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Original poster

Bedside Cots

38 replies

MeadowHay · 20/04/2018 18:57

Hiya, can anyone give me some advice regarding beside cots? We are considering the Snuzpod but the price is scaring us off because we are really not in a great financial position. I really like the idea of a bedside cot for ease for night feeds though especially as ideally I want to breastfeed. Have seen some places about 'hacking' a cheap Ikea cot, has anyone done this? If so could you explain exactly how you did this? I just think £200 for the Snuzpod is so steep given that judging by reviews some larger babies had outgrown it by 4 months old.

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GeminiWarrior · 20/04/2018 18:59

I loved my chicco next to me. Bigger than snoozepod
I bought for £70 and sold on for the same, and just needed a new matress (£30ish)

GeminiWarrior · 20/04/2018 19:00

Bought it second hand I should add

DryHeave · 20/04/2018 19:03

Bought second hand Snuzpod and been happy with it. Baby has grown out of it at 20 weeks (more because we wanted to move him to own room rather than size). Wouldn’t have paid full price. Expect to use for another child and then be able to sell on/give away as the build quality is so good.

Fridasfridgefreezer · 20/04/2018 19:26

I’ve just bought a second hand snuz pod and will sell it on when finished.

The Chico is bigger apparently so could last for longer.

BorahT · 20/04/2018 20:07

I had a chicco next 2 me and it was great, my DS was in it until 8 months when he got too big for it but if your baby starts sitting up before this it won’t last so long! Now we’ve side car’d his big cot, just leave one side off when assembling it (the drop side if it has one) and use bungee cords to secure the base to your bed. Try to match the height of your mattress and the cot and aim for the top of the cot to be in line with the bottom of your pillows so when baby starts rolling there is less risk of them suffocating with their head in the pillows. Butt the cot mattress up to yours and use a pool noodle or something firm (nothing squishy like blankets) to fill the gap at the other end.

FeckBuggerAndArse · 20/04/2018 20:09

I used a mothercare drop-side cot, I cabletied ot yo the side of my bed. It was brilliant. Just make sure there are no gaps between the cot mattress and your bed.

Jellybabie3 · 20/04/2018 20:13

We brought the babylo cozy sleeper. Just as good but cheaper. Best thing we brought for our son.

EssentialHummus · 20/04/2018 20:29

Ikea Gulliver here. All the advantages of a side-sleeper cot, £60 new and can later be used as a toddler bed. One of our best purchases.

EssentialHummus · 20/04/2018 20:34

And it isn’t a hack - you just follow the instructions to leave the fourth side off!

user1491924338 · 20/04/2018 21:43

We had a second hand snuz pod but it is quite narrow and baby was bouncing off the sides rolling by 4 months. We swapped to an Ikea cot. Just leave one side off. We did alter it slightly though as its mattress height didn't match our bed. It was easy to drill in additional holes to give the cot another level for its mattress height.

Original poster
MeadowHay · 21/04/2018 09:19

When I looked online about altering the Ikea cots that involved sawing down the legs though to make it the right height and things so hardly just not putting one side on? DH says he's happy to have a good at that but then when we've totted up the price of buying that, plus mattress, plus saw, plus tie things to tie it to the bed etc it basically doubles in price and that's without accounting for the time he'd spend fixing it up before we could use it...but then it would be much bigger presumably and baby could stay in it much longer? How long can a baby stay in the Ikea Sniglar for, does anyone know? I can't find the Gulliver on the website.

Feck Which Mothercare cot did you use and how did you ensure it was the right height to match your bed?

I did think about second hand but the cheapest one vaguely in our area is £110 + £30 for them to bring it to us (we don't drive), then it'd be another like £35 for a mattress as wouldn't use a second-hand mattress. That would then be not far off the cost of just buying the brand new one as the mattress is included in that anyway so it's not worth it.

OP posts:
GeminiWarrior · 21/04/2018 10:37

Really? Even on Facebook market there are no reasonably priced second hand bedside cribs?? There’s so many near me for £60ish!

EssentialHummus · 21/04/2018 12:52

m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/80248525/

EssentialHummus · 21/04/2018 12:53

^Gulliver

user1491924338 · 21/04/2018 14:50

No need to saw the legs off, just make extra holes for mattress height. There's usually just 2 heights on any ikea cot but it's easy to make more.

Snuzpods go for £40 on ebay around here!

Original poster
MeadowHay · 21/04/2018 17:04

I can't find any anywhere near me for those kind of prices, if I could that's what we would do and just buy a new mattress for it. Will keep looking, I'm only 31 weeks so got time yet. Thanks everyone for all the insight, I feel so clueless about everything tbh.

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NuggetsMum · 21/04/2018 17:54

Have you considered a BedNest? You can hire one for just under £70 and it comes with a brand new mattress.

We have one that was given to us second hand and it's been fantastic for breastfeeding. The stand is adjustable to any height to suit your bed and it's super easy to pop baby back in after a feed.

My LO is quite a big baby and still has plenty of space to grown into it at over 3 months.

Original poster
MeadowHay · 21/04/2018 18:14

Nuggets I have never heard of this before but it looks great! Thank you! It does say not to sleep with the side panel down and unzipped, do all bedside cribs say that? I'm so naive I thought it would be ok to sleep next to baby without having a panel up? Is that in case you roll on them or something?

OP posts:
MissBax · 21/04/2018 18:19

We use the ikea Gulliver too, just drilled in 4 extra holes for the height and bought a bungee cable to secure it to the bed tightly.
Then pushed the cot mattress along to meet our, stuffed towels down the back, covered with sheet and Bob's your uncle!

NuggetsMum · 21/04/2018 19:29

I'm not sure if all bedside cribs say this but I imagine most of them do. Its just health and safety to ensure baby can't roll out into your bed without you realising or even if the covers of your bed get into his crib it could be a danger.

However the side panels of the Bednest are quite hard so it would not be comfortable for you to lie on top of them anyway.

Some other bedside cribs do have softer panels that can fold down and remain open, although I am not sure if it recommended for you to sleep with them like that.

JassyRadlett · 21/04/2018 19:32

The Next2Me was absolutely fabulous. Can’t fault it. Kept its value for resale, too.

mommybear1 · 21/04/2018 19:50

Hi we have a snuzpod and it's been great LO is 6 months now and still fits in it. However I would suggest you go for an Ikea hack if money is an issue unless you are planning on selling it or reusing it you may not get your monies worth.

MynameisJune · 21/04/2018 19:55

We just got a normal cot bed and left the side off. Meant that DD could stay sleeping there until she was 2. Worked out cheaper in the long run as we’d need to buy a cot anyway as the next 2 me, snuzpod and bed nest will only last until baby is 6 months or thereabouts.

AprilShowers16 · 21/04/2018 20:00

We bought a snuzood for £25 second hand but to be honest it’s mostly been used as storage for muslins and pillows while baby sleeps in the bed with me 😆

eurochick · 22/04/2018 10:50

We hired a bednest. It worked well and the service was really good.