Can I use a travel cot as a permanent sleep space?

[bemorechilliheeler]

My DS is 11 months old and currently sleeps in an IKEA Sniglar cot next to our bed. Recently, he has started pulling himself up but topples or rolls over and bangs his head quite hard against the railing. We have just come back from holiday and he did much better in the travel cot as it has mesh sides. I also didn’t have to frequently retrieve his dummy which he loves to post through the gaps of the Sniglar! His cot mattress also fits perfectly in the Hauck travel cot with no gaps at all so I was wondering if there is any reason why I couldn’t use it as a permanent sleep space until he goes into his own room and proper bed?

I'm not sure in terms of support and the base not being as breathable as a slatted wood cot. That's something I'd try to Google for official advice on.

One consideration though is that it is a lot colder sleeping that close to the floor. Any draughts from under doors etc. will make it cooler. DD hated her travel cot and in the process of trying to understand why, I lay down next to it and realised there was a chilly draught. Of course, positioning will help with this.

I can't see why this wouldn't be ok. Maybe check with Lullaby Trust?

The Sniglar is on the lowest height setting which is the same as the travel cot so I don’t think that would be too much of an issue. I hadn’t thought about mattress breath-ability though and potential mould!

I'd check with lullaby trust

Can't see a problem if you have a decent mattress. We did this with my eldest.

Of the two Hauck ones I easily found on their website, both say they can't be used permanently and should only be used for short periods when travelling.

The Lullaby Trust doesn't recommend travel cots with mesh sides for longer term sleep, and stresses that travel cots can only be used for longer term sleep if they "have a rigid frame and base, and a firm, flat mattress that is covered in a waterproof material."

Which would then not be very portable...

I'd just move him to his bed, if he doesn't like the cot. I moved my son around the same age.

No advice at all as I have baby same age but she is in bed with me. Tonight she has thrown herself all over the bed, climbing all over so tomorrow I'm getting rid of the bed frame temporarily and putting mattress on the floor. I'm too worried she will hurt herself in the night. Good luck!

You can't use your normal mattress in the travel cot, the travel cot will have a warning in it saying not to add any mattresses. The mesh sides are flexible unlike the hard bars of a cot, and that introduces a small but real risk of entrapment, where the baby can get their arm or body wedged between the mattress and the side mesh which will put their face into an uncomfortable position which can be potentially deadly.

At 11 months you may consider this such a small risk so as not to be worried about but just to be aware that is the reccomendation.

I think the normal mattress in them is so thin it wouldn't offer very good back support.

But that said, back support could be less of a concern for a temporary period - it won't take that long until he's mastered the "controlled plop" onto his bum so you could just use the travel cot until this point and then you won't need to worry about bumped heads any more.

We used one for 3 months when we moved abroad and the main cot was being shipped. No issues whatsoever. But we used the board style mattress it came with, I don’t think it’s safe to use a different one.