Setting up the nursery, safe sleep first
Nursery shopping is where the catalogue pressure peaks, but the room itself needs six things from the baby registry checklist: a cot, the mattress made for it, an optional bassinet, a change setup, and the two nice-to-haves, a monitor and a night light. Start with the sleep rules and the buying decisions get simpler.
The sleep rules that shape the shopping list
Before comparing cots, read Red Nose's six safe sleep recommendations: always place your baby on their back to sleep, keep their head and face uncovered, and sleep them in their own safe sleep space in the same room as a parent or caregiver for at least the first six months. That last point changes the shopping list more than any product review does: the cot or bassinet starts in your room, so measure the space beside your bed before you buy, and treat the picture-perfect decorated nursery as a stage two project.
Placement has its own rules. Product Safety Australia's household cots guide says to keep the cot in a clear space, away from blind and curtain cords, heaters, electrical appliances and hanging mobiles, so factor the room layout into what you buy rather than squeezing a king-single-sized cot against the window.
The cot and the mattress are one decision
Australia has had mandatory safety standards for infant sleep products since 19 January 2026, and the cots guide above turns them into practical checks: use only the mattress size and thickness designed for your specific cot, never add a second mattress or extra padding underneath or on top, and look for a cot with no gaps that could trap a head, neck or limb and no footholds a climbing toddler could use. That is why we treat the cot and mattress as a single purchase: a beautiful cot with a badly fitting mattress fails the check that matters most.
A family cot handed down is workable when it passes the same guide's second-hand checks: not recalled, meets the current standards, every part present and working, and the original assembly instructions with it. Never modify a cot yourself; the guide is blunt that home modifications can damage the safety features. Keep the inside of the cot bare: a firm, flat mattress, a fitted sheet, and your baby on their back with their face uncovered.
Do you need a bassinet at all?
A bassinet is a convenience for the room-sharing months, not a requirement; plenty of babies go straight into the cot. If you do want one, Product Safety Australia's bassinets and cradles guide sets the bar: a firm, flat mattress that fits snugly, breathable ventilation on all sides rather than padded sides, no pillows, bumpers or soft toys inside, and screws and bolts checked regularly so it cannot collapse. It is also a short-lived purchase: stop using a bassinet once your baby shows signs of pushing up on hands and knees or reaches its maximum weight, whichever comes first. Where a sleep product below carries a pick, our curation standard requires a product-specific safety-standard claim from the manufacturer or retailer, checked and dated, before we will show it. That is their stated claim, not our own certification, and for the bassinet the stated claim covers the mattress-firmness standard rather than the complete mandatory standard. So buy new where you can and ask the retailer to show the standard on the listing.
The change area, the monitor and the night light
You will do thousands of nappy changes, and the safest place for them is a change mat on a clear patch of floor, where there is nowhere to fall from. If you prefer a raised surface, the ACCC's change tables guide applies in full: barriers on all four sides, supplies within reach before you start, and one hand on your baby for the entire change, because you can never step away from a raised surface.
On monitors, buy with clear eyes: Red Nose states plainly that baby monitors do not prevent sudden unexpected death in infancy and are not needed for healthy babies. A monitor is a convenience that saves you walking down the hall, never a safety device and never a substitute for the safe sleep practices above. With that understood, an audio-only model is cheap and reliable, video is nicer for watching an older baby resettle, and if the monitor connects to wifi, change the default password before first use. A night light rounds out the room; it earns its keep at the 3am feed, when you want to see without waking the whole house.
With the room sorted, the other spend-heavy corner of the list is wheels: our pram and car seat checklist covers fitting, second-hand rules and what actually matters. And if the registry itself is not set up yet, the best baby registry comparison shows what to look for so guests can group-fund the cot.
The nursery checklist at a glance
- Cotessential
- Cot Mattressessential
- Bassinet
- Change Matessential
- Baby Monitor
- Night Light
Let guests furnish the nursery together
Put the cot, mattress and change setup on an EasyRegistry baby registry and family can fund them as group gifts before the baby arrives. It is free to create.