Baby Gear

Before anything else: what goes in a cot

This matters more than any product guidance, so it comes first.

For babies under 12 months, the safest cot is completely clear, a firm, flat mattress with a fitted sheet, and nothing else. That means no pillows, duvets, cot bumpers, sleep positioners, soft toys or loose bedding. UK safer sleep guidance from The Lullaby Trust and the NHS is consistent on this: soft items in the sleep space are associated with an increased risk of sudden infant death and of accidental suffocation.

Pillows and cushions of any kind are not suitable for a baby's sleep space. Comfort and soothing items are for supervised play and awake time only, and should be removed before the baby is put down to sleep. Pillows are generally not recommended until a child moves into a bed, at around 12 months at the earliest and often later.

If you take nothing else from this page: a clear cot, baby on their back, feet to the foot of the cot, in your room for the first six months.

How to soothe a baby without adding things to the cot

Most of what actually works costs nothing.

• White noise at a low volume, from a device outside the cot, mimics the constant sound of the womb
• Swaddling for newborns, using a proper swaddle rather than loose blankets, and stopped once they show signs of rolling
• Room temperature between 16 and 20°C. Overheating is a risk factor, and babies are more often too warm than too cold
• A dummy is associated with reduced risk in safer sleep guidance, once feeding is established
• Routine and consistency matter more than any product, the same short sequence before every sleep

How to choose comfort items safely

• Check the stated age range and treat it as a minimum, not a suggestion
• Supervised use only for anything soft, and remove it from the cot before sleep
• Check for small or detachable parts: eyes, buttons, ribbons and battery compartments are choking hazards
• Battery compartments must be screw-secured. Button batteries cause severe internal injuries if swallowed and this is a genuine emergency
• Look for UKCA or CE marking and BS EN 71, the toy safety standard
• Wash before first use, and check regularly for loose seams as it's used

What newborns actually need

A great deal is sold to new parents that goes unused. The genuinely necessary list is short:

• A safe place to sleep: cot or Moses basket, firm flat mattress, fitted sheets
• A car seat appropriate to their size, correctly fitted
• Nappies, wipes and somewhere to change them
• Feeding equipment, which depends on how feeding goes and often can't be predicted in advance
• A few sleepsuits and vests, and something warm for outdoors

Almost everything else can wait until you know what your baby is like. Borrowing and buying second-hand is sensible for most items, the exceptions are car seats and mattresses, where new is safer.