Crib vs Cot vs Cotbed

[New2020]

Hi all,

As a first time mum I'm really confused by what the best thing would be for my newborn.

Luckily my sister has some hand me downs..A crib and cot bed, so I'll only have to buy new mattresses.

I don't want to use the cotbed immediately from birth as it seems too big (size of a small bed) and won't fit in our bedroom. But would be good for later to transition to.

The crib is small and rocks and I was wondering how long I can keep the baby in there?

If it is less than 6 months I was wondering whether it would be better to buy a cot for the bedroom (and use the crib downstairs for daytime).

Thanks in advance!

FTM here 😊 We’ve got exactly the same as you at the moment. A cot bed in the nursery for later and a rocking crib in our bedroom for when he’s first here.
He’ll be in with us for at least 6 months and I know he will outgrow the crib before then but we’ve decided to just wait and see how we get on, rather than buying anything new just yet. He may be one of these babies you can’t put down in which case having anything in the lounge will be a waste, or he could be little and stay in his crib for longer than we think 🤷🏼‍♀️

The Lullaby Trust has information on safe sleeping and babies should be sleeping in the same room as an adult when they're small so unless you're going to go upstairs every nap time you will need something downstairs. We used our pram for day naps, have a side sleeper in our room and the cot bed is in the nursery.

Typically the cribs/Moses baskets have a weight limit so whether you get to 6 months depends on the baby.

I’ve got a four month old - he was in a Moses basket for the first three months or so and is now in a cot bed. he does look tiny in it but seems pretty happy! I think some people use The bassinet from their pram downstairs instead of buying something specific - we couldn’t do that as we went for the yoyo which doesn’t have a proper bassinet.

Good luck - enjoy your baby when he/she arrives! It really does go far too quickly! I miss my newborn snuggles already!

We kept a crib in our bedroom & downstairs but dd had other ideas for daytime naps. The cotbed went in the nursery for when she moved in there. Was actually at 11 months as I struggled to be parted so when she outgrew the crib we used a travel cot.

My parents still have my crib so we will be using that until she out grows it then we will get a cot bed.
We will be getting a travel cot too which we will using for downstairs / visiting family etc.
My friend sent me a link to a pillow donut looking thing (I can't remember the name of it) from John Lewis that her little one slept on inside the cot which could be an option if you think the cot is too big. It was about £130 though...

Crib and cot bed is the perfect combination.
Crib in your bedroom for the first 6 months.
Cot bed in baby's room from 6 months onwards.
The only issue will be if baby outgrows the crib before they turn 6 months (how big is the crib?) If they do and you want to keep them in your bedroom until 6 months, you could use a travel cot (which I'm assuming would fit as they are obviously smaller than cot beds).

Thanks for the replies and advice everyone!

@Pineapplebaby that's a good point..We could just wait and see as we don't want to spend money unecessarily. My only concern was the baby outgrowing the crib before 6 months (staying in our room until then) or being able to sit up before 6mnths..I don't know when babies tend to sit up. As @namechange30 suggests could use the travel cot for the in between months...

So then I'm thinking whether it's worth just getting a cot for the bedroom and using the crib downstairs

@LolaSmiles thanks Lola sounds like the crib downstairs might be a good idea

@ChelseaCat trying to enjoy it but have to admit to feeling unprepared and clueless! Got a while to go yet though

Thanks @Superscientist the sleepyheads look great! But a bit pricey and may not need it if I make use of the crib downstairs. The cotbed won't fit in our bedroom so only an option for later :(

We had a Next to Me co-sleeper which he used for first 6 months. We intended to move him out into the nursery cot at 6 months but when we tried it his sleep really regressed. We ended up making the cot up to into a toddler bed and pushing it up against our bed to make a bigger version of co-sleeper. He was with us until 18 months when I night weaned. We tried him again in his nursery shortly after and he took to it without any problems.
I’m now expecting my second and will use the same set up again.

Sleepyheads and the like aren't recommended and only advised for supervised sleep (naps)
I would advise having a read through the lullaby trust website, I found them very helpful as a first time mum

We had a rocking crib given to us, but DD wasn't a fan, so she napped downstairs in the bassinet part of her pram and we use a next2me for her to sleep in at night. She's coming up for 5 months and we've just started putting her down for her evening nap in her cot in her nursery (using the monitor) and then when she has her feed at 11:30pm, she comes into the next2me in our room

Do you have a pram with a carrycot? We used that for downstairs nap.

