phil and teds cocoon with newborn-alternatives & has anyone else find it a bit rubbish? advice appreciated

[sparklyflowers]

I have a phil and teds double with a 20 month old DC and a 5 week old. I have got the cocoon for the newborn but when my 5 week old DC is it in the sides seem to fold in towards her face not leaving much breathing space no matter how i fold it and it's quite difficult to pull it (with her in it) /or her seperately in out smoothly from underneath. Anyone else had a similar experience? Everyone review I read seems to say they are brill? She looks so wrong in it i'm concerned about using it but don't want to just suspend her in the bottom without support. Thanks

i found my dd didnt like the cocoon much and quickly got too big for it, i just made the hanging bit they go in cosy with blankets/cot sheets and put her lying on them!

It's too hot for the cocoon now anyways so I would just put some nice blankets in the pram bit instead, it's what we did with our summer baby and he was fine.

I always found the cocoon better out of the pram as a carrycot precisely because of the prob you describe.

I loved the cocoon, ds loved it, I was v.sad when he outgrew it! It was tricky to get it in/out of the main seat with the little seat on top if that makes sense - I used to settle baby in first then clip the little seat on top for my toddler. We used it in the winter so it had blankets to pad out the sides and when it was too hot I just put a blanket down and didn't use the cocoon.

I loved it but all 4 of mine have been winter babies. I would either just make the sling bit cosy with blankets or use the phil and teds cosy toes which all of mine found very cosy. You can unzip it if it's warm and just use it like a cosy blanket.

As an aside for your future reference, although it states not to put the smaller child up front when you switch to the doubles mode, I and everyone else I know ignored this and went with baby up front, toddler at the back. Meant baby could see and toddler could hope in and out at will.

Oh and congrats on your new baby!

Thanks everyone. I used the common sense approach this aft and just took it out and padded bottom. Didn't think it would be supportive but she looked brilliant in it and much easier to get in and out. Thanks again.

The cocoon was one of the main reasons why I didn't get a Phil and Teds double as I felt it looked tiny yet cumbersome but that's just me - glad I didn't get one anyway as having seen a few friends with them I really didn't like them in use anyway.

Dd2 was too big for the cocoon by the time we got the p&t at 6 weeks!

A Moses basket mattress makes a fab base for the lie down bit, with sheets/blankets as needed. And I cut up an old pillow case to make a sun/wind screen flap over the back. With the slight rocking motion on walks, she slept fantastically in there

I've used blankets for Ds2 and DS3

rational fab idea using moses basket mattress and also the pillowcase adaptation. I will be doing both!

I just fold the "carry straps" under the cocoon itself thereby not allowing the sides to fall in.

My son is 16 weeks on Monday and still fits in it - I breed tiddlers.

Just in case anyone else is wondering if you can use alternatives to the phil and teds cocoon. We previously had a maclaren XLR carrycot for our first baby. I was delighted to find that it fits quite nicely in the Phil and teds.* I haven't had the second baby yet but I reckon it will be perfect. The maclaren carrycot has firmer sides and it is possibly a bit longer.

*I had to remove the plastic insert out of the footend to get it to fit