Baby Must-Have: Moses Basket

It took a lot of thinking and a lot of research on my part, but I've finally settled on what we'd like to use for our little one's sleep. This, like a lot of other things, was a decision mostly up to me once Levi and I had initially decided that our baby would stay in our room for as many months as we felt necessary before being permanently installed in his/her own little room.

The final decision?
1. A Moses basket
2. A crib once baby grows out of the basket.

Now, I could go into all the details about the research I did and my thought process, but since this isn't a post trying to convince others to do the same things as us, I don't do that. I'll simply write out our own personal needs and reasons and then I'll explain some of the things we're looking forward to and/or might be wondering about.

I will provide some links to my main research in case you're interested, and then you can read and decide for yourself, or you can skip ahead if it doesn't matter to you.

• Full policy statement from AAP on recommendations for a safe infant sleeping environment.
• Condensed article from AAP explaining full policy statement.
• Article on co-sleeping and research on co-sleeping from Dr. Sears about co-sleeping and its benefits.  
• Article with some research on co-sleeping by Dr. James J. McKenna.

Now that that's out of the way, we'll move on to what we chose. 

The Moses Basket

What is it? Basically, a Moses basket is what it sounds like. It's a basket designed for a baby to sleep in and/or stay in from time to time. It's not a basket designed to be floated on a body of water. We're not going to do that. 

Where did I hear about it? As I've mentioned on this blog before, one of my favorite blogs to read is called reading my tea leaves. The author of the blog lives in a tiny New York City apartment with her husband and baby, and I initially began following her blog because I was interested in minimalist and sustainable living. When she had her baby, she outlined their choices to keep things as small as possible, even with a baby. She wrote a great post about their choice of a Moses basket, and that's where I began to consider the idea. 

These baskets can run upwards of a few hundred dollars, but the basket I'm interested in clocks in at a whopping $35.00. Totally manageable. Now, that doesn't include the piece we'll put in the bottom as a little mattress, but we'll find something eventually. Also, the one I'm interested in doesn't come with any pre-made bedding or liners to use with the baby; it's still important to me to follow the AAP's guidelines on babies sleeping without bumpers, and quilted fabric up the sides of a small basket seems a bit too much like a bumper for my comfort. 

Why choose it? 

Well, I truly, truly believe that the items in our home don't have to double once a baby is part of our family. I've talked to some ladies who tell me that's just something that comes with the territory of having a baby, but we have a small home and anyone who knows me knows that I land on the extreme side of "less is more." And Levi grew up in the jungles of Papua New Guinea where the addition of a baby most definitely did not expand a family's footprint by much. A Moses basket (and we won't even buy a stand) takes up very little space, is the ultimate portable baby bed (although the one we want should not be carried while baby is in it), and turns into a unique and useful household basket once baby is too big for it. 

The basket I want is a woven palm leaf basket from a company called Tadpoles. As you can see from the picture, it's very simple and plain. Adding a cushion or pre-made mattress, available from any number of retailers out there, is about all we need to do. The basket will sit on a low chest on my side of the bed, putting the edge level with the bed. This will allow the baby a sleeping space where I can't roll over on him/her, but it will also be close enough for me to touch the baby easily.

Ask more questions in the comments if you have them.

The Sniglar Crib

I'd say that the large majority of families in America know what a crib is and probably have one for their babies.

I came across the Sniglar crib at, of all places, IKEA, and I was sold on it pretty quickly. It meets all current safety regulations, it's made of solid (and unfinished) beech, and the mattress can sit at different heights. Plain and simple furniture is the name of the game at our household. Also, paying (a lot) less than $100 on a brand new crib is appealing (though, rest assured, I wouldn't choose it for only that reason).

We don't know how long we'll keep baby in our room, but we will eventually want the baby to sleep in his/her own room. This crib will be a great sleeping option when that time comes.

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So that's what will work best for us! Sometimes it's hard to choose things with all the options out there, and it's tempting to just do what friends and family have done. But considering that our needs are different than theirs and that every family we know has done something slightly different, it has been worth it to figure out what will be best for us.

What worked best for you?