Thinking about buying a cot? Here’s a few suggestions that we wrote for a friend recently. We don’t sell cots or bassinettes here at Breastmates (as we try to focus on Mother products), so we are unbiased.
All cots sold in NZ (even those sold on trademe) have to adhere to quite stringent safety standards.
Some cots you can raise the base level, you have it high when baby is very young (so easy for you to reach in). Then when child is older, and can stand up, you drop the level down so that they can’t climb out.
When your child is older, you can remove the rail and just use it like a training bed.
Lots of people don’t use a bassinette, they just go straight to a cot. You just need swaddles to keep baby snug. (And they will look tiny!)
Our cot use to have two side locks, and then you had to nudge the bottom rail with your leg to get it down. It was a 3 point safety.
Our cot was a budget one, and it was perfectly fine for both our children.
If buying a cot secondhand, I would recommend that you buy a brand new mattress. Double check the sizings, because there are two cot sizes (NZ and American).
One lesson learnt – assemble the cot IN THE NURSERY. Most of them are too wide to go through doorways. Hubby was grumpy when he assembled it in the lounge, and then we had to take it apart to actually put it in the nursery.
Don’t ever ever ever put your child to sleep or nap wearing a hoodie. I had a friend that child got strangled due to the hood.
It is also recommended not to put baby asleep wearing any type of hat – as that can cause them to rapidly overheat.
