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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to think DS2 deserves better than a 15-year-old cot

71 replies

BEAUTlFUL · 21/06/2008 21:31

Current "discussion" in Beautifulville: I think our 4-month-old DS2 deserves better than the secondhand cot we had for DS1, 5 years ago. It was already 10 years old then.

It's fine, basically. It has lived in two lofts, but I wiped it down with Dettol spray and DH has fixed it together. It's plastic-coated wood, so DH says I'm wrong to think it's "mouldering under the weight of a million germs".

We tried to put DS2 in it tonight (in his Moses basket, inside the cot) but his nose snuffled up and he got upset. I think he could smell the Dettol spray, or the sawdust from the extra holes DH had to cut to fit new bolts on the cot.

A new one is £70 from Ikea. Am I wrong to want him to have a new cot? Or is DH right to think we should do our bit to save the Rainforests by not buying new? (He has social conscience.)

Over to you!

OP posts:
fryalot · 21/06/2008 21:33

can you afford a new cot?

if so, offset the extra carbon-ness of buying it somewhere else, by having dh walk to work or something.

Buy it!

emkana · 21/06/2008 21:33

Yes he deserves better.

He deserves to sleep snuggled up to mummy and daddy in the parental bed.

lostinfrance · 21/06/2008 21:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

OrmIrian · 21/06/2008 21:35

There is nothing wrong with a 15 yr old cot. It's your imagination. We had a second hand one for DS#1 and we used it for all 3. Mind you mostly it was cuddly toy store as they mostly co-slept.

AitchNunsnet · 21/06/2008 21:35

tbh there are probably loads of weirdy chemicals on new products that will have wafted off your old on yonks ago. i'd be much happier with the one you've got...

Flllight · 21/06/2008 21:36

If you have reached the drilling new holes stage i would say yes, get a new one

Mind you I got a new one when I was 10mo pregnant and he has never slept in the clardy thing. It was in that stage where your hormones say 'My Baby Needs New Stuff!'

He is still in my bed...so is the 5yo..

Flllight · 21/06/2008 21:37

Blardy, not clardy.

mazzystar · 21/06/2008 21:39

don't be daft
put the seventy quid in his child trust fund

Heated · 21/06/2008 21:43

Hey, it's a family heirloom. Pass it on to your grandchildren

OverMyDeadBody · 21/06/2008 21:44

Nothing wrong with a 15yr old cot, seriously!

And you usually talk so much sense BEAUTIFUL!

Put the money towards something that you actually need.

LazyLinePainterJane · 21/06/2008 21:44

I would keep the old one. He will be out of it in no time.

Bronze · 21/06/2008 21:46

If its useable then use it.
My ds1 and 2 for a bit slept in the cot that me and my siblings sleft in as babies. It got a bit ropey after that so we got a new secondhand one.

bergentulip · 21/06/2008 21:46

I think the one we are using must be 3rd or 4th hand, and was used for my cousins when they were babies.... they're now both in their 30s.
DS2 still quite happy in it. Why buy a new one? Just paint it if you want, and it'll look new anyway- and unique!
Just get a new mattress.

Othersideofthechannel · 21/06/2008 21:47

I'm with your DH. We used a 30 yr old cot (DH's) for our two, with a new mattress.

Mercy · 21/06/2008 21:47

Both of mine slept in a cot that was over 35 years old and had provided a good night's sleep (haha) for 8 children in total.

(had to get a replacement when child no. 8 was tiny though)

Desiderata · 21/06/2008 21:48

Yes, a bit of perspective is required here. It wasn't that long ago that babies slept in drawers

Make do is what I say.

morningpaper · 21/06/2008 21:49

My moses basket was used for my mother

She is nearly 70

so YABU

bozza · 21/06/2008 21:52

I think you are just getting a bit hormonal because your baby is moving onto the next stage and it happens all too often when they are babies. Is he supposed to be the last?

How is that for a bit of psychology on the strength of a glass of red wine and a couple of sudofed?

AnyFuleKno · 21/06/2008 21:52

If you really don't want to use it, could you buy a newer second hand one...less guilt? I bought mine second hand for £15 and it had barely been used.

sparklesandnowinefor4months · 21/06/2008 21:52

as long as its safe use it, you could always strip it down and re-varnish/paint it, if it needs it - just get a new matteress and put the money towards something you need

I can't blame you for wanting new things for your LO though as its always nice to, but practically you don't need a new one

ladymariner · 21/06/2008 21:55

My ds' moses basket was a family heirloom, we'd all been in it and I loved the fact ds was in it aswell. We decorated it with new fabric, etc and bought a new mattress obviously.

By the way, maybe its me but I wouldn't advise a 4 month old baby to sleep "snuggled up to it's mummy and daddy", emkana?

greenelizabeth · 21/06/2008 21:56

WEll, the cot my dc slept in was third hand. I liked that. The girl who slept in it before my eldest is at music college now.

NEW mattress though. That's a must.

morningpaper · 21/06/2008 21:57

ladymariner: what's wrong with a baby sleeping with it's parents?

francagoestohollywood · 21/06/2008 21:57

Rinse it again tomorrow and use it. If you want to waste spend some money buy a new bedspread !

ladymariner · 21/06/2008 22:02

Maybe it's just me tbh, I loved it when ds was in bed asleep with us, that was lovely, (I still love it even though he's 12, he sometimes still comes in with me to watch something on telly if dh is on nights, and he'd kill me if he knew I'd told you that!!) but I'd never dare go to sleep myself in case I rolled on him or smothered him or something.
Didn't mean it to come out like it did earlier post, iyswim. xx