Travel Cot

[Cocococo]

I need to get a travel cot for the first of many (I hope) weekends away with DH. Anyone tried any good ones or got any tips?

To be honest, there's not alot between them. I've got a petitestar one and it's still going strong after 5 yrs. The only thing is, the mattresses of them can be quite hard so do need a bit of DIY extra padding (ie. blankets well tucked round the mattress). Having said that though, DH's brother's baby has got a Little Tikes (I think) one and that seemed more padded than ours - typical!

Any chance of taking a w/e trip to France and getting one there? As Chanelno5 says they're much of a muchness really but the one my MIL brought back from a day trip to Calais was £20 and HUGE whereas they start from approx £50 over here.

I have a fab Graco Playspace (I think it's called) It's bigger than the norm and is great for a playpen as well as a travel cot. I love it and it has defineately been worth it. W use it at MIL and whenever we go to a party (I take the kids and they go to bed upstairs). I wasn't sold on the idea of one, by MIL bought it and it has been well used. I think it's worth getting one to use as a plypen occassionally, since some places you may go are so unsuitable for babies.

We've got a Petite Star too, and we've been very happy with it (or rather, both our kids have been happy in it!). The only thing I would say about getting a larger travel cot is that, although it probably is better as a play pen, if you're ever planning to stay in hotels/B&Bs there often isn't much space for the cot (we've had to do quite a lot of furniture rearranging over the years!).

Have a look in your free advertising papers. I've just bought one for £10 when buying new costs nearly £80. Its relatively old but does the job - as Chanelno5 says, they are all much of a muchness.

We've got a Graco "Pack'n'Play" which is great as it's really quick and easy to put up and down, is one of the lightest around (we're just back from a holiday in South Africa, so weight was a consideration) and can also be used as a play pen. It was (I think) £48.99 from John Lewis, but I could have got it for £10 less from Toys R Us (but I prefered the brighter colours of the "branded" one). Money well spent - it's already been used for a week in Greece (where the travel company would have charged us £3 a night to hire one), over 2 weeks in South Africa, while being babysat at his aunt's, as an occasional play pen and for "day naps" at home - and ds is only 13 months old.As someone else said, the base is quite firm, but it doesn't seem to bother ds.

We have a pack and play too - Marks and Spencers do the same cot in different colour schemes to Graco's own, and at roughly £50. It folds down neatly and is robust enough when packed into its bag not to get dented/bashed. Good idea to take your own - the ones we have been offered have always been stained in interesting places (UK) or 19th century wrought iron death traps (la belle France).

If you have time and a friend with a large car who is going to France grovel and ask them to get you one. We bought ours in a supermarket there for under £30 and it was identical with most of the ones we saw here. It didn't have fancy pockets but it was half the price. We used it for about 18 months before selling it and it was still in new condition, so it must have been pretty well made, not just cheap.

Bought DS the Graco Playspace from Kiddicare, its lovely but unfortunately DS doesnt think so so I'll have to convince him how lovely it is!