Is IKEA nursery furniture good?

[thrilled82]

Hi Everyone,

Just found out that we have a gorgeous little bub due to arrive in March 2010 ... and being the organised girl that I am ... am already looking at where to purchase nursery furniture (cot, change table etc).
Or better yet, where to ask the family to buy Christmas presents from

Has anyone bought IKEA baby furniture before?

Is it safe, easy to put together, reliable?

We have other IKEA furniture in our house, we are happy with it, but unsure about what to put our precious little bundle into!

[Erin_25]

I can't comment on the quality of it, though having spend way too much money on having to have the best when I had bubs.......I wish I never had. DS has ruined his cot, chewed, scratched & dented it. So much so it looks horrible, couldn't even sell it second hand...........so if IKEA stuff is any good I would say go for it!!!! no need to spend too much at all.

[Karina]

We dont have an IKEA cot so I cant coment on those.. I didnt get the IKEA cot because you couldnt move the side down and I wanted a cot that could do that to make it easier to lift her in and out...
but we have an IKEA chest of drawers/wardrobe thingy which is pretty good. Its pretty sturdy and she hasnt killed it yet even though she climbs into it all the time because she thinks it is a cubby house.. We also have 2 IKEA shelves in her room. One shelf is about 15 years old and still going strong (my mum bought it for me ages ago!), the other one I bought last year.

[Nettie]

We have the Ikea cot, drawers with change table on top and wardrobe (which I only just put together today!).

We love them. Nice & cheap, easy to put together (but you do a lot of screwdriving!) and easy to use. Karina is right - you can't put the side down, but I honestly think that if I'd bought a cot with a drop-side, I wouldn't use it because I'd be afraid the noise & movement would wake him up! It's a bit awkward sometimes when he's asleep putting him down, but it normally doesn't wake him up (and we're both short - so there's further to go over!). The cot has two base levels though so when the bub is small, it's not far to go.. The other bonus with the cot is that it can be changed into a little bed when he's ready. Very versatile.

The change table thingy should be bolted to the wall so it doesn't topple. We haven't done this (we've got old limestone walls which are hard to drill into) and we just make sure he doesn't lean over the ledge. Haven't had an incident yet (touch wood!).

I'm a big fan - so I say go for it. it's been very durable so far (DS is 14 months old) with no problems. Another bonus is that he hasn't yet figured out how to open the drawers!

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing!

[Roryrory]

We have the cot and never found the lack of drop sides to be a problem. DH significantly rebuilt it to include drawers underneath when DS#1 was about 18months old. But it is a great cheap unit.

[SugarDust]

I have an Ikea cot/toddler bed that we brought 2nd hand and we love it DS2 is in it atm as the toddler bed but we will be getting him a BIG bed in 6mnths so DS3 will get it then possible! we might even try and get DS3 into a BIG bed earlier than 3!

[thrilled82]

Thanks guys, I am really keen on the IKEA cot (after perusing the prices of other more fancy pants cots ... my goodness there is a variance in price!!). I've always been a firm believer that you get what you pay for - but I think IKEA make a good product.
As this is our first, I want the cot to be durable and reusable for any future bubs, but I equally don't want to be devestated (say, if we purchased top of the line cot) if our first bub "characterises" the cot with bite marks etc.

I don't live in Sydney metro ... so a shopping spree to IKEA will involve a trip down the F3 freeway ... but from all your advice I think the trek to IKEA would be worth it.

Thanks again everyone, I'll keep you updated - and I welcome many more comments!