Ask any woman about the happiest day of her life and she will most likely state it was the day she had a child. For first time mommies, choosing a crib or bassinette can be a perplexing situation. Are cribs safe for a newborn? Is a bassinette truly useful or a waste of money?

Any newborn sleeps more than sixteen hours a day. While snuggling in mommy's arms is always appealing, it is not practical for a new mom. An infant does need a place to sleep. This place must be safe and comfortable. Those are the most important requirements for any infant's bedding.

Bassinettes are small, often egg shaped bed that has tall sides, a skinny mattress, and sits on a wheeled stand. To keep the legs and wheels from showing, a bassinette is often decorated with lacy skirts, ribbons, and bows. The basket portion of the bassinette is usually large enough to hold nothing more than the infant and a few blankets.

Cradles are similar in size to a bassinette. A cradle is often on a wooden stand that allows the wooden bed portion to rock slowly with manipulation from an adult. Cradles tend to bring about images of handmade wood cradles, roaring fires, and days of old. Many cradles are handed down from generation to generation. Cradles have low edges, so they are not recommended to any infant that is able to freely move around. There is a danger of an infant rolling against the edge of the cradle and causing it to tip over.

The best choice for any infant is a crib. Cribs are bigger and have extremely tall sides. One side of the crib drops down so that a parent can gently place the infant into the bed while sleeping. Then the side is easily raised back up. Cribs offer two height settings for mattresses. The higher setting is for infants, and then the lower setting is for babies who are able to stand with assistance. This keeps a baby from being able to fall over the edge of the crib rail. Often cribs can convert to toddler beds.

Other parents opt to have their infant sleep in the same bed. This can be dangerous, as a parent may well roll over in the night and crush their infant. If you must have your child in your bed, consider purchasing an attachable bedding system that attaches to the adult bed but is a separate, smaller sleeping area that only fits an infant.

SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) is a leading cause of infant death. To prevent against this make sure the bedding is firm, toys are left out of the crib, bassinette, or cradle. Use only light blankets or blanket sleepers. Excessive blankets can cause an infant to smother itself, especially when the infant begins to roll around. It is critical to keep any potential suffocation device from toys to blankets to pillows away from an infant, baby, and toddler until that child is old enough to safely uncover his or her own face.