cot or cotbed? and drop-sided or not? arrrrgh

[emeraldgirl1]

help! Am trying to decide between what feels like about a million different options and my head is in a spin...

First off, would you get a cot or a cotbed? We are a little limited on space AND I have just had an hour's opinion-sharing from my mum about how she thinks cotbeds are a waste of money and a trad cot is a better option. I guess if we do have another child it is likely to be within 2 years of this first one so if we bought a cotbed we would still end up having to carry on using it as a cot and move the older child into a child's bed at that point anyway. Plus I quite like the smaller, neater-looking cots over the cotbeds. But is it a false economy and is it better just to get a cotbed? Any thoughts??

Secondly, in either case, what is the point of the drop side option and is it a good/bad thing? I assume is something to do with ease of lifting the baby out? Or is there more to it...? I have a bad back so anything that eased the difficulty of hoiking a baby up and down would be good. But are the safe? Having visions of super-active baby eventually working out how to drop the side by themselves and setting out for freedom...

Oh, and teething rails?! What are these?

We of course plan to have the baby in Moses basket at first but I do want to try to get the cot lined up and there are some good deals in sales still on at the moment... So I feel I need to make a decision!

Going a bit mad here...

[LapinDeBois]

I've never really seen the point of cotbeds. Same as I've never seen the point of kids' beds. (Except in unusual circumstances/spaces, obviously.) We had a traditional cot for our boys, but it was quite a big one, so plenty of room to be comfortable. DS1 came out of it when he was nearly 3; DS2 is now 2.5 and is still in it. Once DS1 came out of it (for DS2 to go in), we moved him straight into an adult single bed. We'll do the same with DS2 some time in the next six months. Ours was a Mamas and Papas cot (very similar to this. Incidentally, it has weathered so well that I will be able to sell it on ebay in near perfect condition, in spite of it having endured nearly 6 years of housing small boys!

[forevergreek]

Cotbeds were def worth it here. With two in them they fit nicely next to each other. A cot and single bed wouldn't fit. Also means that family with say 2 small bedrooms can easily fit two cot beds in one room a lot longer without either having to move or somehow use bunk beds ( they aren't usually ok for top bunk until over 6 years)

[elizaregina]

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arms-Reach-Co-Sleeper-Bed-Side-Cot-/281058078726?pt=UK_Baby_Nursery_Furniture_ET&hash=item41705df006


this - the arms reach co sleeper is THE best thing I have spent any child related money on - and I have one DD who is five and one who is four months.

I got it for 75 pounds, it goes by the bed and means baby can sleep right next to you but in thier own space, This is invaluable in my opinion when it comes to sleep.

First of all the baby is that extra bit comforted as you are RIGHT by it - if baby stirs you can easily manuvre it - without much disturbing it to feed, then put it back....meaning neither you or the baby have to wake up much in the night! If you hear a noise etc you dont have to lift up head and look in moses basket - you simply open your eyes...

My second DD is a wonderful sleeper - and I have had a virtually undisturbed sleep - compared to DD1.

I am now an evanaglist for these cots.

BTW it looks like a ridge but in reality is isnt one.

I would say to anyone like you - ditch everything and get one of these - they also re sell really really well.

As for moses - we got one from baby market - a fab mamas and papas with all the trimmings - really nice quality for a tenner. Kept it down stairs for the first few weeks.

[elizaregina]

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arms-Reach-Co-Sleeper-Bed-Side-Cot-/281058078726?pt=UK_Baby_Nursery_Furniture_ET&hash=item41705df006

[elizaregina]

After dd1 was in moses - we moved her to cot bed - we liked it because she is still in cot as a bed now -

at 5 and it means her room isnt dominated by a huge bed.

when i reluctantly have to move DD2 out of the side car cot - co sleeper - it will probably be for a cot - from ikea or freecyle - or ebay - and by the time she is ready for something larger - dd1 will be into a small child bed proper.

[elizaregina]

is cost is an issue look in local paper as well - ours always has good selection of baby stuff on sale, but once again, i would forget all else and for the first instance get a side car cot.

unless you have seen one or spoken to someone who has one its hard for people to grasp what wonders they are - but they are wonders because they let you sleep and baby sleep! and SLEEP becomes a very rare commoditiy with baby!

[Springforward]

YY to a dropsided cotbed, IMHO. Drop side is essential for your back , especially once you've set the base to the lowest level when DC can stand up in it.

DS is 4 and still sleeps in his cotbed in bed configuration, we're just about to turf him out so we can turn it back into a cot for inbound DC2. We have found it good vfm.

DS slept massively better in his big cot than he ever did crunched up in a moses basket, we had him in the cot from 6 weeks on. This time I plan to use the cotbed from day one, with a travel cot downstairs for naps.

[Littlemissexpecting]

You have had lots of good advice here so I don't have much more to add other than to look at mamas and papas as they do good deals on bundles for cot and dresser. We are also tight on room in our bedroom which I'm hoping will last 4-6 months then a m+p cot bed. We are also hoping to have no2 in a couple of years but the cot we like in m+p is a cot bed rather than cot so decision made for us really. Can you go to look at any, it may give you a better idea of what you want, real size etc