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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not want PFB sleeping in 37 year old cot?

95 replies

Mitsouko · 28/06/2012 22:12

Ok, I'll bet this has been done before many a time, but just trying to canvas opinions here. DH and I would like to take 3 month old DD to visit grandparents this summer. It's a 4 hour train journey and we don't have a car so we have to travel light. Good friend in DH's hometown has offered to let us borrow a travel cot for DD - so far so good. However, MIL is kicking up a fuss as she says this will not be necessary as she has perfectly good wicker crib and mattress that we can use. Both have been in the garage for 37 years - as they were both used by DH and his sister. She will clean the crib and air the mattress. But seriously - 37 years? Maybe the crib, but the mattress, surely not? Or am I being terribly PFB?

OP posts:
DarrellRivers · 28/06/2012 22:14

New mattress def
old vomit/secretions etc on the mattress and then left in the dust of the garage
No No No
And I let my children eat food from the floor and am slovenly in towel and bedsheets department Smile

HybridTheory · 28/06/2012 22:15

Just take the travel cot , put it up and ignore any comments. YOUR baby YOUR choice.

exoticfruits · 28/06/2012 22:17

I would say that at 3 months she will have grown out of the wicker crib. I had a lovely one that came out of a loft and I refurbished, but it only did the first few weeks. I would go for the travel cot-say that DD needs more room.

griphook · 28/06/2012 22:17

No yanbu. Under no circumstances would either of my ds sleep on a mattress that was 37 years old and been kept I'm a garage. The mould alone would be dangerous without it bein third hand.

Why would you keep a crib for 37 years

Beamur · 28/06/2012 22:17

No way to the mattress - standard practice to have new, there is no way after an airing it would be suitable for a 3 month old baby. I'm inclined to think that a wicker basket that's been kept in the garage is also going to be dusty and horrid.
However - tread very carefully how you turn this down, she has obviously cherished these items from her own babies and has probably been dreaming of the day of seeing a new baby in them again.
Be very kind and very tactful Smile

Goofymum · 28/06/2012 22:18

Be firm with MIL and say you appreciate her offer and nothing wrong with a clean 37 year old crib but the mattress needs to be replaced. If you're uncomfortable with that then DH should have a word with her. The mattress would surely have gathered mould from the garage even if it's invisible to the eye and that could be harmful to a newborn.

RelaxedAndCalm · 28/06/2012 22:18

If it was me I'd order a new mattress (to be delivered there, get DH to explain to MIL that SIDs advice is to use new mattresses - he needs to have this conversation). I wouldn't be bothered about the old cot tbh, but if you're bothered, then - as Hybrid says it is your choice.

We used ancient cot when at my mum's, but with new mattress. Twas fine until it collapsed one night

Mrsjay · 28/06/2012 22:19

used DH cot with dd1 did get a new mattress though the cot was old but well made and did dd for ages but i guess you want your baby to be on a new clean mattress but the travelcot mattress is also 2nd hand used iyswim

Noqontrol · 28/06/2012 22:20

No way. I'd take the travel cot. For sure.

wigglybeezer · 28/06/2012 22:20

I used my old cot for my lot but I did insist on a new mattress, fumes from degrading foam, mould spores etc. proven risk to babies health.

Pastabee · 28/06/2012 22:20

Oh god, I had all this nonsense with MIL when I bought them a really nice Cosatto travel cot to keep at theirs for when we stay. They were all hurt as they'd been given a really awful old thing by a neighbour.

I put my foot down (which I never do as they are lovely people) and said as it would have to have a new mattress we might just as well just the one I'd bought. Luckily I had the conversation at 38 weeks pregnant with my PFB so they didn't dare question me at the time.

YANBU

combinearvester · 28/06/2012 22:21

Ah I like the idea of baby sleeping in the same crib as his Dad, we put ours in the cot I had as a child. Would get a new mattress though.

Cribs are usually okay up to 6 months, they're usually bigger than moses baskets.

Tell her HV has said no to old mattress due to mould spores, you're happy to pay for a new one though.

crumpet · 28/06/2012 22:22

Wouldn't a towel over the mattress, then a waterproof sheet and finally the sheet do the job? Mother are sell gazillions of waterproof crib sheets. What nasties could creep through?

crumpet · 28/06/2012 22:23

Mothercare that should read

JollyGoodFun · 28/06/2012 22:23

Ds was too big for his Moses basket by 3 months. Maybe you could say that she won't fit?

If she is going in it then you definitely need to get a new mattress.

Not pfb at all.

ivykaty44 · 28/06/2012 22:25

I binned dd1's mattress and purchased a new one for dd2 and there certainly wasn't 37 years between them. No way would I use an old mattress that has been used by someone else for my psb

twofurryones · 28/06/2012 22:26

My PFB slept in a crib that is probably about 137 years old, it did have a new mattress and a non-lead paint job though.

tyaca · 28/06/2012 22:28

NOT pfb

SizzleSazz · 28/06/2012 22:30

My DC and sisters DC all slept in our old cot (same mattress) but it was plastic covered and had been kept (very carefully) in the loft.

I would be a bit Hmm about the garage and, at the end of the day, it is your choice not theirs

darkfever · 28/06/2012 22:33

It definitely needs a new mattress. Old cot / crib's can be okay (with new mattress), but I'd be wondering whether a 3 month old baby would still fit in a wicker crib.

We had this with DH's parents. We wanted to get a cheap cot and have it delivered to their house, but they dug out DH's old cot and mattress from their attic, and were very keen on DS sleeping in it when we came to visit.

The mattress was covered in mould. I told them that research showed that babies who sleep on nasty mouldy second hand mattresses are more likely to die from cot death. They backed down after that.

Pumpster · 28/06/2012 22:34

I'm laid back and have 4 dc but would definitely declined the ancient crib Grin

Fresh01 · 28/06/2012 22:37

Could you tell them she is a star fish sleeper so will be more comfortable in the portacot? A couple of mine have slept from weeks old with their arms flung out either side above the heads then at the time you can fib and say she has suddenly changed sleeping position that week!

If the wicker crib means a lot to her could you ask for them to keep it and bring it down for DD to use for her dolls when she is older so that it is used just not for your baby?

thegreylady · 28/06/2012 22:40

At least insist on a new mattress.All my dgc have used the wooden swinging crib bought 42 years ago for ds but we have bought a new mattress for every single child.

Biscuitbreaker · 28/06/2012 22:40

No way would my baby be sleeping on a 37yr old mattress. I've also read about it being an increased SIDS risk and that would be the end of it for me, PFB or not! If you have access to a travel cot, great.

ratspeaker · 28/06/2012 22:42

I'd think at 3 months your wee one has outgrown a crib
As for the mattress maybe your MIL hasn't heard about the concerns that were raised re mould and cot death

As an adult I wouldn't want to sleep in a 37 year old bed just because my mum had once slept in it, just a thought