Saturday, December 12, 2009

Buaian / Sarong cradle Vs crib



Everyone in my family grew up with a buaian (Malay) or sarong cradle. It is called "swinging basket" in Chinese. It is designed so that the button part of the buaian is holding the baby, giving baby the feeling that he or she is still in the womb and being held. I was a colic baby, I won't not fall asleep if my mother didn't swing the buaian, it was in the swinging sensation I slept sound. Now they have modern electronic buaian so baby falls sleep without having someone manually swing it. The machine would do the work.

Hubby doesn't like the swinging idea so we didn't ask my family to send one for us. I know that some of my friends in the US got their family sent them one because their baby didn't sleep well in a crib but sleep well in a buaian. I think it really depends on babies as some like the swinging sensation but some don't.

In my generation I don't know anybody growing up sleeping on a crib. In my family, one of my sisters bought a crib, but my other nieces and nephews sleep on the bed with the parents or on a mattress on the floor once they got home from the hospital. They would take the nap either on the buaian or on a mattress or on the sofa.

It is a totally different story in France. As far as I know, you don't put baby sleeping on the floor with a mattress.

New born baby sleeps in a basket. My in laws gave us this, a basket used by my FIL when he was a baby (just guess how old this basket is). We custom made the mattress and my MIL covered the mattress with a silk cloth. According to my midwife, it is better for the baby to sleep in something smaller size instead of the crib so she will feel safer.

I don't know how long the baby can sleep in the crib before needing a bigger size bed. In this case a baby needs a basket, then a crib, then a small bed, and an adult bed. No wonder people need to live in a big house with garage and store rooms, there are just too much things and space needed whenever we add one family member.


A friend lend us this so we can transport the baby in our car. Since the law in Malaysia does not require this, most of the time the mother will hold the baby on her arm while the father driving. Kids here sit quietly in the back as they are trained to sit on baby chair since they are born. Kids in Malaysia sit and play in the car without car chair. My nephews fight to sit in the front passenger seat, leaving the adults jump pack in the back. Well, they have gradually changed the law and I hope one day all my nephews will just sit quickly at the back.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:03 AM

    Hi Bee Ean,

    In the states here, my sister in-law did this with my nephew when he first returned from the hospital. She swaddled the baby and then let him sleep in the basinette. basinette is smaller than a baby crib and swaddling is wonderful to keep baby warm and protected like it is inside the mother's womb. White noise in cds is great for colic babies. Is swaddling common in France?

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  2. Hi BB,

    I don't think swaddling is common in France unlike in Malaysia. But people start doing it. The way of taking care of baby changes from time to time. For example breastfeeding was not common in France but more and more young mothers breastfeed now due to the encouragement from the government.

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  3. I didn't swaddle V and she sleeps well, however she hates her bassinette - why I have no idea. Anyway she slept in there for the first month in the same room as us. There after, she naps in there and only sleep in her crib at nite wth her gigoteuse. And remember the place the car landau facing opposite direction until she is 9 months old or older (also depending how small she is as she grows).

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  4. A colleague of mine has just had a newborn and he said the baby can't sleep well in a crib, so they put the baby in a 'small' basket so that the baby can feel from every side that there is some soft 'protection' and since then the baby is sleeping soundly. He also mentioned the same reason as BB mentioned above, that the baby likes the feeling as if he/she's inside a mother's womb.
    Now I understand why we Asian use the sarung, because it definitely is due to this reason ;) .

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  5. Bonjour Bee Ean,
    Je suis une française de 24ans vivant en France avec un malaisien de 27ans. Je suis depuis quelques temps votre blog qui est très intéressant, j'aime beaucoup vos impressions sur la culture française !
    J'aimerais pouvoir échanger avec vous sur quelques points, la carte de séjour, le travail,
    si ça vous intéresse, je vous donne mon mail : morganestk-timail@yahoo.fr, je peux vous écrire en anglais si vous préférez.

    tous mes voeux pour votre bébé !
    Amicalement.

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