Cheaper alternative to Snuzpod/NCT nest

[AlwaysDancing1234]

Looking for something similar to the Snuzpod (but cheaper?) with a removable crib so that during the day I can easily bring the crib bit downstairs for baby to sleep in (unless she's a Velcro baby like DA was!)
I know the obvious answer is a Moses basket, just wondered if I'm missing any obvious Snuzpod crib type opportunities!

We had same thought process - which is why we ended up renting the Bednest. I'm on their Facebook and it's only £79 today. Sounds like I'm selling - but you did ask! :) we had a demo at the baby show in Manchester and we were hooked. The crib lifts off and the stand tilts. The snuzpod only has 6 heights for matching to your bed - the bednest has about 70. And it builds in seconds. Can't believe what I remembered from the demo lady - who was also an NCT antenatal teacher. She taught me well!

If you haven't already got a cot then consider this. We used ours until child was about 3yrs old and are using it again this time. If you had a cheap moses basket you could put it in the cot until the baby was bigger, but we used cot from offset last time i think.

www.mothercare.com/Mothercare-Bedside-Cot/815448,default,pd.html

It all depends whether you want the best possible bonding experience or whether you want the cheapest. Sorry to be blunt! There is always a cheaper solution. With a Moses basket what do you see? The sides of a Moses basket. Eye contact is number one for me - but we're all different and everyone has an opinion about what we should or shouldn't do. It's what feels right for us as individuals.

Moses basket or carrycot is good for day time naps downstairs. Point I was making was just that if you don't already have a cot it might save money to have a bedside cot instead of renting the NCT one and also having to buy a cot for later on.

Thanks everyone. We had a Moses basket with DS1 which we put in the cot with drop sides at night and as some of you have said the only thing that bothered me was that I couldn't 'see' him from my bed. Mind you, he was a big baby and only in it for 4 months then in to the cot.
I really do like the Snuzpod/Bednest but was put off by some people (including PIL) screeching "how much!!" When I mentioned it. Hmmmm decisions decisions!!

There is a cheaper alternative (not much) in Mothercare at the moment. You can't take the top off to cart the baby downstairs, but to be honest that feels like a bit of a faff to me (although we have two flights of stairs between us and downstairs and always just use a bouncy chair for daytime naps).

www.mothercare.com/Chicco-Next-2-Me-Bedside-Crib---Dove-Grey/593765,default,pd.html

I had a good old play with it in store a couple of weeks ago and it's quite high on the top of my list. I do need to be able to take something away with me, as we stay at in laws a fair bit and I am hideously lazy and don't like getting out of bed to BF in the middle of the night. I had an old style bed nest last time, and while it was great practically, it was pig ugly :) Admittedly the snuzpod is prettier, but looks less travel friendly. The bed nest goes down nice and flat, but it's heavy and bigger than you'd think in travel mode.

My other thought is to get one second hand (did last time) and just buy a new mattress. They hold their value well, so once your six months of use is up, you'll probably make a lot of your money back.

Thanks for all the info mummytomog really helpful. I was thinking of getting one second hand and just getting new matress so will look into that more

I have just bought the Hauck dream n care centre with a safety mattress. It's basically a mini travel cot with drop sides. It got good reviews and was £89 inc mattress. I looked at chicco bedside crib but budget just couldn't stretch to it. Moses baskets were too small after a couple of weeks for my DD, and I'm assuming this baby will follow suit. This cot does up to 6 months by which time DD will have moved to big bed and baby will be ready for the big cot.

rachyconks thanks, I will check that our as well

I hired the Bednest for DS and bloody loved it. It's fantastic and I always think it was one of the reasons DS got into great sleep habits early on. It's not huge though - DS outgrew it at 4 months, but then he was/is well into the 90+ centiles. Im expecting number 2 now and will 100% be hiring a Bednest again - worth every penny.

But yes - it's is pretty big and heavy to travel with although packs neatly and very flat so can go in the bottom of your car boot easily. But you wouldn't want to be carrying it on a train journey or anything like that!

We had the bednest for ds - and I would certainly say it's too heavy to lift off and cart about the house easily tbh. I really liked the look of the snuzpod and the troll crib, but this time have gone for adapting a cheap compact cot from kiddicare; drilled four new holes for mattress base and tada, bedside cot :)
Have got Moses basket for naps downstairs, as well as carrycot attachment.

I'm going for the Chicco Next to Me as Mummytomog posted about. It's £149 which includes the mattress and I had a play with it in Mama and Papas last week. I love it, it's so lightweight which I guess is due to to the materials (I think Bednest is wood?). You can wheel it around which suits me as I live in a flat with wooden floors. I've done loads of research on this and there doesn't seem to be a really cheap alternative although I know in some old posts some women bought an Ikea cot which could be lowered and shoved next to the bed which worked well so that might be an alternative? It's a lot of money to spend on something the baby won't be in for long but all the bedside cribs seem to attract a good resale value too. Good luck!

Thanks for everyone for all the replies and info, all I hand to do now us actually make a decision!

Sorry for terrible typos in that last message!

If you look on Amazon for 'bedside crib' or 'cosleeping' you find some non branded cribs with a detachable side, £50-70 or so. Brand new.

I have brought a arms reach co-sleeper from ebay, it's the mini version (the standard is more for twins i think) just got a replacement mattress, it's a travel cot as well so it can be folded down for use elsewhere either in the house or travel, it's not the quickest to fold down however, i'm gonna get a baby bean bag for downstairs, bambino i think it's called on amazon, i didn't fancy a moses basket (with 2 cats i thought it looked to much like scratching post material and it's useless after 4-6 months) , i looked at the snuzpod and liked that you could take the top bit off but i thought about it and i was never really going to keep taking that thing downstairs, have to take baby out put him somewhere safe, go back upstairs get the pod, just such a hassle.

I got a babybay second hand from ebay for £69, a new mattress was £30. Downstairs I'll probably use the sling, or carry cot part of the pram.

There is a good resale market for bednests - take a look on eBay. I bought mine on eBay and intend to resell it that way after we are done, hoping I will recover most of what I spent.

I did move my bassinet bit around the house which wasn't too bad. It is quite big but I used to carry the moses basket around with my first so didn't mind too much. I just moved it first thing in the morning and then left it downstairs until bedtime.