port-a-cot full time??

[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.