Recommend me a cheapish cot that becomes a toddler bed please

skintchick

We need to get a cot/bed for our DD for when she is at my mum's. I'd prefer a proper cot that turns into a toddler bed rather than a travel cot, as she will go there a lot and it's worth having something decent and like she has at home. We paid £200 for our one as it is also a cosleeper crib, so I hoped we could get something cheaper than that - can anyone recommend one?

minimoneysaver

I've not looked, but Kiddicare have some fantastic childrens furniture and it's cheap!

Alias_Omega

Ikea,

They have some crazy beds that extend too.

Though, we picked up our cotbed for £40 from eBay used.

Greener_Grass

I have the "Alfie" cotbed from John Lewis for my son. It cost £97 and is very sturdy. I instantly fell in love with it when i looked around. We have it in white but they also have it in pine

http://www.johnlewis.com/230446059/Product.aspx

angelfairy

i am looking at these myself actually.

i was going to start with kiddicare as they had some good deals recently and i have always been happy with what i have got from them.

i saw the ikea bed that extends. was down to £10 in their sale. it was the mattress what confused me.

clw1

Try second hand baby shops or ebay or NCT nearly new sales for a good quality second hand one - I got an immaculate Mama's and Papa's one for £25.

You'll need to buy a new matress but this is no extra cost as most new cotbeds don't include the matress anyway.

**confuzzled**

We've just got a cotbed from ToysRUS for £199.99 inc. mattress and other stuff but its aimed at newborns, for the bed and cheapest mattress they do it would be approx £180, not had a baby in it yet as not due til October but it feels and looks really sturdy:D
They also have decent cotbeds there for approx £100 and all of them are solid from what we've seen in the shop.
LINKY

hngrymummy

I was just going to post a question about cots, so I shall tag on to this thread if that's ok?

What kind of cot would people recommend? Adjustable mattress height?, drop sides?, cot bed or just plain cot?

Which are the more reliable brands?

We're hoping to get second hand to save money, but you seem to get less info about them so I'm trying to do a bit of research now.

Tim_Deegan

It can often be cheaper to buy a normal cot, and then upgrade to a single bed as they outgrow it.

clw1

For the user who asked about cots :
If you are short or have a bad back then go for a cot with a drop side as it means you have to lean over less to place your baby (and later heavy toddler !) down in the cot. The depth of mine means that if the side is not dropped the edges are right up to my armpits which makes it harder to reach right in and turn LO onto their back etc.

Adjustable matress height I don't think is really needed.

As for cot v's cotbed - if you are planning to have 2 LO's in 2-3yrs then you might be better to get 1 cot and move the older child to a normal single when the 2nd comes along rather than buying 2 cotbeds. I think cots are also often cheaper than cotbeds but if you are buying second hand it might not be much different.

spendaholiceejit

80% of people on the market for a cot will buy a cot bed because of the extra use they will get from it if they are leaving a gap between having children. Adjustable levels are good because then a newborn can be higher up and you can drop a level as the child grows, but it's not a necessity. Usually cot beds dont have drop sides but there are some exceptions.

While drop side is a good feature for those with bad backs, or for a mother with a C-Section, it can cause an issue when your toddler tried to climb out- the drop side can loosen with age and when your toddler leans on it then the side can come down without warning- make sure you are extra sure about the strength of the drop side when you are purchasing.

If you have anyone who sells baby elegance stuff, it's cheap and pretty strong. Mamas and Papas do a cot bed called the Lucia and it is a great buy. Expensive, but worth every penny. We bought a cot bed first time, then when the little one came we bought a cheap cot. DS used the cot bed for a 4 years and now we have bought him a proper bed and his sister is in his cot bed now. So we'll get at least 6 years use from the cot bed.