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Sleeping Baby

Somewhere to Sleep

Half this section is the same idea at different sizes, so we've lined them up so you can tell them apart.

Bassinet

For the first few months bub is tiny, and a full-size cot can feel like putting a jellybean in a shoebox. A bassinet is small enough to sit beside your bed, which matters because Red Nose recommends baby sleeps in your room for the first six months. Check it's stable, ventilated and has a firm, flat base. Bub outgrows it once they can roll, so it's a short-term resident.

Cradle

The rocking version of a bassinet. Some babies settle beautifully with gentle motion; others couldn't care less and you've paid extra for a feature nobody uses. If you go this way, look for one that locks still for sleep and rocks only when you're standing right there.

Moses Basket

The one with handles. Mums who use them love being able to carry a sleeping newborn from room to room without a transfer, which is the moment most naps end. Same safety rules as a bassinet: firm flat base, nothing padded inside, and always set it down on the floor or a proper stand, never the couch.

Co-Sleeper

A bedside sleeper clips or sits flush against your bed with one side down, so bub is within arm's reach for those every-two-hour newborn feeds without sharing your mattress. Red Nose supports these when they're purpose-built and rigid-walled and set up exactly as the manufacturer says. It has to be the real thing, not an improvised gap-filler between bed and bassinet.

Cot

The long-haul option, from around four to six months (or day one, if you'd rather skip the bassinet stage) through to toddlerhood. Any cot sold new in Australia must meet the mandatory standard, but check secondhand ones carefully: bar spacing, drop-side mechanisms and old paint are where hand-me-downs come unstuck. Grandma's heirloom cot may be lovely and may also be a museum piece.

Portacot

For Grandma's house, holidays, and the friend's place where dinner ran late. Folds into a bag, sets up in minutes once you've done it four times, and gives bub a familiar safe space anywhere. Only ever use the thin mattress that comes with it; adding a padded one creates gaps a baby can wedge into.

Pram Bassinet Stand

If your pram has a proper lie-flat bassinet attachment, a stand turns it into an occasional sleep space at home, and some parents use it instead of a separate bassinet for the early weeks. Check your pram brand actually approves theirs for overnight sleep, because plenty are daytime-nap-only, and the fine print is where that lives.

Making the Bed

The rule for everything in this section comes straight from Red Nose: firm, flat, fitted, and nothing soft in the sleep space for the first 12 months.

Bassinet Mattress

Most bassinets come with one, and that's the one to use, because it's cut to fit with no gaps at the edges. If you're buying a replacement, match the exact size and keep it firm and flat. A mattress that feels too hard to an adult hand is doing its job.

Cot Mattress

Firm, flat, and exactly the right size for the cot, with no more than a couple of finger-widths of gap at the sides. There's a voluntary Australian firmness standard (AS/NZS 8811.1), so ask whether the one you're eyeing meets it. Memory foam and anything bub sinks into is out, no matter how inviting it looks.

Mattress Protector

Nappies leak, and they save their best work for 3am. A waterproof protector that fits tightly under the sheet means the mattress survives babyhood. One protector means stripping the whole bed mid-night; a spare in the drawer means a five-minute change in the dark. It must sit flat and taut, never loose or quilted on top.

Cot Sheet

Fitted sheets sized for your actual mattress, so they stay put when bub wriggles. A loose adult sheet folded to fit can ride up, which is exactly what safe sleep guidance is trying to avoid. Cotton breathes better than polyester when you've got a little hot-water-bottle of a sleeper.

Cot Tuck Sheet

The near-twin of the fitted sheet, and the one that confuses everyone. A tuck sheet lies over bub and tucks firmly under the mattress on both sides, keeping bedding low and anchored the way Red Nose describes: chest height, arms free, feet at the bottom of the cot. Mums who use blankets rather than sleeping bags are the ones who reach for these.

Cot Liner

Sold as the gentler answer to bumpers, usually as mesh or fabric panels that tie around the inside of the cot. Red Nose recommends nothing attached inside the cot for the first 12 months, and breathable mesh is included in that. Whatever the packaging promises, it's still an extra thing in the sleep space.

