. Every baby and every family is different.

vrj0522 · May 2014

DS slept in a bouncy chair for the first 4 months. He hated the crib and the bassinet but slept wonderfully in the bouncy chair so that's what we did. As @Nicb13 stated, at first all you care about is that baby is sleeping. We plan on using a PNP that has an attached bassinet for the first few months for this baby. Really hoping she takes to it. Otherwise, we'll try pnp itself, the crib in her room and/or a bouncy chair once again. We hated having DS in our room and that only lasted about 3 days. We again plan on having this baby in our room but are open to moving her to her room if that doesn't work out.

atraveller · May 2014

erawka said:

We skipped the bassinet simply because they grow out of it too soon, so it didn't seem worth it. Best thing ever? Mini crib. It's small enough to keep next to your bed, but big enough for a growing baby. The weight limit is close to that of a full-sized crib, and you can lower the mattress and everything.

I think the organic, chemical-free mattress is very smart (off-gassing is scary!) I wouldn't worry overly about chemicals in non-organic cotton, however, and that's coming from someone who's very persnickety about conventionally-grown produce. I just don't see how chemicals in fabrics have a point-of-entry into baby's body, unless they're chewing on the fabric...

ETA: this is the crib we got: https://www.amazon.com/DaVinci-Emily-Mini-Crib-Ebony/dp/B000FT9J3U
Skins absorbs everything it comes into contact with, as well as when the baby breaths they can inhale the toxins.
This is a little misleading. Skin does not absorb everything that it comes in contact with - there are plenty of substances that are not readily absorbed through the skin. But there are definitely many things that are. It's important to be careful but also to know your stuff. Also, I think vinyl-free is the way to go, but it is important to get a mattress with some water-proofing. There's been some data to show that mattresses without waterproofing can be a breeding ground for bacteria, and have a statistically significant correlation with SIDS (2008, Journal of Applied Microbiology).

Yes - we are going waterproof, just vinyl free. My friend had a moonlight slumber mattress and we're planning on going that direction.

atraveller · May 2014

You've all given me a lot to think about - I think we may still get the bassinet - but I'm going to look at some of the other options before finalizing that decision. My mom wants to buy it for us and I may just let her go ahead, but will do some more research per all these posts first. Thank you! This has been really helpful.

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