Anyone got advice on nursery furniture... cots/cotbeds in particular?

[newmomma]

Hi ladies,

My husband and I are becoming brain addled at the choice of cots & cotbeds and nursery furniture available and don't have the time to wander round all the various shops etc...

Does anyone have any advice on reasonably priced, but safe(!) nursery furniture?

We have lots of Mothercare vouchers (been given to us for Christmas) but are not sure whether they should automatically be our first choice...

Thanks!

ladies...?

if you have lots of mothercare vouchers i'd go with them
our cot is from there and is absolutely fine.
didn't go for a cotbed because we had a spare single that we knew ds would end up with eventually so it seemed silly shelling out extra for a cotbed. he just moved straight into the single

they do some reasonably priced stuff

I have an East Coast Anna cot and its great. It feels sturdy and the mattress is very high for when your lo is a baby.

I went for a cot rather then a cot bed because they are smaller and I doubt I would use it as a bed.

A moses basket is great for moving from room to room for day time naps. Mothercare do some nice ones and sell the stands aswell.

They have a great sale on at the mo.....

I bought my cotbed second hand for dd and ds has slept in it too. It still looks new tbh. I love the fact that it makes the transition to a bed easier as we just take off the sides and off we go. mine looks a bit like this
Personally I never needed a drop side. I did get a proper sprung mattress as opposed to foam as when they are 3 and still sleeping in it they need something more supportive imho. The cheapest mattress I found was toys r us.
HTH

we have this one

but this one is quite bargainous.

We bought a cotbed from Toys r us. It's a 3 in 1 so goes to a bed and then into a sofa (which I doubt we'll have the room for). It was £150 and is very sturdy and we are very happy with it.
In hindsight, I'd probably advise going for a standard cot with drop sides. Cotbeds have fixed sides where as some cots you can drop the side so you won't have to bend right over to pick up baby which can get difficult if you have big baby or during recovery time.
With drop sides, you can also have it right next to your bed if bf and can make feeding and settling easier.
We are getting a standard cot for ds2 (due feb) for the drop side.

Standard cot with drop sides - preferably the style without the flimsy platic catches as they can break easily. Then when they are ready to move into a bed you just leave the drop side down and it becomes a bed guard

Go for adjutable base height especially if you are short like me, much easier on your back if there is a high position height for when they are newborn IME

I would borrow/buy 2nd hand moses basket because they can last as little as 6 weeks before they are too small for the baby!

I just sold my one of these 2nd hand www.mothercare.com/gp/product/B000IYWPJC/ref=ts_dp_2/279-3123883-0189017?ie=UTF8&mcb=core

It was 12 years old and had done 5 children and still going strong.

I wouldn't go for white as if the paint gets chipped off it shows more.

actually I think this may be a closer comparison to the one I had www.mothercare.com/Mothercare-Takeley-cot-Antique-Pine/dp/B000IYWPE2/sr=1-10/qid=1230415982/ref=sr_1 _10/279-3123883-0189017?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=A2LBKNDJ2KZUGQ&n=42825041&mcb=core

Look for one handed drop as it is the 2 handed drop that use the flimsy plastic swing catches.

I got my cot from Mothercare and it's fine.

I personally did not buy nursery furniture as such. We have stuff from Ikea/MFI/John Lewis/M & S. We bought stuff that will hopefully last a bit longer. So have full sized wardrobes/bookshelves etc.

You can get moses baskets fairly cheaply in Argos/Asda etc. They are not in them for long.

I'd recommend one with a side which you can drop down with one hand too. I got the mothercare playbead cot, three and a half years ago and it's still being used by my third.here. After adding the mattress we had spend about £240, but it's been worth it. I used a moses basket for 3rd child and found it ideal, it only lasts 6 weeks or so though but they do sleep better I think so good for an initial option. My friend bought a swinging crib (larger than a basket, smaller than a cot), I also have friend who went for cotbed straight away. They all liked their choices so I think it depends on your room space. I also didn't bother with nursery size wardrobe, just got a proper size one.

Have a look at kiddicare.com and get a decent mattress if you go for a cotbed.

DD is in one and loves it. She is 2.4 and still has the sides on as she is not a climber but the thought that she can stay in it for years made the money worthwhile. Perhaps if you are planning lots of babies quite quickly after each other a cot would be cheaper?

Cot is the only "nursery" furniture we got too and a cot top changer.

Don't buy anything yet!!!! Seriously. Get a Moses basket to serve you in the first instance. Wait until you know how you're going to parent.

We bought loads of stuff we thought we "needed" - expensive Bugaboo pram, crib/cot, grobags, baby bed linen, etc. etc.

Turns out I wanted my baby with me in bed, and she likes bedsharing too. So, that was ££££ wasted on all the crib/cot stuff.

And she hated being in her pram (only just beginning to tolerate the buggy part), so she spent most of her first 6 months in a £30 Moby wrap.

Thank god (for small mercies) that we didn't go the whole hog and buy the nursery furniture set too. We keep her clothes folded on the shelves of her changing table.