The birth of a child is one of the most beautiful miracles of nature, and it is celebrated with great joy all around the world. A child spreads happiness and joy around it wherever it goes. Babies give a purpose to their parents, a hope and a lot of happiness. Their addition to a family always brings joy, and in many people, it brings new waves of motivation to do better in life. However, infants require great care in all the perspectives. It is a very hard job to be a parent, taking care of a child and people tend to use all the help they can get to make this job easier.
What all the infants and newborns do with most of their time is sleep. On average, infants up to the age of 3 months sleep over 17 to 18 hours a day. Sleep is essential for the newborns and infants. All parents know about the importance of a healthy, nutritious diet and a regular physical activity in the development of the baby but in many cases, another essential aspect of the process of a baby’s growth, sleep, is neglected and overlooked. Research indicates that shortened sleep duration before 3 years of age is associated to and results in lower cognitive performance, hyperactivity-impulsivity or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) as it is more commonly known as, and impaired neurological development.
With sleep being so important for a baby’s growth, special care needs to be taken to ensure a comfortable and cosy sleep time for the baby. Babies need special kinds of beddings that can keep them cosy without posing any risk whatsoever. A slight error in the arrangement and it can have great consequences. In addition, the consequences can be very dangerous too. The wrong way of putting a baby to sleep can even result in disfiguration of the body and other growth-related problems.
Traditionally, parents browse through countless numbers of furnishings to find the right kind of bedding for their baby. Cribs have been popular since old times among parents for their children to rest and sleep in. Recently, more and more parents are seen to have been shifting towards Bassinets that are cosier, smaller furniture, less expensive and easier to handle. Bassinets have many safety advantages as well over the usual cribs, as told by recent surveys and studies. Just by looking at the response the top three most ordered bassinets at Amazon one can comprehend their increasing popularity.
The Graco Pack n’ Play Playard Bassinet comes with an automatic mechanism for folding the feet. Made with Polyester, Plastic and partly metal, the removable, full-size bassinet provides the perfect spot for baby to catch a nap at home or anywhere to ensure safety and comfort. It comes with a playpen changing station that can be used for extra comfort and many changing possible orientations. The changing table has wipe-clean fabric that aids to time while cleaning the bassinet. Giving the user more time with the baby to spend. The bassinet is fenced by airy mesh on all sides for maximum ventilation, and its legs are equipped with wheels too, for greater mobility . It also has a toy bar with soft toys to help amuse the baby. The baby will be entertained by the visual simulation too. The Graco Pack n’ Play is designed for easier packing up and storage as well. It features automatic folding feet and wheels, making it small once it is folded. It also has a very durable frame that makes it withstand travelling very conveniently. The Graco Pack n’ Play also comes with a convenient carrying bag, which fits snugly around the travel played when folded. The specialised material used in the product makes it very lightweight, which adds to the already long list of conveniences.The mattress that comes with the Playard is not like the soft crib mattress, but a firm, yet padded mattress that at first might feel un-cozy for the child but it fits its purpose by providing all the required padding for cosiness and safety from SIDS too.
The HALO Swivel Sleeper is a premier series bassinet with admirable features and a very catchy outlook. It is a very graceful and elegant design that can go with various types and moods of the interior of a room. Therefore, it will not look out of place in an otherwise non-childish interior. The Bassinet rotates 360 degrees to bring the baby to the parent for a closer, safer sleep. In addition, the sidewall can be lowered or locked at the desirable height. Unlike other bassinets, its rotational ability makes it convenient to get in and out of bed, which is otherwise a very difficult thing to do for mothers with C-sections and the mothers who nurse their babies. The traditional cribs have to be moved away, and closer every time the mother wants to get into the bed or getting out of it, which is very hectic. The bassinet has a stable 4-point adjustable base that fits almost all the beds, and the base easily tucks under the bed. The HALO Swivel, owing to its smaller size, needs only a 32-inch clearance from the wall, making it perfect for small spaces.The HALO Swivel also comes with a nightlight, 3 soothing sounds, 3 pre-recorded lullabies, nursing timers and 2 levels of vibration, all to help the parent put the baby to sleep with convenience while making sleep ever so pleasant for the little one. All of these assisting features come with 30-minute auto shut off switches to preserve energy as well. The fitted sheet is 100% polyester, and it wipe-cleans when wiped with a wet cloth, and it is also machine washable. The bassinet also includes 2 storage compartments for keeping the essentials of the baby close by. The mattress used is waterproof with no toxic flame-retardants. In addition, the product is tested independently to either meet or exceed all the set safety standards. The base of the bassinet is attached with only one screw to the legs, and it can be easily detached and re-attached so you can travel with it wherever you want.
