Mokee – The only baby nursery furniture you need!

 

Planning your baby’s nursery, decorating and getting all the baby nursery furniture can be such an amazing time in your life;  especially the first time.  Each time I had a baby I enjoyed the process of getting out the baby nursery furniture, deciding on paint colours and seeing what new fantastic baby products I ‘needed’.  That’s the thing… how much stuff do you really actually need for a baby. In this post I am sharing the essential baby nursery furniture that you need along with sharing my favourite pieces from a brand that I trust and have put to the test with my four kids over the past few years; Mokee

FULL DISCLOSURE:  I WAS PREVIOUSLY GIFTED MOKEE FURNITURE BUT NOT FOR THIS PIECE. I HAD NO OBLIGATION TO WRITE THIS

Nesting for baby

When that nesting instinct kicks in you can become inclined to just buy all the stuff so great is the need to make it perfect for your baby.  By the way if you are on your first pregnancy and the nesting instinct hasn’t kicked in yet look out!  I was a woman possessed. I actually physically felt the need to prepare for the baby.  I was in a virtual frenzy of throwing out crap.  If the husband had of stood still for too long I may have put him in the ‘maybe’ pile – only joking!

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So to help you avoid buying baby nursery furniture and other stuff that you just won’t need, that will take up all the space and ultimately get thrown out when you get into nesting mode for baby number two, I am using my experience of buying literally ‘all’ the stuff…  This guide will tell you about the only baby nursery furniture you need and when I say need I mean it.  This guide isn’t about the things that look good, although the brand I am recommending has stunning pieces, it is about practical baby nursery furniture that will make your life easier and you will use everyday.  So lets get started…

A COT

I know you knew this already.  Of course it is obvious that you need somewhere for your baby to sleep in, but there are some important things to consider when buying a cot so I thought it was worth running through some of the considerations to help you narrow down on which cot/ bed solution is right for you and your baby.

How much space do you have for baby nursery furniture?

This is definitely the place to start when deciding on a cot.  It is no good getting a huge cot that may fit in the room, but leave no space for anything else.  Side stepping in and out of a room becomes tiresome pretty quickly!  So think realistically about how much space in the baby’s nursery you can give to the cot.  I recommend using masking tape on the floor if you can to mark out the space so you can then actually try to manoeuvre around and see how it works.

Small Nursery

If you have a small amount of space to work with then a mini cot can be a great solution.  They take up far less floor space and will still last your baby until they are around 3 years old.  Just make sure you opt for one that still has the adjustable levels and removable sides so it can become a toddler bed.  The Mokee Mini Cot at just 120cm x 60cm is just perfect for smaller spaces and comes in some absolutely gorgeous colours.  Mini cots can also be great to use in a master bedroom for that newborn stage when you really want your baby to be right next to you.

Large Nursery

If you have enough space in the nursery I would personally go straight away for a cot bed with adjustable base levels and removable sides. When you are buying a cot bed make sure that it has different levels so that it can start off raised when baby is little and then the base can be lowered once your child can kneel and then again once they stand up.  This is completely essential as otherwise your back will really suffer bending over the cot sides to pick up the baby all the time.

If you can fit in a full sized cot bed you will save yourself money as it will last until your child is around 6 years old.  We just got new cot beds (we were gifted a schplendid cot and we  bought the other one) for our twins who are already 4 and they still have so much space in them.

Will you also need a Moses Basket?

A moses basket is a smaller bed for a newborn to maybe 6 month old depending on their size and how early they start to kneel up, but do you need one?

I would say you probably will want a moses basket as they are easier to move around the home if you want your baby to take naps where you can keep an eye on them.  If they will always nap in their nursery then this may not be a piece of baby nursery furniture that you need.  In my experience the moses basket was very useful when my babies were newborns as I used it in our bedroom so that our babies could sleep with us until at least 6 months old.

If you are going to be using the Moses basket around the home you may want to consider the aesthetics a bit more and think about how it will look in your lounge room etc…  This scandi style wool felt basket from Mokee is so stylish it would show up my existing lounge furniture so I would be delighted to have it where guests could see it.  The same is not true of the Moses basket we had which was super functional, but not super stylish.

