Cotbeds - buyer's guide

RavingMad

The wife has got me looking for cotbeds this weekend, so I thought I'd ask forumites for their advice.

Are there any important factors for choosing them or is it basically down to aesthetics?

I understand that matresses have to be bought separately, so what makes for a good baby one?

Any advice is appreciated.

Mips

A must to buy is a mattress with a zip off washable top cover. If your baby is sick on it - it can at least be cleaned. You can spray the other side, which is usually plastic.. with Detol or similar

Get a good mattress - Mothercare have a good range and on display you can see how the different mattresses are made up.

A cotbed is much better than buying just a cot, then having to upgrade to a bed

RavingMad

Thanks Dippychick

http://www.mamasandpapas.co.uk/range/mattresses-cotbed/2900/

Do the above mattresses look OTT? (refering to the £130/£140 ones)

Anthillmob

dont bother with cot bumpers either.

Mips

RavingMad wrote: »

Thanks Dippychick

http://www.mamasandpapas.co.uk/range/mattresses-cotbed/2900/

Do the above mattresses look OTT? (refering to the £130/£140 ones)

The mattresses look great - however, I didn't notice if they had a zip off top layer. I really would never ever buy a cot mattress without one.

I have a little boy who is quite often sick in his cot and if I hadn't have had that layer I could wash, we would have gone through several mattresses!

And agree with Anthill - don't bother with cot bumpers. They aren't necessary. We had them with our first but only because we have a very big bedroom and we used it to keep the draught off her!

Glad

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sooz

The mattresses look ok, & they do seem to have a washable cover (totally agree that this is very necessary).

As you are getting a cotbed, do remember that you plan for your child to sleep on it until they need to move into single bed. They could spend 5 years on this mattress. So whilst a foam one is ok for a baby, it won't support a big child. However, with the M&P range, you are paying a premium for the name.

RavingMad

sooz, where can I look for the same quality mattresses without paying the premium?

tipplehead

Just a point about bumpers - my son is a very restless sleeper and was/is forever banging his head on the bars of the cotbed. If it wasn't for the bumper he would have woken up every couple of minutes. If your baby is a calm sleeper, then a bumper is not necessary, but if he/she is anything like mine it is a must. My boy is now 2 and a half and still has the bumper .

jackomdj

We bought our mattress from a local independant nursery supplier - they had the same make as Mothercare for 2/3 the price (& it was not a sale)

Also re the actual bed we have the cotbed in the box room & under bed drawer was really important to us.

When we bought it (for DD no 1) an important thing was to be able to have the mattress at various heights so we could lower it as DD got bigger. When DD no 2 arrived we never bothered to raise it back up as it was not worth the hastle we just left the side lowered down (still about 40cm higher than baby) until DD was about 5 months & starting to think about moving around.

Another unnecessary (IMO) expense is a changing table to go ontop of the cot. Ours got changed downstairs unless they had an accident then we just got the changing mat from downstairs (or did it on a towel)

HTH~
Nicky

sooz

RavingMad wrote: »

sooz, where can I look for the same quality mattresses without paying the premium?

google 'cot bed mattress'

There are lots of suppliers about. There are lots of very similar sprung & extra layer ones for about half that price.
Personally, I find M&P are very overpriced for most things