Alternatively, you could use a travel cot for downstairs naps.

Or as you say, use the crib downstairs and get a cot for the bedroom. That does mean one more thing to buy, though.

Ok three kids down, here is my view:

• side by side crib - great if breastfeeding as can easily get them into bed, great to easily reach out and style them. Pain in the area if you end up bottle feeding or just don't like beast feeding in bed as they are tethered to your bed and you have to crawl round them. Tried this for no 2, didn't use for number 3.

• cot/mini cot/ crib we used the stokke mini for our first and used from day one, on wheels so easy to navigated around. Probably produced our best sleeper, as transition to bigger cot easiest. But only feasible. If you have the room in your room. You'll also need a solution for downstairs if you don't plan to nap upstairs with them in the day.

• Moses basket- small enough to go beside bed, snug for little one, easy to rock to sooth, easy to move for naps, lasted us for 8 weeks (baby 2 and 3 were ten pounders). Downside is that you then need to transition to a cot.

So basically I would say Moses basket is most flexible. We used a sleepyhead with DC2 and 3 so
Made cot transition easier.

The next to me is great I'm currently using one. 79 pound from lydl

Moses basket only ever lasted mine until they were 6 weeks old, they were too long for it then so I found them a total waste of money. I just used a sleepyhead with my youngest and will be doing it with this baby too.

The bedside cribs (next2me, snuzpod etc) are much bigger than a Moses basket and last a lot longer. My son was in his next2me until he was 7 months, then we moved him into his cot in our room. We moved his cot into his own room at about 13 months. We used a sleepyhead for downstairs naps (/he always slept on me) but lots of people use the pram carrycot for that.

The next2me doesn’t have to be attached to the bed - the side folds/zips up and down - so if you’re not bf and/or don’t need it stuck to the bed you can always have it elsewhere in your room.

Thanks for all the help!

We've measured up today and the cotbed WILL fit in our bedroom at a push if needed

So will stick with the crib and cotbed for post 6mnths..And will use the sleepyhead for daytime naps.

Will need to now make sure the crib is in good condition after 5 years of storage! Quarantine difficulties..

You may need to see what the baby will sleep in too. Mine refused the crib, refused cot bed. Ended up with sleeping in her pram carry cot for a few weeks. Went into cot bed at 10 weeks and fine ever since.

With dd we started with moses basket that she hated, got a cheap 2nd hand rocking crib which she hated.. She hated the pram carrycot and the first time she slept anywhere other than on me was her cot at 6 weeks. It bothered her if she moved her limbs and it touched the sides as with hating being swaddled. .. And is the same now at 3!

This time I'm looking into a bedside crib if it will fit but hopefully will see them in the flesh before baby arrives. We also have a cot bed under our bed ready if baby doesn't get on with the crib but I'm concerned about dd climbing in a cot as it'll be at the bottom of our bed due to size of our room

It was handy having somewhere for her to sleep downstairs so not sure whst we will use this time but waiting to see how baby is when they arrive first. Moses baskets can be picked up so cheaply if we need one.
Carrycot from pram I dislike in sitting room as it would have to be on the pram and that's just chunky imo

We had a Moses basket for downstairs, a swinging crib for in our room and a cotbed for the nursery for when he moved. He decided to roll just shy of 12 weeks and swinging crib was useless from then on so had to bring the cotbed into our room. It was a squeeze, and a pain as it was right up next to the bed so I had to shimmy down the bed to get out. The lifetime of the crib was cut even shorter by the fact he was a breech baby and had froggy legs which stuck up in the air so the first few weeks he had to sleep in the Moses basket upstairs as well because his legs used to flop to one side and get stuck out the bars of the crib 🤦‍♀️ this time round I'm torn between getting a next to me which I wish I'd invested in last time, or just sidecarring the cotbed but I've heard the next to me has done people till 8 months so I'm tempted to invest for the space saving

Oh and to top it off he tried escaping the cotbed at 15 months so we converted it to a bed which although had a bumper to stop him rolling out, he decided to stand up in the middle of the night and take a running jump off it, face planting the floor and giving himself a nose bleed so we had to invest in a toddler bed that was low to the floor with little sides on. Litrally every option we had backfired 🤣

Bit of an update...

Got hold of the crib and assembled it to figure out the mattress size. It's quite an old one so finding a mattress for it has been tough!

So now we're on the hunt for a crib...argh.

We're leaning towards the snuzpod but wondering if there is a cheaper alternative