Babies Everyday Care How to Choose a CPSC-Certified Bedside Bassinet for Your Baby By Chaunie Brusie, RN, BSN Chaunie Brusie, RN, BSN LinkedIn Chaunie Brusie is a registered nurse with experience in long-term, critical care, and obstetrical and pediatric nursing. Learn about our editorial process Updated on March 23, 2022 Medically reviewed by Alisa Baer, MD Medically reviewed by Alisa Baer, MD Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Alisa Baer, MD, is a board-certified pediatrician, nationally certified child passenger safety instructor, and co-founder of The Car Seat Lady. In her 21 years in the field, Dr. Baer has consulted with many of the leading car seat manufacturers in the design and development of their car seats. Learn about our Medical Review Board Fact checked by Elaine Hinzey, RD Fact checked by Elaine Hinzey, RD LinkedIn Elaine Hinzey is a fact checker, writer, researcher, and registered dietitian. Learn about our editorial process Print In 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended that parents and caregivers share a room with their baby for the first 6 months of life. Ideally, this arrangement will last up to 1 year. This new recommendation comes after the AAP examined research that said sharing a room with your baby can reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) by up to 50%. These findings are great news for safe sleep but may leave some parents wondering how they should share a room with their baby. Should they drag a crib into their bedroom? Or resign themselves to sleeping on the floor or on a mattress in their baby's room? Many parents worry they might be setting themselves up for a never-ending slumber party, baby-style. One option many parents consider is placing a bassinet next to their bed. A regular bassinet, as well as a portable crib (also called a playpen or play yard), can easily be used bedside in a parent's bedroom. Bassinets are smaller than conventional cribs, making them more portable and easier to fit alongside the adult bed. So, you don't necessarily need a full-size crib in your room. Before choosing a bassinet or bedside sleeper to bring into their bedroom, however, there are some important safety considerations parents should be aware of. Bassinets are only safe for the first few months of a baby's life. You typically need to stop using them when your baby is able to roll over. Once a baby can roll, they are no longer safe in a bassinet. Most bassinets also have weight limits between 10 to 20 pounds. So, parents can expect that a bassinet will only be good for the first 3 to 4 months on average. What Is a CPC? According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), manufacturers must certify in a Children's Product Certificate (CPC) that their bassinet or bedside sleeper complies with the commission's standards and requirements after the product has been tested for compliance at a CPSC-accepted, third party laboratory. Bassinets and bedside sleepers must meet strict standards, including the following: A limit on the paint and surface coating, as well as lead that the product can containFabric-sided enclosed openings to prevent entrapment and suffocation hazardsMeeting all fundamental safety sleep requirements, such as protecting against suffocation, stability, small parts, pinching, shearing, unintentional folding, loading, side height, and sharp edgesMinimum heightsNo entrapment hazardsOther safety warnings and features Choosing a Bedside Bassinet The AAP states that as long as a bassinet has been given a Children's Product Certificate (CPC) from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the product is likely to be a safe option for families who want to try room sharing. However, parents should know that there has not been enough research on bedside or in-bed sleepers for guidelines on those options to be established. Since there is a lack of studies looking specifically at the risk of SIDS related to using these products, or whether they increase the risk of infant injury and death from suffocation, the AAP cannot recommend for or against them. This does not mean that they are unsafe, just that there is no definitive evidence either way. Bassinets vs. Bedside Sleepers Bassinets are much more tightly regulated than beside sleepers and are considered a safe sleep environment.Bedside sleepers are not considered to be the safest sleep environment because there is a lack of a side divider between baby and parent when these products are used. Bassinets, portable cribs, and cribs, however, are all proven to be safe options. Any sleep product you are considering for your baby should meet the standards set forth by CPSC. The following are some options to consider. Halo BassiNest Halo The Halo BassiNest products are bedside sleeper bassinets that swivel 360 degrees all while being small and compact enough to make room-sharing easy. Halo offers several BassiNest product lines, all of which include the 360° swivel and rotation as well as its patented lowering bedside wall. The more luxe lines offer additional features like built-in soothing vibrations that may help calm a fussy baby and a floor light to allow you to check on the baby without disturbing them by turning on overhead lights. According to the company's website, the BassiNest meets "all Federal, State, and Local regulations". Like other bedside bassinets, this bassinet is designed only to be used for newborns and should not be used once the baby can move and rollover. Babybay Bedside Sleepers Babybay Babybay bedside sleepers are baby beds that mount onto the parent’s bed. Once put in place, the wooden sleeper doesn't move or swivel like the Bassinest, but it does offer a separate safe sleep environment for your baby right next to you to keep them close and make room-sharing easy. The product line includes options that fit adult beds from 25–31 inches tall. According to the company's website, the babybay Bedside Sleeper is ASTM, TÜV, and Confidence in Textiles (Oeko-Tex Standard 100 Class 1 for babies) certified. Like most other bassinet and bedside sleeper products, Babybay sleepers are designed to be used within the first five months of life. Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper Bassinets Arm's Reach Arm's Reach offers several Co-Sleeper Bassinet products, all of which pull up to the side of the parent's bed to provide a separate sleep environment for your baby within arm's reach of yours. Most of the products include features like extra storage and a sidewall that can be lowered when attached bedside and raised when used as a free-standing bassinet. Arm's Reach says that their bedside sleeper and the bassinet products are intended for use with infants up to 5 months or when the child begins to push up on hands and knees, whichever occurs first. The Arm's Reach website states that its products meet the safety standards put forth in ASTM F2906 as well as ASTM F2194, the international standard for free-standing bassinets. The Co-Sleeper products also meet CPSC safety regulations. 7 Sources Verywell Family uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. SIDS and other sleep-related infant deaths: Updated 2016 recommendations for a safe Infant sleeping environment. Pediatrics. 2016;138(5). doi:10.1542/peds.2016-2938 What to Expect. Moving your baby from a bassinet to a crib. United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Bedside sleepers business guidance & small entity compliance guide. American Academy of Pediatrics. How to keep your sleeping baby safe: AAP policy explained. HALO. Product certification. Babybay. Frequently asked questions. Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper. FAQs, By Chaunie Brusie, RN, BSN Chaunie Brusie is a registered nurse with experience in long-term, critical care, and obstetrical and pediatric nursing. See Our Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Share Feedback Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! What is your feedback? Other Helpful Report an Error Submit