Cot Bumper

The padded rails your mum probably had, and the clearest "no" on this whole list. Red Nose classes bumpers as soft bedding: they can cover a baby's face, cause overheating, and later become a climbing step for escape artists. Babies bonking their head on a bare cot rail is normal and doesn't hurt them.

Infant Head Rest

Notice a flat spot on the back of bub's head and the internet will sell you a solution within the hour: shaped pillows, contoured foam, wedges. Red Nose advises no pillows or head-shaping devices in the sleep space at all, and no pillow of any kind until after two. The actual fix is tummy time and turning bub's head the other way at sleep time, and your child health nurse will show you how.

Sleep Positioner

Wedges, rolls and nests that promise to hold bub exactly where you put them, which is an appealing promise at 2am. It's also why they're on the do-not-use list: a baby who slides or turns against one can end up with their airway blocked. Back, flat, bare mattress. That's the position.

What They Wear

Whatever bub sleeps in replaces loose bedding, so this is the section doing the heaviest lifting on your list.

Swaddle Wrap

Newborns arrive with a startle reflex that flings their own arms into their face and wakes them up, which seems like a design flaw. A wrap swaddles those arms snug against the chest so bub stays asleep. Firm around the arms, loose around the hips, face always uncovered, and it stops the moment bub shows signs of rolling.

Swaddle Suit

For the mum who did three perfect wrap demos at the hospital and has never reproduced one since. Zip-up swaddle suits do the same job with none of the origami, which at 2am is not a small thing. Same rule applies: once bub starts trying to roll, arms come out or the suit is retired.

Sleeping Bag

The workhorse of Australian baby sleep, from post-swaddle to toddler. A well-fitted bag replaces blankets entirely, can't ride up over the face, and stops your escape artist kicking everything off at 4am. Fit is the safety feature: snug at the neck and armholes, arms free, no hood. The TOG rating tells you which season it's for; most families end up with a summer one and a winter one.

Pyjamas

Under the sleeping bag or on their own in warm weather. Layers you can add or subtract beat one thick outfit, because bub can't kick off a sleeping bag the way they'd kick off a blanket. The zip-up ones with a two-way zipper let you do nappy changes without undressing a sleeping child from the neck down, and the mum who invented those deserves a statue.

Mittens

Newborns come with tiny, weirdly sharp fingernails and no idea where their hands are, so some parents use mittens to stop the face scratches. Plenty of others just keep nails filed, or buy suits with fold-over cuffs built in. Mittens fall off constantly; you'll find them in the washing machine, the pram, and once, inexplicably, the fruit bowl.

Baby Blanket

Blankets can be used safely, but only the Red Nose way: lightweight, tucked in firmly, pulled up no higher than the chest, with bub's feet at the bottom of the cot so there's nowhere to wriggle down under it. Never loose, never a doona, never over the face. Many families skip the question entirely by using a sleeping bag and keep blankets for the pram and tummy time.

Personalised Blanket

The one with bub's name embroidered on it, usually a gift, usually gorgeous. Same rules as any blanket in the cot, so for the first year most of these live on the nursery chair looking beautiful. Perfectly good on the floor for play, over the capsule on the way to the car, and in every photo you send the relatives.

Setting the Room

None of this goes in the cot, which is why the room is where the gadget budget tends to escape.

Blackout Blind

Daytime naps in an Australian summer mean asking a baby to sleep through what is essentially stadium lighting. Blackout blinds turn 3pm into midnight. Suction-cup portable versions travel to holiday houses where the curtains are decorative. Keep any cords fully out of reach and secured; blind cords are a strangulation hazard with a cot nearby.

Room Thermometer

Takes the guesswork out of "is this room too hot?", though Red Nose's actual advice is to dress bub for the temperature rather than chase a magic number: if the room's warm, fewer layers, and check the back of bub's neck rather than their hands. Many monitors and night lights have one built in, so check before buying a separate gadget.

