Hi Helen,

That does sound normal for a port-a-cot mattress. They are pretty horrid. We have had to use ours quite a few times with trips interstate with DS. I used single bed sheets to make sure they were tucked in. I think you can get port-a-cot sized ones but that seems a bit $$ for us.

The mattresses are hard and horrid. I always used a sheepskin underlay or blankets under the sheets to pad ours out. Not to make it spongy but just to give it a bit of padding. Only used the thing when DS was past 6months otherwise he was in with us anyway. Often I would get him to sleep in the port-a-cot and then when we went to bed bring him in with us as it was more comfortable for him.

GL!