Bedside cot

[bagsundereyes]

As previously discussed, LO is a terible sleeper. She has a cot bed (barely touched) in her nursery, but sleeps exclusively in a Moses basket next to my bed. She is nearly 3months and fast outgrowing the Moses basket, but i'm not ready to move her next door. Any tips for a bedside cot? Thanks

We got the bedside cot from Mothercare - this was 5 yeas ago now though. Was great - just make sure it will fit properly against the type of bed you have.

Another vote for Mothercare bedside cot and we only bought ours a year ago so I think they still make it. Much cheaper than Mamas and Papas one and a nice plain painted white design. We did have some problems with it, some of which we managed to resolve but others we didn't:

Getting it to stay close to the bed with no gap - the brake on the castors were just not strong enough. We ended up tying it on to our bed frame with those plastic computer tie things that ratchet tight (string would probably do) but that then means you can't put the side up for naps. And then it doesn't gain you much over an ordinary cheapo cot with the side taken off, except for being able to have the height the same height as your mattress. But if your bed happens to be at the same height as a standard cot you could just use that.

If you haven't got a side you can get at easily for naps you're in trouble once they start being able to roll over! Could she still nap in the Moses basket?

There can still be a little gap between your mattress and theirs. We started off stuffing it with rolled up towels and eventually bought some blocks of foam from the market

If your bed has a footboard as well as a headboard, there isn't room for a bedside table as well, well not unless you don't mind clambering over anyone else in your bed whenever you need a pee. We mounted a shelf on the wall above the cot.

Think that's the main things. It was lovely once we'd sorted out these work-arounds.

This might be a daft question, but what do you do with LO in the time between their bedtime and yours? Presumably you can't leave them alone in the cot with side down... do they start night in Moses basket then go in bedside cot when you go to bed? Am asking because I'm v interested in getting one of these for DS when he grows out of crib.

I hadn't thought of this Meg...currently LO doesn't really get much time between her bedtime and ours, but we live in hope. What should we do?

One of those folding travel cots? You'll need one later anyway.

Bedside cots are mostly designed so they have one moving side which goes up or away easily. Some models it slides under the base, others it goes over the top and then down the other side. So the idea is that you put the side up like a normal cot for naps or anytimes when they're sleeping and you're not there and away overnight. But as I said, that doesn't work if you've tethered it to your bed!

Up and over the top is a better design as you can slide the side back into place when you're not there.

Used one with both my dds and it was fantastic!

Tbh We used to leave it open ALL of the time and as our dds wd not try and make it out of the bed or roll far enough to be a danger.

I'm going to be selling mine in a couple of weeks time. I'll post it up on mumsnet.

Unfortunately DS is a wriggly little b*gger and would probably make it halfway across our bed if the side was left down and I wasn't in the way

just a quickie - I have a mamas and papas one that has an addition thats like a mini mattress that goes from the cot onto our mattress with a ridge, so a) the baby cant roll over the ridge and b) if they do they roll into your bed - no gap. It's nice and big too, not like the mothercare one I saw so it lasts a long time - good for DS who sleeps in all directions now in it.

here

you can just about see the ridge thingy when you zoom into the picture in the top corner

I have one from Cosatto. You can get it from Kiddicare for less than the RRP here
I think we paid less than that actually.

But anyway, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it - it is absolutely excellent and was a godsend for us.