Travel Cots - Reviews

[kiwishell]

Just finding that we need to invest in a travel cot for use when not at home - anyone have any suggestions as to which ones are good and bad? I have had a look and seen that the Cosatto ones seem to be the lightest, but is that the most important consideration? Any suggestions and advice would be helpful!
Thanks
Kiwishell

I think the 'lightness' is a very important consideration (not so light that baby can knock it over when he/she gets a bit bigger of course!). We were lent a very large, heavy one - can't remember the name, too lazy to go upstairs & look - it is very good but very heavy & as I often go away with DS alone I just hate lugging it about - in fact it is so big that in one hotel there wasn't even space to put it up in the room (luckily hotel had another they could lend us!).

We used a Mothercare one, one of the smaller types (and lighter) which was fine for dd1 who was average size. But dd2 is definitely on the long/tall size so it wasn't suitable for her for more than 18ms max as she wasn't comfy in it. Now take a double blow up bed (+ pump) when we go away which works very well and the dds love it, now 2 1/2 and 5.

batey -

The blow up bed sounds great, but a little harder to contain the wee ones! It was bad enough last week when on holiday and we borrowed a 'proper cot' but sharing a room, that she stood in it and waved at me in the morning!
Are there any special features on the mothercare one that are worth knowing about?
Mind you, DD is on the tall side, even at 11mths!

Kiwishell

we have just bought the Mamas and Papas top of the range one at a huge discount just because it is last seasons colour! Not all stores discount them I know but our local store did. We got over 30% off just because it's a taupe colour and then new seasons one is blue I think. Anyway, it folds down to rather like a small gold bag shape/size and it has wheels and two handles so you can pull it along. We took a friends one abroad and it survived being checked through with the baggage. Our 17 month old ds slept in it just as well as his own cot bed. We were recommended to buy the extra mattress as we wanted it for nighttime sleeping and that we folded in half and put in our suitcase. from speaking to friends we went for the larger of the 2 Mamas and Papas sizes even though our DS isn't very tall but it will just last longer.

kr.

No special features, it's just your bog standard. I would recommend trying,in the shop, to put one up and down. As we've used some at various friends houses that have been real b**rs to put up.

I can thoroughly recommend the bog-standard Graco travel cot - it can be assembled (literally) in seconds, isn't too heavy, but still feels nice and sturdy! (can also double up as a travel playpen apparently - but we've never used it for that).

It wouldn't have been our first choice - we'd have probably have gone for a more expensive one with more "bells and whistles" but my mother-in-law had bought this one from Argos for the grandkids to use and we were stunned at the simplicity of setting it up. Haven't regretted buying one for a second.

I would second the Graco one from Argos. One of the best things we ever bought, DS1 stopped using it for overnight visits when he was about 3 1/2. We used it as a playpen too, felt it was great value. My only complaint would be that the base does not have some sort of removeable washable cover but other than that would thoroughly recommend it.

We've got a Little Tykes one that looks simmilar to the Graco one and for ease of use and portability I can't fault it. However DS at 21 months is outgrowing it. The other thing is that he is a restless sleeper and because when in the cot he is often sharing a room with us he tends to disturb us. DH claims its like he's sleeping on a crisp packet

We also bought the Graco cot - we found it OK, but quite difficult to put down sometimes (probably me). Also the "mattress" is not very padded and quite hard, dd2 never sleeps well in it. We also used it as a playpen for dd1, so good value, and we've got a lot of use out of it.

I find the Graco one very easy to use, but like Caroline don't feel the "mattress" is padded enough. I certainly wouldn't want to have to sleep on it. Does anyone know if Graco (or anyone else)does a mattress that can go in the travel cot to pad it up a bit?

I too had wondered about the thinness of the mattress but read something recently that you should never put an extra mattress in a travel cot and there is some sort of reason the mattresses are so thin, will try and look out the article and post more tomorrow.

