Is there such a thing as a travel cot which is easy to put up?

[BertieBotts]

I don't know if we'll need one yet but wondering. The one I had for DS, any we ever used in holiday rentals and the one we borrowed for a visitor recently have all been in cahoots with Satan. I don't really know why they are all so complicated. Is there such a thing as one which is not?

They all work pretty much in the same way but I'd say that once you 'get it' then it is super easy. Maybe just practice with one a few times? Kind of like getting used to a buggy or pram and what button does what.

FWIW we had a pack n play.

Baby Bjorn do one but it’s mega expensive so only really worth it if you use it a lot. DGD has one and it is so easy compared to the one DGS had!

Hmm maybe worth looking at the baby bjorn one second hand perhaps.

I've always got the theory of how they go up/down but they all just seem to collapse in on themselves when you've got one thing done and it's infuriating.

Looks like there are a few "pop up" ones which might be better.

I've never found one... travel cots have been the source I of many tears and tantrums (from me)- arrive at holiday destination- rented cottage/ mobile home/ hotel room after a tiring day of travelling and they are never erected ready for us. When babies were tiny we laid them on the floor to sleep on the mat thing as they couldn't roll! We bought 3 different ones which were all a nightmare. The joy of 2+ aged kids is they can sleep in a bed, or air bed, anywhere. Holidays are more expensive now but no more bloody travel cots! Hurrah!

Yeah - we will probably co-sleep at home so I'm wondering about the sense in getting one just for that short period! Perhaps we'll just get the cheapest crappest thing then.

We have an Arc2 which is like a pop-up tent. It's great! And it's on its fifth child now and holding up very well!

We had a really basic mothercare one with our 1st and I didn’t find it hard to put up at all. That said, we co-slept and only used it on occasion when we were away and needed to keep her from falling out of the bed in the evenings when we weren’t in the bedroom. Otherwise we mostly just brought a cot mattress in the car and put that in a safe space on the floor and put her to sleep there until she could go in a single bed. That worked great and took up just as much room in the car as the travel cot. When we couldn’t bring it (like on a plane), we just used a cot mattress or single mattress off a bed at the holiday let.

Had the light baby Bjorn one... it was worth it for me as I did a lot of train travel with it and could manage it alone and was easy

The baby bjorn is brilliant. www.babybjorn.co.uk/travel-cot/travel-cot-light/