When you bring your baby home from the hospital most parents choose to have he or she spend his first several weeks in the bed room with them.  It is just easier.  In the beginning they wake so frequently and need to eat and be changed so often it just saves time to have the baby right near the caregivers.

Some parents choose to have their new baby sleep in a pack and play (a play yard), a co-sleeper, or a cradle.  Still others opt to bring the full size crib into their room.  Each choice has advantages and disadvantages.  It really depends on what works best for the family at the time.  Remember, you can change your mind if it is not working.

Traditionally, cradles are associated with newborn babies.  There is even a lullaby about them (which when you think about it is pretty scary- a cradle falling out of a tree? Definitely nightmare material).  Anyhow, cradles are a wonderful option because they are smaller and the small confined space can make a baby more comfortable than a big expanse.   Remember, newborns are pretty accustomed to cramped quarters.  At this point, familiarity breeds contentment.  Babies are soothed by familiar things, rocking, touch, warmth, swaddling all help a baby feel secure.  Cradles, though, are only to be used until a baby is three months old or so.  Typically, when the baby starts moving around more it is time to switch sleeping arraignments.