Printable View
We have no fly screens in our house. In summer we really need to have all the windows open to keep the air flowing, and temperature reasonable. It's actually a really great design, except it lets the bugs in. For our bed, we have one of those tulle nets that hangs from the ceiling. Works perfectly.
So, what's the best way to keep bugs out of baby's cot? Do hanging nets work, or are they a disaster?
Do you know I was really worried about havng a net on the cot, as the only ones I had seen were the Ikea type baby ones, I was really worried that jacob would get tangled n it or something, but then I remembered I had one I had bought years earlier put away for a queen size bed, hanging one with a hoop (KWIM?) I ended up taking the hoop out and hanging it from the curtain rod (cot is next to my bed, next to but not flush with the window) it was large enough to tuck the excess under the cot without having to worry about him pulling it up and getting entagled.
Hope that made sense! It works a treat, we have no fly screen either and HEAPS of mozzies!
Awesome, Starry! That's pretty much exactly what we were thinking of doing.
We have a mosquito net over bubs cot, it spreads pretty wide..
What kind is it, Amy? The hoop type, or the stand type? I am as worried about the baby pulling it down as I am about pulling it up.
We had a mozzie problem at the old house and had mosquito nets on all the beds (and screens on all the doors/windows and all gaps filled, nfc how they got in - the town has no mains water so they are breeding in poor people's uncovered rainwater tanks) and DD#2, being the sort of baby that makes noise in her cot instead of sleeping, would pull the net in between the bars. It still kept the bugs out but there'd be these huge wads of mozzie net in the cot.
I can't comment on how they work with a toddler, we have no screens on some windows in this house AND no mosquitos, we have mains water here and people here earn a lot more so what tanks people do have are modern sealed ones.
ETA: ours was on a large plastic hoop, and attached to the ceiling with a very large and solid eye screw right into a joist. It was hanging by a plastic chain and attached at both ends with a clip from the rigging section of the hardware store, so if bubs swung on it the only thing that would be breaking would be the actual tulle of the net itself. We had 14 foot ceilings so we needed the chain up top.
I put a large mozzie net over our son's cot. It was a hoop type (with no hoop in it) hung off the wall and draped over the cot. It tucked right under on the floor so I'm sure it would have kept bugs out. I was using it to keep the cat out but that didn't really work because she loved to play with the bottom of it and her bell would wake him up! So she got booted outside for sleep times and I didn't use the net much.
I'd say you should be fine to use it this summer as it takes a while before baby can grab anything anyway, then maybe you'll need to reassess next summer.
There is a hoop up the top that is bolted into the roof, she wont be able to pull it down for quite some time im hoping :D:
We have security mesh on all of our doors and windows and so bugs aren't a problem. I just wanted to be doubly sure that no nasties would be crawling on him at night. So we had the hoop on a stand (which we wedged between the cot and the wall so that he couldn't pull it over). We could only use it until he was about 6 months old and learned how to pull the net through the bars on his cot. We found him oneday with most of the net pulled inside his cot and he was happily wrapping it around himself. I got a real fright and removed it pronto. Who would have thought something like a mozzie net could prove to be a choking risk?! :(
DD had a hoop net over her cot till she got big enough to get to it and pull it into the cot with her through the bars, but that wasnt till she was about 9 months old!! it was long enought to reach the floor so didnt need tucking in or anything.
If you are using a bassinette or cradle, I had two small ones that had elastic around the edge and they were perfect for the bassinette and also the pram as they were easy to use - no masses of fabric to deal with in the wee hours and they were transportable for me to take out and about and also they seemed to seal the edges better because the elastic held it tight around the frame of the bassinette.