HOME: The Shnuggle Basket

Shnuggle Basket

Time has been flying by these past few months, so fast that the Mid-August due date is forever looming and making me panic at all of the things we need to still buy. One of the first "important" purchases we made last month was to buy a moses basket. Although we purchased our nursery furniture at a similar time, this seemed more significant as this will be the first place our little baby boy will sleep, once we bring him home.

I've seen so many moses baskets plastered all over the Internet and if I'm being truthfully honest, I've always loved the idea of your traditional ones made from wicker, willow and the like. But the more I looked into it the more I thought about the impracticalities of them. They have a tendency to sag and can be creaky when you move the basket from room to room... Not good when you've spent a while trying to get the baby to sleep in the first place. Also, the size of some of them look teeny tiny. In an ideal world I would like to keep our baby in our room for at least four months, but if our little boy ends up being as long as his dad was when he was a baby, then I really didn't think he would fit in it for that length of time.

So, during my endless perusing of the Internet, I came across the Shnuggle Basket. What I liked about it was it was definitely larger than a lot of baskets I had seen in shops. It is also made out of plastic (BPA and Phthalate free) which is ventilated, and hygienic, which should make it easy to wipe clean after numerous explosions. Despite being larger, it is still lightweight and it feels like it's going to be hard wearing. I liked that it also came in various colours. This is great if you like to co-ordinate with the bedding and the room it will mainly be living in. We opted for the cream, just to get away from the white but still remained unisex, in case we have any more children in the near future.

Shnuggle Basket with the cotton blanket (part of set) and 2 extra fitted sheets

The dressing fabrics that the Shnuggle comes with are 100% cotton, and combined with the fact that the basket is also hypoallergenic, made me feel a whole lot more at ease. (Not that I plan to become one of those germ and allergy obsessed mums!) The hood is also supposed to be more successful at staying up as it is lockable. After setting it up, it does appear to be pretty sturdy. The Shnuggle also comes with a hypoallergenic mattress and a coverlet. I'm still up in arms with the mattress. It seems quite thin, but I really don't have much knowledge or experience with the pros and cons of mattresses! I think we will see how we get on with this one, but if the little one is struggling to sleep on it, I will consider buying a different mattress.

We managed to buy a bundle on the Shnuggle website which included the basket, a wooden stand and a white cotton blanket for £99. At the same time, we purchased 2 extra fitted mattress sheets and a spare fabric dressing set for the basket (for the explosions). We have also got ourselves a cat net from Mothercare, mainly for peace of mind with our very inquisitive cat. We thought it would be a good idea to set up our basket now so he can get his scent on it when rubs against the stand, as well as, get  used to it being in the room. The plus point is that if he jumps up, he doesn't get very far with the net attached. Poor Alfie, he doesn't know what he's got coming to him!

Shnuggle Basket with Mothercare Cat Net Attached

All in all we are both really happy with our purchase. I can't comment on the durability of the fabrics and sheets after washing as I haven't got around to that yet. Hopefully the little one will have some comfortable, long sleeps in there (wishful thinking?) and will love it as much as we do.

How did you find your moses basket? Feel free to comment below and let me know your own experience.