Heater

Melbourne winter is real, and so is the risk of an overheated baby, so if you're heating the nursery keep it low and steady rather than toasty. A thermostat model beats one that just blasts. Never point it at the cot, keep cords away from little hands, and remember overheating is a bigger SIDS risk factor than a cool room.

Humidifier

For dry winter air and the stuffy-nose season, which starts the first time bub meets another baby. The evidence for humidifiers easing colds is thinner than the marketing suggests, and a dirty tank grows mould, so daily cleaning is part of the deal. If bub's snuffly, your pharmacist can suggest options too, like saline drops.

Aroma Diffuser

Lavender oil misting through the nursery smells like a day spa, but babies aren't small adults and many essential oils aren't recommended around infants at all. If you're keen, run any oil past your pharmacist or child health nurse first, keep it well away from the cot, and know that the spa smell is for you; bub was never fussed.

Night Light

Not for the baby, who slept in complete darkness for nine months and is fine with it. The night light is for you: enough glow to find the cot, the dummy and your footing at 3am without switching on the big light and startling everyone awake. Warm red or amber tones are less stimulating than white or blue light.

Night Light Projector

Casts stars or waves across the ceiling, often with music, aiming to give bub something calming to gaze at while drifting off. Some babies find twenty minutes of galaxy projection soothing. Others find it the most interesting thing that's ever happened and treat bedtime as cinema. You won't know which baby you have until you own one.

Wall Lights

Plug-in or stick-on lights along the hallway between your room and the nursery, for the fourteen trips you'll make along it each night. Motion-sensor versions mean nobody fumbles for a switch with a baby in their arms. They also solve the age-old problem of stepping on the cat.

White Noise Machine

Consistent sound masks the doorbell, the dog and the older sibling's interpretive dance practice. Red Nose notes white noise may help some babies settle, with sensible limits: keep it low, keep the machine well away from the cot, and it's for settling rather than blasting all night at full volume. Some families swear by rain sounds; some babies prefer the one that sounds like a dishwasher.

Portable Noise Machine

The travel-size version that clips to the pram or capsule, for naps at the shops, the in-laws', and daycare orientation. If your baby has decided sleep only happens to the sound of static, this keeps the illusion going anywhere. Same volume and distance rules as the big one.

White Noise App

Before spending anything on either machine above, there's a free version already in your pocket. White noise apps do the same job through your phone or a spare speaker, and they're how a lot of mums test whether their baby is a white-noise baby at all. The catch is committing a phone to the nursery all night; the night it comes with you to answer a call is the night the silence wakes everyone.

Settling & Soothing

The gap between "in the cot" and "actually asleep" is where this entire section lives.

Dummy

Some babies are born sucky and a dummy settles them in seconds; others spit it across the room with surprising force. Red Nose notes dummy use at sleep time is associated with reduced SIDS risk, and suggests breastfeeding mums wait until feeding is established, around four to six weeks. Never tie one to a cord around bub's neck or to the cot. You will spend a portion of every night reinserting it; this is the tax.

Comforter

The small soft toy or square bub bonds with and settles against, and the timing is the whole story: Red Nose says nothing soft in the sleep space until at least seven months, corrected for prematurity, and ideally a bare cot for the full 12. When the time comes, pick something small, breathable and not pillow-like. Mums who've been through it rotate two identical ones so they wear (and smell) the same, because the day an only comforter goes missing at Kmart is a very long day indeed.

Sleep Aid Toy

The plush version, the famous sleepy sheep and its many cousins, with a sound box tucked inside. For babies under the soft-toy age they hang outside the cot or sit across the room doing their heartbeat thing. Check whether the sound runs long enough to matter; a toy that switches off after ten minutes while your baby takes forty is a cruel joke.

Silk Sleeve

A silky slip that goes over the bassinet or cot mattress where bub's head rests, sold to reduce the friction rubbing that gives some babies a newborn bald patch. The bald patch grows back on its own either way, so this one is purely cosmetic. If you use one, it must fit tight and smooth like a fitted sheet, never loose fabric in the sleep space.

