seriously, why is it so hard to buy a cot?? help me!!

[oggybags]

Bit long sorry
First baby due march so today DH & I decided to do some 'baby' shopping. Had done research before so felt ok with what to get...and then it went tits up
We wanted a cot & a wardrobe, preferably matching. For the cot I want white, & with a drop side (have had bad back previously, thought that would help), teeth gaurds, possibly a counter top and a reasonable price ie under £200 excluding mattress
I had narrowed it down to a few in JL, but having been and seen them all I'm / we're totally confused
all the nursery furtiture sets are seemingly soooo expensive (all the nursery wardrobes seem to be about £400+ thats more that our big 'adult'ones
Also have ruled that out many of the cots at c.£100 in JL seemed a bit flimsy (imaginging a stampeeding child testing it??!) and then it seems to be a big jump to about £300, before mattresses
have now changed tac and seen a nice set in argos but worried cant 'try' before buy - anyone any thoughts or experiences on their quality? would be wardrobe & cot only bout £300 total
thanks & sorry for waffle
www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3773657/Trail/searchtext%3ECURVE.htm

• advice gratefully received!!

Do you need a nursery wardrobe? Have you been to Ikea? The money you can save on the wardrobe could go towards a nicer cot.

IIRC the cot bed we bought from Mothercare was £160 and is still going strong on DC2 4 years on.

have you tried Ikea? Probably better quality than Argos.

Or Kiddicare, they have lovely cots and also nursery packages, but they are from £400 upwards.

Please don't do what I did, which was spend £1000 on a cotbed and a dresser from M&P. DD has never spent a night in it. Luckily I'm now having dc2 who will sleep in it if it kills me but I kick myself every time I walk past that untouched 'nursery' .

If I had my time again...

We had a £60 cot from JL which ds slept in for 3 years.... it's still in one piece and it doesn't even have a teeth guard . It did have a drop side though and that was moderately useful in that once ds was old enough to climb out by himself we just left it permanently down and put off buying a proper bed for another 12 months (we have space issues).

Seriously though, don't worry too much about it looking sturdy. They last for ever given that the average cot probably only does 2 years service per child.

A friend has the [http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/80108662 LEKSVIK]] range in her dd's room and the cot did the 2 years unscathed - the chest of drawers/wardrobe have been in use for almost 4 years now and still look great so don't let the price necessarily influence you re: quality.

Ooh, forgot to add the main bit which was that, as DD refused to sleep in her room, I bought a cheapy cot from Ikea to put in our room (still didn't work!). This was such good value and really sturdy. Would recommend it.

Sorry, LEKSVIK

Have you looked on Ebay?? Why spend money buying brand new, when you can get some lovely cots/changers etc for a fraction of the price? I bought a lovely Mamas and Papas pine changing unit with built in bath for £50!

my friend got the cot/wardrobe /drawers package from argos a couple of years ago and its fine but really I'm not sure why you need a wardrobe - all baby and toddler clothes can go in drawers. we have the Leksvig cot and drawers and they are great. No drop side but the base has two levels and the side is not high. I am very short and found it almost impossible to reach into the travel cot for DS when he was tiny but the Leksvig is fine. he is on the bottom level now but always stands up for me to pick him up anyway. You can get a useful drawer that goes underneath also. Please dont spend ludicrous money on this stuff - you really don't need to.

I got my lovely Babydan cot for £6.50 on eBay! And it's beautiful...the IKEA ones look really good too, I love the really colourful ones they have.

You could also look at kiddicare.com, they often have very good deals on cots/cotbeds.

Also got a lovely John Lewis pine chest of drawers/changing unit on Gumtree for £10. It looks like new, we were so thrilled with that.

I did think the John Lewis cots looked very nice too, didn't think they seemed all that flimsy.

I would always choose Ikea over Argos. I have had some really crappy furniture from Argos, but if you look carefully in Ikea, there is some great stuff very reasonably priced. That said, there is some stuff in Ikea that is crap - you just need to look carefully before buying.

We're using an IKEA wardrobe (DH's which he will share with the baby!), but we do have a lovely cot. It's this one (we got it from John Lewis as in late-pregnancy need good customer service to avoid strops!), but it's available a bit cheaper online.

Got it as we wanted a bedside one, but you can also use it as a conventional one.
www.cosatto.com/products/furniture/cots/close-to-me/005118

I agree look on eBay and then get a new mattress.

I have a drop side on mine and TBH I can't remember ever using it. When they are small you have the setting on the highest - don't need the drop side. When they are older and the base moves lower then you can either pick them up because they are standing or you don't want to move the side in case it wakes them up.

I wouldn't worry too much about matching nursery furniture either. If the cot is white then just get a normal sized white wardrobe - it will get much more use.

As for changing tables - never used one in my life. When they are small I use a changing mat on the floor (no danger of rolling off). When they are bigger I change them on my lap.

And yes I have a bad back.

Just a food for thought for you -

Drop side cots have recently been banned in the USA

Australia is looking to follow suit.

I second the Ikea option