Anyone used a travel cot or other 'bed' for baby in their own room whilst baby too young too go into nursery?

[AC786]

Hubby has built our daughters cotbed in the nursery but she is only 8 weeks old and growing out of her Moses basket fast! The cotbed is quite bulky to move into our room and would require a rebuild so I was wondering whether a travel cot in our room for a few months would be a valid solution. Has anyone done this? Is it safe? Is there another 'bed' that can be used as an interim measure? Thank you!

[MrsLyman]

Currently doing this for DS2, he seems happy enough. AFAIK there are no safety issues. What I have done is get a proper mattress for it as travel cot mattreses are generally a bit thin. I got it made to measure from baby mattresses online, they have a special travel cot section. The one we got folds in two so we can take it with us if we're using the travel cot to actually travel.

[ThwartedbyMum]

My DD used a travel cot until she was 8 months old with no problems. In fact i preferred it as she is always banging her head off the wooden bars in her proper cot.

[laughingGnomette]

We used a travel cot until DS was 6 months. Would definitely agree with buying another mattress too to make it more comfortable for your LO.

We now use our travel cot as a playpen in the lounge for crawling DS so it's been a very worthwhile purchase.

[Eletheomel]

My son slept much better in his travel cot than his actual cot so I wouldn't worry about it at all.

I think with the sides of a travel cot being mesh, when they start rolling about its softer for them to roll against and didn't wake him up, whereas with the wooden bars of a cot, he'd always wake up if he rolled against them.

[SouthernComforts]

Yep, did same as above and bought a cot mattress to put in it.

[PeggyL]

Travel cot is fine, or try a crib in between moses & nursery.

[crunchingicicles]

You can get standard cot size cot beds too if you want something to really last, eg 60x120cm. It's then much easier to buy a standard cot mattress to use in it & I used it as full time cot til 2 years old. Now on it's second use and still going strong. Look out for ones with a bassinette feature so it's easy to use with your younger baby. Then, when bassinette no longer safe (read instructions, seem to remember it's when they can sit up, but may be wrong), get a proper cot mattress to go on base. Mine is a cosatto but they've redesigned them since & haven't seen whether they're still 60x120cm inside.

[Snowflakepie]

We had a crib which was longer but still narrow enough to fit alongside the bed in our room. Used the pram attachment for a few nights when away as it had a proper mattress, but don't think it would be a long term solution really. Travel cot with a proper mattress in would be absolutely fine, they are useful for a lot of things after too so a good investment I would say.

[LoopsInHoops]

My youngest was in travel cot until about 16 months. No issues. In fact, as a tiny it's great if you have one with a bassinet bit - you can sway it gently without even having to sit up!

[LoopsInHoops]

Ah, we never bothered with an extra mattress either. Thought about it with the first...

[GaryBuseysTeeth]

DS managed to learn how to climb out of his cot at 8 months, we tried him on a matress co-sleeping for a while but it didn't go well.
He's just over a year & has been in the travel cot, in his room since then.

We're not going to bother with moses basket/cot for the next one & assume they'll be just as awkward as DS, so they'll go straight in a travel cot.

[rrreow]

As long as you have a proper mattress for it and there are no gaps around the sides/edges it should be fine to use a travel cot.

[FadBook]

We were the same as you, needed to rebuild cot so we used the travel cot but then that got uncomfortable for dd and I wasn't ready for her to go in the nursery so still ended up rebuilding cot in our room!

[AC786]

This is really helpful everyone thank you!

[sw11mumofone]

If you decide to go with the travel cot option definitely go with the majority advice above and get a decent mattress for it. Travel cots with the standard "mattress" they come with are not recommended to be used for more than a week at a time as they are not good enough support for a baby' s back.