Moses Basket Review

What to put your newborn in to sleep in is something that many new mums question, with the initial choice being between a crib or moses basket. We opted for the former to begin with (a review of which you can read) and while our daughter happily sleeps in that now, we soon discovered that the crib was way too big for Lily's first few weeks. She was clearly not happy  being put in something so overwhelming. In defiance she rolled all over the crib, headbanging the bars! A moses basket seemed the obvious answer.

Prices vary quite dramatically for moses baskets - some stores seem to charge an arm and a leg for them and many don't come with mattresses which means you'll be forking out for the mattress and bedding on top of the outlay for the basket itself. At the end of the day a moses basket is just a big basket and so shouldn't be costing you the earth. To my mind it didn't make any sense buying one with an ornate pattern or design. You invariably end up paying more for such designs.  We opted for a basic basket with pink embroidery anglaise style cotton covers and hood. It came complete with mattress and so all we needed to do was buy a few fitted covers for the mattress. 

The basket fitted perfectly inside the crib at night-time and because it's easily transportable Lily had somewhere comfortable to doze during the daytime (not that she has ever been that accustomed to sleeping much during the day!). It has also proved a great solution for overnight stays at nanny and granddads - she still sleeps in the moses basket when we stay over although obviously we will need to invest in a travel cot eventually. The only drawback to the particular basket that we bought was that the handles slightly got in the way when we were putting Lily into the basket and as all the moses baskets have handles I would imagine this is a problem encountered with other designs too. Note to designers: make the handles fold back somehow when not in use!!!

Lily slept comfortably in the moses basket at home for at least the first six weeks - as you can see from the pic she had plenty of room in it. We only moved her into the crib to ensure we got at much use out of it as possible.