Is It The Right Choice?

It doesn’t matter whether a cot is painted white or a pram has coffee-cup holders. To keep your little one safe in these baby must-haves, know what really matters.

- Aroma Sah Anant

EVEN BEFORE you bring your baby home, you zero in on a cot and a pram for her. These are modern-day essentials after all. As a parent to a newborn, I had spent months looking at catalogues, going through websites, comparing brands, all the while keeping an eye on the high price points of these products. When I was absolutely confident that I had made the right choice, I found myself standing in the store and paying for a crib that wasn’t what I had planned to buy. The sales person had shown me products from a very different perspective — the one where safety parameters are of highest priority.

for a sound sleep Delhi-based Anubha Singhal, 32, went ahead and ordered the prettiest-looking accessories and essentials, including the crib, for her baby even before he was born. When she put her newborn in his bed for the first time, little did Anubha know that a trip to the emergency room would ensue soon. She hadn’t factored in the wide gap between the side rails and her baby’s head got stuck between two rails. “Cots should have rails to prevent the baby from falling but it is often seen that the rails are too wide apart and parents make an error in judgement. As first timers we are unable to envisage the probable mishaps,” says Anubha. Gap between two railings should be such that an infant doesn’t slip from between. Another factor to consider while buying a cot is that it should be age-specific. “For toddlers the cot should be low, while ensuring that the railing is kept high,” says Dr. KK Gupta, senior paediatrician, Saroj Hospital, Delhi.