Something that worried me before my baby was born was how they should sleep. I was really worried about cot death (SIDS) and wanted to do everything I could to make it as unlikely as possible.

These are some of the things that I discovered were essential:

• Don’t smoke around the baby. Don’t let anyone else smoke around them either, don’t let them even cuddle the baby for 20 minutes after they have had a cigarette.
• Don’t let the room temperature get too hot. If you can comfortably wander around in a t-shirt – the room is warm enough.
• Don’t cover the baby in too many clothes for sleeping, or too many blankets. Remember if you fold a blanket in half then it is like using 2 blankets. If you fold it into quarters, you now are using 4 blankets.
• Make sure you are using a new, hard mattress, and you don’t need a duvet or pillow for a baby.
• Soft furnishings with lots of soft toys, cot bumpers etc, look lovely, but they are not necessary, and could infact be a suffocation risk. Ties on bumpers can be pulled by a baby.
• Make sure the cot or bed is the right size for your baby, that the rungs are not too wide that they can get limbs or their head stuck, and that they are tall enough so your baby cannot climb out.
• Fold the blanket snuggly around the baby, and tuck it in at the bottom, and the sides, under the mattress. This way it will stay in place much longer and not ride up around the baby’s head.
• Always place the baby ‘feet-to-foot’ in their crib or cot. This means, place them with their feet right at the foot of the cot. I thought this looked strange at first, and it really wasn’t what I expected. However, it makes total sense. This way the baby will not wriggle down beneath the blanket. It is so much safer.

Here are two pictures, the 1st shows how not to place your baby for sleeping. The 2nd shows the feet-to-foot position. The left hand side is the top of the cot and the right hand side is the foot.

You can see how in the 1st picture, the baby has lots of room to move down underneath the cover, but in the 2nd, if the baby wriggles, they will move up, and away from the cover. This is so much safer.

If you are planning your baby’s room or looking for nursery furniture take a look at these great deals.

You can go to town fitting out your baby nursery. It can be a lovely thing to do whilst you are pregnant. Choosing wallpaper, colour schemes, a cot, you name it… or you can beg and borrow from friends and family and search online or in 2nd hand stores. Whatever  you choose, it can be a minefield for 1st time parents. Just what do you need? I bought lots of things thinking I MUST have them, only to never use them at all. Clever marketing made me think I needed them. 

Every family and every baby is different, but this is what we put into our baby nursery

First things first – your baby will need somewhere to sleep.

But where to start – Cots, cribs,  cot-beds, Moses baskets ?

We chose a crib for our room for the baby’s first 6 months. We really didn’t want to get up go to his room for night feeds. Also advice says that the safest place for your baby is in your room by your bed, in a crib or cot. (For the first 6 months anyway.)

We put off buying a cot until he was going to use it. Newborns are expensive enough!!

Mobile
We bought a mobile for above his cot. He loved the music and movement of the animals as it turned around. Newborns are supposed to see black and white shapes the best.

Changing table
The last thing you want to do is bend down on the floor to change your baby – especially if you have just given birth. A good safe changing table with a comfy changing mat proved essential time and time again.
We had a changing table upstairs and down – to make life easier for us!

Drawers for clothes, towels, bedding
It’s amazing how much room his clothes took up. We only had a few vests and baby-grows before he was born. Friends and family all bought him gifts and the chest of drawers in his room soon filled up.

That’s really all we had in his baby nursery. As he has got older, teddies and soft toys have taken over his cot. His drawers of clothes are overflowing – despite numerous trips to the charity shop. The mobile had to go – once he could reach it – it was too much of a temptation for him! Sad for us to remove it though – his baby days were going so fast!

Other related articles
Newborn Baby Checklist
Baby bouncers, baby swings and baby walkers – good for baby? A new mum’s experience.
Baby and child safety in the home useful information