Bassinet vs Cradle | Features and Differences

This article will give you a clear overview of bassinet and cradle, and we will discuss the comparison of Bassinet vs Cradle, the differences, similarities, and safety measures of both baby products.

Different baby products for sleeping are available on the market, and most parents confuse about choosing between bassinets, cribs, and cradles. So this article will answer all cradle and bassinet queries and clear all your confusion.

Baby Bassinet vs Cradle

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that parents and babies must sleep in the same room for the first six months. So you can use the cradle or bassinet for this purpose. And these baby products are convenient for feedings and diaper changes during the nighttime.

Difference between Bassinet and Cradle:

Following are some key differences between Cradle and a bassinet:

What is a bassinet?

Let’s start with the bassinet, it is a small cozy space normally made in an oval shape for newborn babies, and you usually can use it for up to 6 months. The bassinet has a protected wall in an oval shape around the bed. Some bassinets can be attached to parents’ beds and can be used for co-sleeping.

Bassinets resemble baskets made from cane/wicker with a hood and legs. The bassinet is a sleeping product for babies and comes in different sizes and designs with comfortable and soft sleeping pads.

The sleeping area in the bassinet is around 2 to 2.5 feet, perfect for newborns. Bassinets usually highlight beautiful elements like a hood, ruffles, or cushioned sides, and some models of bassinet have stationary legs, while others may have wheels. It is a very useful product for sleep and the bassinet is suitable for six to seven month old baby.

It is mean it is a great product for newborns, especially preemies.

You can move the bassinet inside the room very easily as most of them have a wheel or they are very lightweight. 

How to Buy a Bassinet

You can consider the following guideline while purchasing the bassinets:

• Check out its walls, normally made up of either mesh or some sort of fabric is better because your baby may sleep with his face to the wall of the bassinet.
• A bassinet is specially used for sleep so check its mattress should be comfortable, and there should not be thin gaps between the walls of the bassinet and mattress.
• Consider your baby’s size and weight before making the buy. Different size and weight limits are mentioned against each bassinet, and you can review these details before buying.
• Don’t buy a controversial baby bassinet that already has a lot of negative ratings.

What is Cradle?

Whereas a cradle is like a traditional baby swing, almost similar to a baby bassinet, its distinctive feature is that you can generate the manual rocking movement in the cradle. And rocking is the primary and attractive feature of the cradles.

This natural movement allows the babies to sleep early. Most studies proved that using a cradle can increase babies’ sleep time. Cradle has a bigger sleeping area compared to the bassinet and is around 3 to 3.5 feet.

Suppose your cradle shape is like a crib; you may need to buy an extra mattress for bedding. 

How to Buy a Cradle

Cradles with high rocking movement must be avoided because they can be dangerous, or there should be an option to block the higher rocking movement.

You check the rocking level of Cradles, as they have different rocking levels.

Your baby can be seriously injured if your baby rolls strongly with the walls of the cradle. So keep this aspect in mind while purchasing the cradle.

Bassinet and Cradle Safety Guidelines

You know that implementing baby product safety guidelines is extremely strict in the USA. Few baby products like crib wedges are controversial to some extent, but most baby products comply with safety guidelines and recommendations, and most experts believe that bassinets and cradles are safe to use.

• You can adopt more safety measures with these products in the following ways to improve safety and minimize the risks:
• Make sure when your baby is in a bassinet or the cradle, there is nothing in it like toys, pillows, etc.
• Put your baby in a way that he sleeps on her back.
• Keep the weight limit of baby products while using these products.
• Keep your pets away from your cradle and bassinet, as your baby can fall down if they are hit with these items hard.
• If you understand these precepts, bassinets or cradles are perfectly safe for your babies.

Which items to choose from?

Normally bassinets and cradles are used for a similar purpose, and they have known sleeping products, if you require something that you can comfortably move around in different rooms with wheels, then you may buy a bassinet.

The most important aspect is baby safety, so ensure your baby product meets all the most recent safety standards. Also, consider the room space while choosing these baby items, the bassinet can be adjusted in less space, but not much more space is required for a cradle.

Obviously, price is also an important factor, different designs of bassinets and cradles are available in the market with different price tags, so you have much freedom to choose the best one according to your requirements.

I hope this is informative for and I would like to thank you for reading this..!