Cradle anyone?

My DH, bless his heart, is about to begin making a cradle for this little
bug. I've been on his case to begin building it and now I cannot pin point
what I want!
Having used a Moses basket then crib with my other two I am not too sure
how I want it designed. I've noticed the ones online either are small
heritage types that sit on the floor or much bigger ones that sit much
higher up (18 inch-2 feet?) and are closer to the dimensions of a crib. I
cannot decide whether to have a small cradle and have him build a crib later
on or just up the size of the cradle and have removable rockers.

So for those of you that have used one, how long were they useful for? And
did you like using it?
--?

Jenn*the undecided*
-WAHM
-DS Feb'92
-DD Feb'97
-Jellyfish due June 25/04

I used a small cradle and used it for around 6 months (though my dd was
big). I liked it for napping, but I rarely used the rocking part as it
would jolt DD awake. Next time I probably won't use it because my DD ended
up co-sleeping anyway! Anyway, this is what my cradle looked like...
http://www.ababy.com/itempage.asp?Ca...&itemno= 1119
"Fer" wrote in message
news:ZF22c.708498$X%5.70629@pd7tw2no...
My DH, bless his heart, is about to begin making a cradle for this little
bug. I've been on his case to begin building it and now I cannot pin point
what I want!
Having used a Moses basket then crib with my other two I am not too sure
how I want it designed. I've noticed the ones online either are small
heritage types that sit on the floor or much bigger ones that sit much
higher up (18 inch-2 feet?) and are closer to the dimensions of a crib. I
cannot decide whether to have a small cradle and have him build a crib
later
on or just up the size of the cradle and have removable rockers.

So for those of you that have used one, how long were they useful for?
And
did you like using it?
--?

Jenn*the undecided*
-WAHM
-DS Feb'92
-DD Feb'97
-Jellyfish due June 25/04

"Fer" wrote in message
news:ZF22c.708498$X%5.70629@pd7tw2no...
My DH, bless his heart, is about to begin making a cradle for this little
bug. I've been on his case to begin building it and now I cannot pin point
what I want!
Having used a Moses basket then crib with my other two I am not too sure
how I want it designed. I've noticed the ones online either are small
heritage types that sit on the floor or much bigger ones that sit much
higher up (18 inch-2 feet?) and are closer to the dimensions of a crib. I
cannot decide whether to have a small cradle and have him build a crib
later
on or just up the size of the cradle and have removable rockers.

So for those of you that have used one, how long were they useful for?
And
did you like using it?
--?

We have a cradle/bassinet and a bouncinette. I'd go with a cradle that sits
higher up and a crib for later. Can he do both? The cradle was nice,
because I think it makes the babies feel more secure. It's better, for me,
that it sits up higher, because we had it up next to the bed. I'd rather
not have our comforters falling into it, our dog jumping into it, me
tripping over it, me bending way down to pick up the baby. I can't remember
how long DS was in the cradle. DD is in it now. She's three weeks old. I
remember the weight restricitons on our cradle is 15 lbs and the baby should
not be in it when it can move around or roll over. I guess the weight
restriction would not apply to the one you get, because your DH can build it
sturdier, but they should not be in it when they can move around. I'm
guessing DS was 3 months or so when we moved him to the crib, not sure on
that, though. We used it for much longer as a changing area. It was safer
than a changing table, because of the high sides.

My dad made a cradle before my older sister was born, me and my 3 siblings
slept in that, then my DD slept in it for 3 months before she started
flailing about and whacking her hands of the sides. She is a very big baby!
There are no weight restrictions, I can jump up and down in it without it
breaking! It doesn't rock, but that didn't matter since we would rock her
occasionally in our arms, she had no time for swings or things where she
wasn't touching us. The cradle is probably about half the width of a crib,
and almost as long, she felt very cozy in it while not sleeping with us. It
was also on castors so that we could wheel it around our house pretty
easily.

I loved having her sleep next to us in the cradle, but it was really really
really really hard getting her into her crib! She is doing okay now in her
crib, from about 9pm-5am and then into bed with us!

If you want to see a picture of our cradle, you can email me off list and I
can send you some pictures.

Katherine


"Fer" wrote in message
news:ZF22c.708498$X%5.70629@pd7tw2no...
My DH, bless his heart, is about to begin making a cradle for this little
bug. I've been on his case to begin building it and now I cannot pin point
what I want!
Having used a Moses basket then crib with my other two I am not too sure
how I want it designed. I've noticed the ones online either are small
heritage types that sit on the floor or much bigger ones that sit much
higher up (18 inch-2 feet?) and are closer to the dimensions of a crib. I
cannot decide whether to have a small cradle and have him build a crib
later
on or just up the size of the cradle and have removable rockers.

So for those of you that have used one, how long were they useful for?
And
did you like using it?
--?

Jenn*the undecided*
-WAHM
-DS Feb'92
-DD Feb'97
-Jellyfish due June 25/04

Fer writes:

: So for those of you that have used one, how long were they useful for? And
: did you like using it?
: --?

So, I built a cradle for my first 27 years ago. for the first two, whose
mom wasn't AP, we used it for about a year. For the second two, we used it
a month or two, and then not regularly. Co-sleeping rocks!

Larry

Fer wrote:

My DH, bless his heart, is about to begin making a cradle for this little
bug. I've been on his case to begin building it and now I cannot pin point
what I want!
Having used a Moses basket then crib with my other two I am not too sure
how I want it designed. I've noticed the ones online either are small
heritage types that sit on the floor or much bigger ones that sit much
higher up (18 inch-2 feet?) and are closer to the dimensions of a crib. I
cannot decide whether to have a small cradle and have him build a crib later
on or just up the size of the cradle and have removable rockers.

So for those of you that have used one, how long were they useful for? And
did you like using it?


First things first, there are cradle mattresses out
there. Make a cradle in which one of those mattresses will
fit! We have an heirloom cradle from several generations
back. You could have knocked me over with a feather when
I found out that it actually took a standard sized cradle
mattress! That was very handy. If you need, I can go
measure it. It's good sized, probably bigger than what
you imagine with the heritage types you mention, but it's
still significantly smaller than a standard crib. The one
we have actually has a frame with the cradle suspended
from it (so it swings back and forth). If you'd like
pictures, email me your email address and I'll send you
a picture. We used our cradle for four months for the
first two babies. This last time around, Genevieve is
just getting out of it now at 8 months. She should have
been out a long time ago, but we've been slow getting
the crib up. Bad us! I'm hoping the transition isn't
too difficult as a result...

Best wishes,
Ericka

Larry McMahan wrote:
|| Fer writes:
||
||| So for those of you that have used one, how long were they useful
||| for? And did you like using it?
||| --?
||
|| So, I built a cradle for my first 27 years ago. for the first two,
|| whose mom wasn't AP, we used it for about a year. For the second
|| two, we used it a month or two, and then not regularly. Co-sleeping
|| rocks!
||
|| Larry

Based on what I did for the other two the cradle will be mostly for naps. I
have already put a request in with DH for a larger bed for when the baby
arrives since I know I'll be co-sleeping (for the most part) and he is a bed
hog --?

Jenn
-WAHM
-DS Feb'92
-DD Feb'97
-Jellyfish due June 25/04