Setting up the baby's bedroom for safe sleep

Most nurseries get their paint colour before they get their mattress. The order should be the other way round. The bedroom is where a baby spends most of the first year, asleep, feeding, and eventually pulling everything off the lowest shelf, so the safety and the sleep come first and the wallpaper can wait.

Safety basics for the cot and the room

The cot needs a firm, flat mattress that fits with no gap at the sides, and nothing else in it: no pillow, no bumper, no loose blanket, no soft toys. That is the guidance every health service gives for the first year, from the Lullaby Trust to Kind en Gezin, and it is the one part of this post to follow exactly. For the first six months the cot stands in the parents' bedroom.

In the room itself, anchor the chest of drawers and the bookcase to the wall with the kit that came in the box or a cheap one from the hardware shop; a climbing toddler pulls furniture over. Cover the sockets. Get blind cords out of reach or fit cordless blinds, because looped cords are a real hazard once a baby can stand in the cot. Corner guards can stay in the shop.

A cheap room thermometer tells you whether the room sits between 16 and 20°C, which is what the guidance asks for, and which sleeping bag to use. A video monitor is a comfort for the parents; a monitor with a temperature alert is the thermometer at ten times the price.

Lighting that helps sleep

Blackout blinds are the one purchase that changes daytime naps, and later the five o'clock summer mornings. A blind that fits the window frame beats a curtain that leaks at the edges; a cheap portable blackout blind with suction cups travels to the grandparents.

For the night feed, a dim night light in a warm amber colour, low on the wall or on the changing surface. Bright white light wakes the baby and the parent, and a night light with a dimmer or a timer costs little and is used for years. For the day, one table lamp with a soft shade is enough for stories; the overhead light stays off in the evening from the first week.

What actually helps babies sleep

A white noise machine covers the doorbell, the dishwasher and the older sibling, and becomes a cue for sleep. Buy one with a continuous setting; the ones that switch off after 30 minutes wake the baby at 31. A phone app does the same for nothing, if the phone can be spared.

For warmth, a sleeping bag in the right tog for the room, with the baby's arms free. Skip the swaddle unless a midwife or health visitor has suggested it for your baby, and never once the baby shows signs of rolling; Kind en Gezin advises against swaddling in general, and the Lullaby Trust sets the rolling rule. Cotton bags in two sizes cover the first year, because the newborn size is outgrown by three months.

A feeding chair with real back support, and a small table next to it for water, muslins and the phone, is the item the parent doing the 3 am feed will thank you for.

Storage that keeps the room calm

A changing surface at hip height, with nappies and wipes within reach of one hand, is the working core of the room. A changing mat strapped to the top of a chest of drawers does this as well as a dedicated changing table, and the expensive changing table stays in the shop.

Closed storage wins as soon as the baby moves. Drawers and a lidded box for the small things, open shelves only for books and only if the shelf is anchored. A laundry basket with a lid and three baskets for socks, hats and muslins keep the surfaces clear, which is what makes a small room feel calm.

A rug for the floor and a mobile for the cot

A washable rug with a non-slip back makes tummy time softer and marks out the play corner. A mobile above the cot is fine for the first months and comes down the day the baby can sit up or reach it, which the manufacturers put at around five months.

Skip the humidifier. It appears on every nursery list and, unless a doctor has suggested one, it is a thing to descale.

Four decisions made early do most of the work: the mattress, the blind, the thermometer and where the nappies live. You can create a baby registry with those four items at the top, so the people who want to help buy the things that matter before anyone buys a cushion.