Should I buy a Bassinet that Rocks my Baby?
There is so much new technology out there for babies. Should a bassinet that rocks the baby for you be a part of the new tech you invest in?
My answer, and the answer of my many well-educated NCS peers, is…No.
You should not buy a Bassinet that Rocks your Baby for You (or BRBY for short).
Lately there has been an onslaught of advertisements on my Facebook page for bassinets that claim to gently sway newborns as they sleep, to help them sleep for longer periods of time. These bassinets are very expensive and prey on parent’s fear of lack of sleep. They fail to mention the following.
1. Newborns eat every 1.5 to 3 hours. It does not matter what type of bassinet you put them in, you have to get up every 1.5 to 3 hours to feed them. 4 hours, at night, if you’re super lucky. Long stretches of sleep are not possible in the first 6 to 8 weeks of life (unless you hire me!).
2. Therefore…Your baby will most likely outgrow the BRBY or learn to roll over before they are even sleeping in long enough stretches for the rocking feature to benefit your sleep.
3. If for some reason they don’t outgrow the BRBY, they will possibly learn to rely on the rocking feature for sleep, and then outgrow the BRBY. Their crib does not do what a BRBY does, and you will end up having to sleep train a 3 month or 4-month-old baby. No fun!
4. Newborns are naturally very heavy sleepers in the first 2 weeks of life, and you will typically have to wake them up to feed them. Claiming that a BRBY helps long stretches of sleep in a newborn is drawing conclusions using coincidence, if you ask me.
All in all, the price of these BRBY products is way too high to justify the use of them given the issues they cause and “problems” they don’t solve.
Remember: The purpose of using a bassinet is to have a smaller, cozier environment for your *brand new* baby to sleep in that can be right at your bedside as you care for them frequently throughout the night, and they are not to be used after about 8 weeks of age….which is right around when a BRBY becomes useful and also happens to be when a newborn decides they have a preferred sleep environment! You definitely want that preferred sleep environment to be one that is both safe and permanent (so, not the bassinet that rocks your baby for you that they’ll shortly outgrow)…My rule of thumb? Never use anything to assist sleep that you cannot easily replicate in the crib!
As always, thank you so much for visiting my blog! Contact me via the link at the top of the page if you have any questions about caring for your newborn!