The BABYBJORN Cradle comes with flexible legs designed to rock the cradle, lulling the baby to sleep with the soothing movement. It has a small height and transparent mesh fabric to allow for secure supervision of the baby. It allows flexible mobility with its lightweight so you can move it around the house and have the child close to you for better supervision at all times. The sides are made of soft, breathable and airy mesh allowing maximum ventilation is meanwhile having no bars or loose parts to trap tiny hands or feet, so the child stays safe and cosy. The cradle is to be used with the BABYBJORN fitted sheets only as it has been tested for safety with only the sheets manufactured at BABYBJORN. The cradle is designed for babies from newborn 8lbs to six-month-old 17lbs babies. An additional accessory for the cradle is a canopy that makes the cradle feel cozier and snugly. It helps screen and reduces ambient light to allow the baby to sleep peacefully and undisturbed. It is made of a 100% mesh material allowing good air circulation, so the baby does not feel confined, congested or suffocated even if the canopy is wrapped all the way around the cradle. It also aids to help to avoid mosquitos. The canopy can be easily attached and removed as per requirement.
Bassinets Buying Guide
Parents usually buy cribs for their babies and that, even before the actual birth in some situations. Cribs are very convenient furniture, they add beauty to the environment by giving it a child-like touch, and they ensure the protection of the baby inside as well. However, they have their shortcomings too. For starters, cribs take up a lot of space, and they can be expensive. However, even if we manage to cater those, cribs do not provide extra beddings for the infants like blankets or quilt, and that makes a crib un-cozy for the newborns. Putting in blankets and quilts to rectify this, making a crib cosier for the baby, you are taking a huge risk as it is recommended not to use them for infants as they raise the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). SIDS is the unexplained death of an otherwise healthy baby that is less than a year old. In fact, SIDS is also sometimes known as crib death because the infants often die in the cribs. It is terrifying, and certainly, a risk parents would never want to take for their flower-like babies. However, not using the extra beddings may make a baby’s sleep in a crib uncomfortable, thereby decreasing the sleeping time span, which results in lower cognitive performance and other neurological problems as, discussed above.
A bassinet or a cradle is a very good alternative to the more common cribs as it provides various pros over the cribs. A bassinet is something like a small basket where parents can keep their babies; a basket that is usually mounted on some flexible support allowing it to rock in desirable directions, lulling the baby to sleep. They are useful, safe, and easy to handle, providing sheer convenience to the user.
However, a parent might wonder what to look for when buying a bassinet for their baby. There are some general points that need to be considered when buying a cradle or a bassinet for the baby.
- Use of cradles and bassinets that vibrate or rock horizontally should be avoided, as they have been known to cause suffocation when babies rolled against the sidewall or the edge of the cradle. If there is one in use, proper supervision is necessary.
- The bassinet should have a firm mattress that fits the frame snugged from every side to avoid getting the baby’s head wedged in the otherwise left spaces leading to suffocation.
- The bassinet with proper base should be preferred especially in houses with other children and pets, or clumsy house members for that matter, a bassinet with a proper base and legs can protect it from being knocked over.
- The handles and sometimes the sides of the bassinets are often lined with puffy or furry fabric, which raises the risk of suffocation or SIDS.
- The Bassinet should be small enough to fit the space available in the room yet not too small for the baby to not fit after a month or two.
- The walls should be lined with mesh fabric allowing maximum ventilation.
- The bassinets should be mobile to allow the parent to move it around the house with or without the baby. It should be lightly weighed.
- Bassinets with stronger frames and bodies should be preferred to withstand shocks and to fall over.
- It should be kept in mind that the bassinet is not to be used forever, so it has to have the features of being folded to smaller sizes and have a proper packing system to store or travel with it.
- The bassinets should be economical too. Thereby making it feasible for use.
Conclusion
Overall, bassinets are a healthy convenience that should be adopted by parents for the welfare of their babies. Bringing up a child is one of the most important things a person does in his life and no compromises should be made with a baby’s health or otherwise. A bassinet that meets the safety standards devised by authorities is a good choice to provide the baby with comfortable sleep that can aid in the growth of the baby physically as well as mentally.
