Travel cots safe for full time?

[Williams3001]

We’re looking at cribs as we expect to have a long baby who won’t fit in a Moses basket very long and baby’s cot won’t fit in our room. I’ve been looking at travel cots as I figured it would be more economical with us planning to take baby away at least 2–3 times during the first six months (e.g. Christmas) and we only have about £100 to spend. Most travel cots seem to have folding mattresses and my concern is whether they’re safe enough to be used full-time, as I’m quite worried/paranoid about SIDS. Any thoughts?

Travel cot and buy a proper cot mattress?

Where are you planning on day naps? We had to move furniture out of the bedroom to fit a cot.

Travel cots are safe, but travel cot mattresses are very thin, and it’s really awkward lifting a baby in and out of it (the base doesn’t raise to different levels like a normal cot). You can get much smaller cots though, look up space saving cots. We had the same issue and bought a second hand small cot which we used until DD could have her own room.

We had the same situation where the proper cot wouldn't fit in the bedroom.
We got a red kite one in asda in the baby event £25. Then a proper mattress from argos - cuggle was I think £30.
Worked very well and ds was comfy in it.
We could have moved furniture around but we already had the cot assembled in ds room and it would have to have been dismantled and reassembled again and we didn't want to do that.

The mattress from Argos was a proper travel cot mattress

The mattresses are very thin, unpadded and uncomfortable. I only ever used a travel cot with our actual cot mattress which although large to travel with, conveniently exactly fitted on the parcel shelf of our car at the time.

We sold our house before moving into our new one so lived with my parents for 3/4 months when DS was 10 months old. There wasnt space to put up his proper cot in the room so he had to sleep in his travel cot. Not ideal and I didnt love it, but I bought 3 travel cot matresses to triple up and that seemed more comfortable for him.

I wouldnt recommend a travel cot as a permanent solution, unless you get a proper matress.

We used a travel cot in our room from 3 months to 6 months, after DS slept through in one on a night away at 3 months! We didn't even upgrade the mattress. No issues.

What about a next2me? Fitted my tall DS till 6 mo+ plus folds small for travel.

We've got a cuggl travel cot and it does say not to use a separate mattress with it.

Get a Next to Me cot, there’s always loads going second hand on Facebook marketplace, you don’t need to spend much. They generally fit up to 6m and even a very long baby won’t come out that big. Travel cots in my experience are also basically as big as a regular cot. If you can’t fit a cot in you won’t fit a travel cot

Thanks for your replies. We’ve already reconfigured our room to allow space for baby’s nighttime sleeping but still not enough space for the full-size cot. (We’ve a 90cm ‘gangway’ along the side of our bed but need space to walk around it or we won’t be able to get to the door – or open the wardrobe.) We’re planning to use the Moses basket for day naps and small crib for nighttime. Our pram is one of those upright/lay-flat types so wouldn’t want baby sleeping in there for too long as it’s not 100% flat like a carrycot.

Sounds like a new mattress might be the way to go. I’ve heard from a few others that crib/travelcot mattresses can be quite uncomfortable and difficult for baby to settle. We’ve been looking at the Chicco Zip and Go or the Babylo foldable crib.

Second a next 2 me, I have a kinderkraft one and it comes with a carry case so you can use as a travel cot too. Much better than a travel cot for putting down/picking up and baby's comfort plus the added bonus of the fold down side!

Our bedroom space is limited also and it was the best option (not that the baby has ever slept in it 😒)