How to Choose the Best Bassinet for Your Baby
Being a parent changes the way you live your life overnight, yet the one thing it will change more than anything is your sleep. Even a good bassinet will not give you eight straight hours, but may make that first month of life a little less stress-inducing and safer. The problem lies in the fact that nowadays, the word bassinet is used interchangeably to refer to something lightweight, almost feather light travel pods and heavyweight bedside sleepers with height control and wheels. This guide will help you circumvent all the clutter and make the right decision on the type of bassinet that is best suited to your baby and your house.
Bassinet vs cot: what’s the real difference?
A baby bassinet is a small sleeping area that is used at the infantile stage. It holds your baby and is usually next to your bed and is also easily portable in the house. Cots/cribs are bigger ones and are meant to be used in the long run. Most parents begin off with a bassinet during the initial months after which they use a cot after the child becomes more mobile. The one unanimous piece of advice handed out by industry is that bassinets are only supposed to be used during the initial months of the baby and are also limited regarding weight and the development stage (e.g. you cannot continue using a bassinet because your baby can roll, push up or sit).
Types of bassinets
Classic freestanding bassinet
A fixed framed, plain, stable bed bassinet. Splendid, in case of a full-fledged sleep station in your bedroom as well as in the daytime in the living room. Look out for a bassinet with breathable and mesh sides, and a firm mattress with a broad base.
Bedside bassinet / co-sleeper
Most of them come with removable sides by zip, an adjustable height, and centered straps that uniform it to your bed frame. The infant is never in the adult bed; however, when they are used, the infant continues to sleep in his/her own area with a rigid sidewall.
Travel bassinet
Light, fold up and made to carry. Convenient to take naps during the day in the same room as you. High-ranking sides and a correct sleep place should be prioritized over extremely soft "loungers,".
Multimode crib that serves bassinet duty
Other small cribs provide a high position to the baby at birth, then lower as the child develops. A small crib with an initial newborn height can be cost effective and can have a co-sleeping option, in case you are sure you will soon switch to a crib.
How long can you use a bassinet?
A best bassinet for babies is not an item that should be purchased and left unused. It's a short, precious window. With typical usage, count on around three to four months of usefulness, although it may be somewhat higher depending on your baby, and always discontinue sooner should your baby attain the weight capacity of the bassinet, or display developmental maturity (on their back, pushing over, attempting to sit). At that stage transfer to crib/cot in order to have a consistent safe sleep.
Features that genuinely help at 3 a.m.
The difference with a bedside bassinet is a variable height, meaning that you can align the baby up to the height of your mattress, making it so that you are not twisting and hunching over to get them comfortable. Zip-down (or drop-side) access (that still provides a firm barrier) can come in handy during night feeds, and to assist with C-section recovery. Mesh all around is ventilating. If in small bedrooms, the space available is limited, a small frame may be used or even a small crib with a newborn setting. Others prefer soft rocking to calm down but safe sleep is valuable to lock the movement. Storage space can also come in handy to store essentials.
What about electronics?
White-noise modules and soft night lights may be helpful though they should be considered as optional features rather than as the fundamental aspects of safety. Vibrating bases and heavy hanging toys can be skipped with ease, unnecessary and safe sleep, they can make sleep crutches. When the products promoting high anti-reflux inclinations: switch: the cautious bodies of safe sleep do not recommend inclined sleepers.
Bassinet or go straight to a crib?
Select a baby bassinet in case you prefer to have your newborn within arms reach at night, you are going to move about room by room, or you cannot use small doorways and stairwells because full-size cribs would initially prove inconvenient. Go floor to ceiling if you want a single purchase, you can leave it at your bedside and you can walk pin and needle to the cot to feed him; smaller cribs with elevated newborn levels will also ensure you have that proximity you want but not with the short shelf life. The combination of middle ground represented by LittleBird is small cribs with co-sleeping features, height adjustment, and even drawers to reclaim valuable floor space.
Materials and build
A bed bassinet which is made out of solid wood or heavy steel will be reassuringly hard. When purchasing engineered wood, be sure that fixings used are made of metal and slats/panels are rigid. In the case of fabrics, machine-washable covers that could be removed are a blessing on a laundry day. Make sure that the finishes feel smooth to touch and they also do not have any interior seams and labels that may scratch the skin of your baby.
Size, weight and portability
Consider your day to day round. Assuming that you can move the bassinet in-between the living room and bedroom, then the wheels that are supported by a secure lock would prove to be more practical than a fixed stand, which needs to be lifted. Leaving your home and having a foldable bassinet that could be packed into the car space is more convenient than using a hard-bedside unit. Apartments constructed in the cities usually require less space; calculate space next to bed and allow space to move during night.
The important thing is that when you have a toddler or pets, then the key focus should be a stable heavy base or have the bassinet at a place and place it not in a position of bumping. Store cords, curtains and blind pulls out of the reach.
Budgeting and value
Since a bassinet is used for a limited period, it is tempting to resort to extreme limitations. A wiser still will be to specify the one or two qualities which will eliminate nightly friction to you, height regulation, full mesh, wheels, and pay on those. In case you would like to make it last longer, seek smaller cribs with newborn features or with co-sleeping features which in turn can turn to regular crib use within several years. To get an idea of what that would look like in reality, visit LittleBird in its catalogue of co-sleeping cribs and small designs; you will find ones with height, which can be locked, wheels that can be folded, and drawers beneath that bed that can come to bear after the newborn has already left.
Care and maintenance
Your bassinet will work hard. Clean up frames, wash the garments according to the label, and clean up the surface of a mattress to eliminate dust. Dry and do not expose your model to the direct sun in case it has wood. Check screws and attachments regularly (two- or three- times in a few weeks) particularly when you change the room your baby is located in. Knowing when to move on to the crib on the exact time is crucial.
Putting it all together: how to choose, step by step
Start with your setup. Bedside height adjustment and strap on depending on the height of the infant will make a bedside bassinet worth it. If you want to move around the house as your baby takes a nap, then the wheels and light weight will be your friends. In either of the above directions, safety factors cannot be compromised: solid flat mattress, close fitting, breathable sides, level base, and clear sleep surface.
The bottom line
The most suitable bassinet will be a bassinet that leads to safe sleep in a convenient way. To some families it is a small, portable wheeled one that slides next to the bed; others is a small crib that is used far after month four. When you are shopping in India, and you want to see some of the real world options, like co-sleeping, adjustable height, midnight things, drawers, etc., the Cots, Cribs and Bassinets curations of LittleBird are a helpful starting point as you make decisions about which things should deserve the space in your house.
Editor’s note: Always consult your paediatrician before choosing the right safe-sleep measures. Regulations and standards change, ensure that a product is as stated regarding compliance before buying.