Kiwishell, we bought a BabyKraft cot by Britax as a peramanent cot. Got an extra mattress for it for when we were at home (which we leave at home)- have also read that you shouldn't do this (since buying the cot I might add) but never seen any justification why and the health visitor didn't say anything whe she came to inspect just after DS was born. This has been a brilliant solution for us since DS was born - he's now almost 14 months. We travelled up and down France with it every month before travelling around the UK with it before finally moving to Hong Kong. It's simple to put up and down, is very sturdy, is washable, fits neatly into boot of car(s)and has survived numerous airport baggage handling.DS has always slept well in it with or without extra mattress.

Another vote for the Graco Pack'n'Play - dead easy to put up and down, plus nice and light for travelling. We found that although the base is firm, ds doesn't seem to be bothered by that. We also use it for ds's naps at weekends.

You could get it £10 cheaper in Toys R Us - but I prefered the brighter colours of the branded version to the dull blue and beige of Toys R Us. (More money than sense!)

This is what is says in this month's Practical Parenting re travel cots:-

"Travel cots aren't as comfortable as your baby's normal cot, as the mattress has to be less than one inch thick in order to meet safety standards. Never pad the mattress or use an additional mattress - travel cots have flexible sides, unlike rigid cot bars, and a young baby could get trapped."

It also recommends the Doice Nanna - Brevi as it's best buy and Travel Tot Classic - Mamas & Papas as it's best value award (this one looks very like the Graco).

One major consideration is how much space it will take up in your car. Much more important than how light is is in my opinion - you'll never have to carry the cot far but you will have to fit other luggage in your car!

Demented

thanks for the info about the extra mattress. It was the shop that recommended that i bought one, as the one that comes with the cot is not very thick. I'm going on hols on thursday with our ds and the travel cot and now I'm not sure what to do. You quote the article as saying 'young baby could get trapped..' but our ds is 17 months old so I'm thinking that he'll be okay with the thicker mattress. What do others think?

another vote for the bog standard Graco pack and play cot - our cost £49 in ToysrUs sale and dd who is nearly 3 has travelled loads and sleeps really well in it. Even non-sleeping ds seems to be quite happy in it and it's not too huge or heavy to carry.

mckensie: the extra matress should be okay, but it's whether you'll spend the time worrying about it!! The last thing you need on your holiday is that sort of stress!

My son (18 months) has never minded the thin travel cot mattress and always slept well - could you perhaps have a trial run one night before you go away to see if your ds is comfortable enough with the standard mattress?

Oh no, I never meant to make anyone worry, more just explaining why the mattress was so thin and that the Graco would not be any different to another travel cot in this regard. However my DS was always happy to sleep on the thin mattress.

MacKenzie, if you are going on holiday your travel cot with extra mattress may be a safer option than any cot that would be provided to you whilst there, we have been on holiday with DS1 three times while he needed a cot, first time got a great cot, second time the bars were obviously too far apart and third time didn't get a cot at all, even although we had booked one (thankfully DS1 was older by then and used to sleeping in a bed we had just thought that he would be safer in a strange place in a cot). I would imagine that the dangers are with little babies.

All the best whatever you decide and have a nice holiday!

Graco pack and play. It's a brilliant design (and I've used others). Easy to put up and to pack away. If you don't mind the rather lurid orange and grey colouring of one of their models, you can get it from Kiddicare.com for £29.99.

Sorry didn't see previous postings...I agree re mattress being a bit hard, however I put a sheepskin under the sheet. Sheepskin also fits in the carry bag.

Wow - fantastic - thanks everyone. The mattress was also something that did worry me slightly as it did seem a little hard. However, the idea of the extra one does sound like a reasonable idea, even with the warning. I would be interested to see how a small person (even a baby that can't move much) could worm their way under a mattress. I guess it is a risk, and that they manage to amaze us with what they do and how they end up once you get them from sleeping - but I think the trial run is a good idea also.

Well, I will go and have a good look at the cots that everyone has kindly recommended over the next few days. THANKS again to everyone for your advise! Happy Travelling everyone!

Check out the 'real' travel cot on www.babybuggy.co.nz - it is designed for camping anywhere!

Wow - reager - why is it that all the new and innovative stuff seems to come from that part of the world?!?? I guess that I will send my parents in to have a look and see how it compares. I just wonder how stable it is, as it looks like dd might knock it over when standing up in it after waking.
Thanks though for bringing it to my attention as I didn't know about them!
kiwishell