When asked what they consider the most important factors when buying furniture, practicality is the first issue, followed by the furniture's appearance. Price, eco-issues and brand are much less important with only five per cent saying that brand is the most important factor.

While the shape and size of the product is down to each parent's available space and therefore difficult for the retailer to plan or buy for, the colour and wood of the furniture is a big variable.

When shown eight different options of wood and colour, the old staples of White and Pine are clear favourites with 29%, 20% and 16% respectively. Beech was just behind with 12% The darker colours (Chestnut, Dark Oak, Mahogany) are clearly not 'a la mode' with less than two per cent choosing mahogany.

And what about bedding? Baby sleeping bags have shot from being an almost non-entity at the turn of the century to now being the first choice of bedding for 1 in 3 parents although blankets are still the most popular option with 51% saying it's their preferred choice. 1 in 10 people now use swaddling wraps. A few parents share their own bedding with the baby. Despite recommendations from experts such as FSID, around 20% of parents co-sleep with their baby when they are young - but most of them either put their baby in a sleeping bag or swaddling wrap.