An expensive cot but an absolute lifesaver when your baby refuses to sleep, its size means it lasts at least two years and with a competent DIY-er on board it is not too daunting to assemble
Ask any soon-to-be new mum what she fears most about looking after a baby and she’ll probably say the lack of sleep. But bedside cots such as the Cosatto Close to Me Cot could be the answer to many sleepless mums’ prayers.
Getting up to soothe and feed a little one seems to take up most of the night and most mums daydream of spending more than 45 minutes at a time lying down. The Cosatto Close to Me Cot reduces the need to get up in the night by sliding right up to the parental bed. One side doesn’t just drop down, but slides completely under the cot to let baby and mum lie ‘mattress to mattress’. Effectively, you can co-sleep with your baby with all the breastfeeding and soothing benefits, but as they are really in their own cot, you have none of the potential dangers and SIDS risk.
What we Love
I absolutely loved the fact that I could reach out to my newborn son, Joshua, slide him across for a feed and then gently slide him back, often barely waking either of us. The base has so many height options that you can draw their mattress level with yours, whatever the size of your bed.??It’s also a full size cot so rather than going through several moses baskets, cribs then cots, it suits newborns right up until your toddler is ready for their first bed. Joshua is now 16 months and a tall boy and he still fits comfortably in the cot. Its light, natural beech finish means it suits most bedrooms – parental or child.
What to watch out for
While I absolutely love this cot for giving me some more precious sleep, it does have its problems. Later on I found it quite clunky and noisy to use the drop-side function when Joshua was asleep so I had to lean over the full height of the cot side to get him into bed if he was already snoozing. The slide down side is a design marvel but you have to move the cot fully away from the bed to slide it back up again. In my case, the cot was tucked neatly between the bed and the wall in a medium-sized bedroom. It took quite some manoeuvring to get it in and out of the space, even though it has castors.
My final gripe was that, although its construction is quite simple in terms of numbers of bits and pieces, there were a few that were quite fiddly to get right, particularly to make sure the sliding side worked properly. Now that Joshua is standing up and stronger, when he rattles the side of his cot in disgust I can hear the fixings shake which concerns me a little. Undoubtedly that is down to the shoddiness of my handiwork but if there were a less fiddly solution then I might be more reassured by my DIY skills.
Who is the Cosatto Close to Me Cot best for?
Mums looking for a seamless transition between parental and baby bed, which is made of long-lasting materials and has an easy-on-the-eye design.
At well over £200 this is an expensive cot but an absolute lifesaver when baby refuses to sleep, or decides that nighttime is dinnertime. Its size means it is also a good investment as it lasts at least two years and with a competent DIY-er on board, is not too daunting to assemble.