I also think that the Moses Basket seems like a cosier and more comforting place for a newborn to be.  Cots seem so big when they are brand new…

Will you be Co Sleeping?

Another thing to consider when choosing a bed for your baby is whether you will be co sleeping.  After all there isn’t much point in buying a Moses Basket if your baby will sleep with you each night.  It would be much more sensible in that case to think about whether a sleep pod would be sensible for you.  Sleep pods or baby nests can be used within your bed to ensure that your baby is contained and raised away from you and can also be used within a cot to make the sleep space smaller.

Deciding on whether to co sleep is a personal decision and before making it you should check out the latest baby sleep safety advice.  Once that is done I would think about

1) will you be able to sleep properly knowing that baby is there?

2) will co sleeping work within your bed?

3) will you feel safe having baby in your bed? 

I was quite a fan of co sleeping, but I chose to always start my babies off each evening in their Moses basket and only co sleep once I was actually going to bed, but that is me and every one is different.  When my babies were little they didn’t have these sleep pods so I have not tried them, but know that they would have been a great solution not just for co sleeping, but also for daytime naps instead of moving the Moses basket around with me.

My top tip here would be don’t buy it all!!  Think about what will work for you and just get what you need i.e. if you are going to co sleep don’t get the Moses basket, if you are going to buy a cot bed don’t get a smaller cot or crib first.  With beds I really think that forward planning helps.

STORAGE STORAGE STORAGE

When we are talking baby nursery furniture we have to be talking storage.  You will need more storage than you think in a nursery especially if you are trying to future proof the room.  You will need storage for clothes, nappies, bedding, towels and toys (not just the few cuddly ones they get given when they are born, but an army of toys waiting in the wings to clutter up your home if you don’t have enough storage. So for that reason I really recommend thinking carefully about storage in your baby’s nursery.

Ideally I would include a chest of drawers and a wardrobe in my baby nursery furniture, but if you don’t have the space for that and you have to choose then personally I would pick the drawers.  Pretty much everything can be folded if needs be.  You may have some  dresses that need to be hung up, but if you can’t fit in a full wardrobe perhaps you could add a shelf to the wall with just a hanging  rail  underneath.  

If you don’t have loads of space think about how you can best use it.  For example we have drawers under our cot beds which works brilliantly.  They are using essentially wasted space and creating somewhere to store the baby’s bed linens. 

You could also think about a getting a toy box with a padded lid which can then also double up as a seat.  Or perhaps use storage boxes on top of the wardrobe for some of the items you need less frequently.

  

A CHANGING STATION

When planning your baby’s nursery you definitely need to think about where you will change the baby’s nappy.  I remember before I had my first child I thought a changing station was totally unnecessary.  I had planned to just put a changing mat on the floor, but then I got started and realised that I was up and down like a yo yo and that is no mean feat straight after having a baby.  So save yourself the back ache and discomfort and organise a changing station.

A changing station doesn’t have to be a completely separate piece of baby nursery furniture you can double up uses.  Perhaps you could use the top of a chest of drawers to put the changing station and all the bits and pieces you need like nappies, wipes etc… Or you could get one of the changing mats that fits on top of a cot.  This is what we always had and it works a treat.  Perfect space saving solution.  I love this set up from Mokee which is the cot top changing mat and a pokee storage system that hangs from the side of the cot keeping everything exactly where you need it. 

A CHAIR

This may sound ridiculous and you may be thinking that a chair couldn’t possibly be an essential piece of baby nursery furniture, but take it from a woman who has spent hours sitting on the floor in the middle of the night trying to sooth a teething baby or toddler;  you need somewhere to sit if there is anyway that you can fit it in.  If not I would at least think about including some large cushions or a bean bag works well as you can also sleep on it if necessary.

So that is it…  The only baby nursery furniture you need is a cot, storage drawers, a changing station and a chair (if you can fit one in) so save yourself some pennies and don’t be convinced that you need anything else…