Cot Mobile

Something slowly rotating above the cot can hold a small baby's attention while they wind down, and some mums say it buys them the exit from the room. Red Nose safety rules: firmly attached, well out of bub's reach, and taken down once baby can push up on hands and knees, around five months. After that it's a chin-up bar.

Cot Mobile Arm

The clamp-on arm the mobile hangs from, sold separately because of course it is. Worth checking your mobile and your cot are compatible with the same arm before you're standing in the nursery with three boxes and no combination that fits. Same rules as the mobile: secure, out of reach, down by the push-up stage.

Cot Toy

Attaches to the cot side for older babies to bat and explore, and the age matters: for the first 12 months Red Nose recommends the sleep space stays clear, so these are a second-year purchase or a playtime-only item. When bub is older, they can turn early morning wake-ups into twenty minutes of independent entertainment, which is twenty more minutes of your life back.

Musical Toy

Wind-up or button-press lullaby players, often pull-string. Babies do develop favourites, and a familiar tune can become part of the wind-down routine the same way a book does. The pull-string ones need the cord kept well away from the cot for young babies. You will have the tune stuck in your head until roughly 2043.

Cot Canopy

The floaty netting draped over the cot, and honestly, it's decor. Any fabric hanging near a sleep space is a hazard once bub can grab and pull, so if the nursery photos demand one, it comes down before baby moves in or stays firmly out of reach. Insect protection is the one real job it can do, properly fitted, in mozzie season.

Sleep Training Book

Somewhere around month four, a tired mum googles "why won't my baby sleep" and falls into a world of methods, each with its own book and its own devoted following. They range from gentle no-tears approaches to structured routines, and they contradict each other cheerfully. Reading one can give you a plan and a bit of confidence; reading five at 2am gives you a headache. Your child health nurse can help you pick an approach that suits your bub and your nerves.

Keeping an Eye on Them

One truth to hold onto before the gadgets: Red Nose says home monitors are not recommended for healthy babies, because a monitor is an alarm, not a lifesaving device. Room-sharing for the first six months is what the evidence supports.

Baby Monitor

The video kind, so you can watch bub sleep from the couch like the world's slowest television. Genuinely handy for telling a resettling grizzle from a feed-me cry without opening the door, and for houses where the nursery is out of earshot. Mount any camera and its cord well out of reach of the cot, and change the default password on wifi models.

Audio Monitor

The original, and still all plenty of families use: it lets you hear bub from the garden or the other end of the house, full stop. Cheaper, nothing to hack, no temptation to watch the screen instead of sleeping. In a small flat, you may discover you can hear everything through the wall anyway and save yourself the money.

Breathing Monitor

Sensor mats under the mattress or clips on the nappy that alarm if movement pauses. Red Nose is direct on these: there's no evidence they reduce risk to a healthy baby, they're recommended only under medical advice, and corded versions carry strangulation and entrapment risks. If a doctor has advised one for your bub, they'll guide the setup. Otherwise, this is a product buying peace of mind that safe sleep practices already provide.

Sock Monitor

The smart bootie that tracks oxygen and heart rate and sends it to your phone. Same Red Nose position as any home monitor: not recommended for healthy babies, and not a medical device. Some anxious mums say the data helps them sleep; others find a 2am false alarm is the opposite of peace of mind. Talk to your GP or child health nurse before spending this much on reassurance.

Wearable Sleep Tracker

Logs sleep cycles, wake windows and night wakings into an app, for parents who like graphs. The data can be interesting, and it can also turn every rough night into a chart you stare at instead of napping. If bub's sleep is genuinely worrying you, the child health nurse reads the situation better than the app does.

Every product here solved a very specific sleep problem for somebody. You won't know which problems are yours until you're a few weeks in and bub has shown their hand. Start with the safe basics, do some nights, and come back to this list once you know whether you're dealing with a startle-awake swaddle-fighter, a naps-only-in-motion baby, or one of those mythical creatures who just... sleeps.

The shops don't close because you had a baby.