port-a-cot full time??

[tonio]

Because DH and I go to our beach house every second weekend, we are no doubt going to have to buy a port-a-cot.

He wants to get out of buying a cot and just use the port-a-cot full time.... But I would really like to have a proper cot at our house we are in 80% of the time. Aside from the fact of "it'll be much nicer in the baby's room" - but I'm thinking of my back (having to bend over so far every time) - as well as the question "are they really designed to be used full time? Are they built to handle every day use for prolonged periods of time?"

Cots are so expensive

[~Raven~]

Portacots are great for what they are but they have their faults.

I'd be a bit worried about your back and bending over also.
I also don't like that the "mattress" on them is rock hard. Whenever I've used one I put extra blankets over it (under the sheet) to pad it up a bit.
My boys have ben able to climb out of ours at about 18 months too.

HTH

[~Trish~]

I personally wouldn't use one full time. The mattresses are not good for their spine, even the foam ones you can buy for them aren't good for long term use. Also, like you said, the constant bending over puts strain on your own back. If you have to settle your bub off to sleep by patting them it would be hard work!

Have you considered buying a second hand cot and just buying a new mattress? You can buy cheap second hand cots from eBay. Just make sure the cot isn't too old and meets the current safety standards (you can Google the standards if you want to know the specifics).

A portacot would be ideal for your beach house though!

[Junglemum]

i agree with Trish and Raven.

I got a secondhand cot for mum's place off ebay for $14! I'ts a bit old and needs a paint, but work perfectly fine. Just got a new matress. Trading post and garage sales often have a bargain too.

[XRMummy]

my brother and SIL have my Neice in a porta cot full time as they dont have the money to buy a proper cot and i told them that the mattress is to hard for my neice so they went to clarke rubber and got a foam piece to fit in the cot and that works great.....

When DS was ready for the cot we didnt have one so we put him in the porta cot for a few weeks and it didnt bother him also like raven i used to put extra soft blankets under the sheet to softern it up
but thinking bout goin to clark rubber myself as we go away a fair bit n DS sleeps in the portacot

[tonio]

Thanks for your help girls.... just really confirms my feelings... at least now I've got some ammo to throw at DH... hehehe....

ps. never gave the mattress a thought... but have been keeping my eye out for second hand cots since we started "debating" this issue..

[jgal]

I would not recommend a portacot full time as it is hard to put baby into since you have to bend right over - and sometimes you sort of have to hold them close to your chest until the very last second to keep them asleep so in the long term would be very bad for your back. The "matress" is also quite solid, more like a bed base than a matress and would not be good for the baby over prolonged use.

I watched a SIDS video when pregnant with DS (my nephew died of SIDS at 7 months old so I was very concerned) and they mentioned that you should never put ANYTHING in the bottom of a portacot, including blankets etc to pad it out as they are a suffocation risk and the portacots are not designed to have a separate mattress put in and babies can get their head in between the mattress and the cot walls due to the flexible sides. This is also a suffocation risk.

If I were you I would seriously think about getting two real cots second hand (making sure they met all saftey requirements) and then two new mattresses. One for each place since you are at the holiday house quite a lot. The extra money would be well spent as it is your's and your child's health at risk. Or even ask family and friends to help with paying for the cot instead of buying clothes and toys and things that babies don't really need (you tend to get so many newborn clothes that they grow out of them before they get to wear them anyway so a joint gift of a cot or even just the matress to help you out would be a much better gift over the long run). The other option for your beach house if you already have a spare single bed there is to buy a travel Safe-T-Sleep. It wraps around baby and basically straps them to the bed so they can move their arms and legs but can't fall out or wriggle into a dangerous position. The baby actually feels secure from it too so they sleep better.

[OldMate]

We have just bought a portacot for one main reason (and one side reason). Friends and visitors.

We have a number of friends that have babies and a few more newborns on the way, not to mention the friends we will no doubt make through parenting groups. With a portacot, you can have a nice, adult dinner with two babies - ours in the cot, theirs in the portacot. That means they don't have to pack any extra bedding, and if the situation is reversed i.e. we visit them, we don't need to pack the cot either!

Of course, the side reason was just in case we are going somewhere that we know doesn't have a bedding option for the little one. Luckily we have big boot space, otherwise pram + portacot would not have been an option.

I have looked into products like the travel SafeTSleep and think they are a great option for short stays too!

One piece of advice that I was given (and agree with) is that, if you are not using a portacot full time, you don't need all the bells and whistles. By going for a more simple portacot design, you (I mean....DH) will have less to pack and lug around.

[fionas]

Yep, definitely agree that you can get some great cots secondhand - I got mine for $230 with some very slight water damage - should have been $750. That was from Grays Online auction house.

If you're thinking of buying a pram with a bassinette, the bassinette is also great while they're little when you're going away. DD slept in that when we went for a few weekends away. She grew out of it when she was 6 months old but that might buy you a bit of time too.