travel cot

If you are planning to buy a rental home, or you're thinking about what to do with one you have just acquired, this is the place for any questions about starting out in the rentals business.
ClareW
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travel cot

Post by ClareW »

Should I supply a travel cot (and mattress?) or do most people bring their own? I wouldnt supply baby bedding for obvious reasons!
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

I supply a travel cot - it came from John Lewis and is easy to dismantle and store :)
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Cymraes
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Post by Cymraes »

I don't supply one (or any baby equipment other than stair gates).

I wouldn't have wanted my baby to sleep in a cot that I wasn't 100% sure was OK so I always took my own. I suspect other parents are similar.

I also don't want the potential liability should anything happen to the baby using equipment I'd provided. I'm always seeing recalls of equipment and I have no desire to hang around baby equipment sites to make sure what I have is still considered OK.
Ecosse
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Post by Ecosse »

Yes, definitely supply one, if you're targeting families. Their cars are full enough already without having to fit a cot in as well. We have two for use in our gite - about 80% of families with under 3s use our cots in the summer (when the majority of our guests are 1-3 nighters) and that rises to 100% in winter when large families rent our place for the week. We have a couple of fold up ones, and only provide a sheet, parents provide the rest of the bedding.
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

I think there's a bit of a division along location lines :D I don't know too many who would want to lug a travel cot onto an aeroplane, particularly as they are likely to have a buggy to haul with them. I don't set out to attract babes in arms, but I do have the travel cot, a baby bath and a high chair. The travel cot has been used maybe three times across three seasons.
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

I wouldn't have wanted my baby to sleep in a cot that I wasn't 100% sure was OK so I always took my own. I suspect other parents are similar.

Well, no, not in my experience. I supply cots and travel cots and every family without question has been very grateful as it saves hugely on space in the car. The only time anyone has brought their own cot is because they were staying somewhere else that didn't supply them or for sleeping on the ferry.
I supply mattresses to go in the travel cots as some aren't very comfortable.
Jenster
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Post by Jenster »

I supply a cot but no bedding or matress because of the current sids advice about not using these if other babies have slept in them. It's really up to the parents if they want to use the cot or bring their own, but some appreciate it I'm sure.
Bunny
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Post by Bunny »

I supply a travel cot and an additional thicker mattress but no bedding. My experience is that 100% of guests with a baby have used it, despite the majority of my guests arriving by car from the UK.

However, I have to admit, that when my daughter was a baby I would have preferred to have brought my own.
rosebud
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Post by rosebud »

i provide a travel cot as I have a space under a bed where it can be kept. There is a very thin mattress that came with the cot. I don't supply any other bedding.

I bought it when a guest was coming from Italy and asked if I had one (although she had local friends so could have borrowed one). That was in Feb 2014. It has only been used once since - this July!

I have offered it to a couple of UK families but they said they would bring their own.

I also have a clip on pocket chair that converts a dining chair into a high chair. A suggestion from the guest from Italy. It folds up so doesn't take up much storage space..

I am a bit confused re bedding myself...
Fleur
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Travel cots etc

Post by Fleur »

We don't have many small children or babies stay here. Last year I replaced our geriatric travel cot (it did have a newer mattress) . It was used by our grandchildren when they visited, no ill effects and one baby was only 6 weeks old when she slept in it.
I bought a really good, second hand Graco travel cot, which had been barely used. In the local supermarket I bought a new mattress as the one in the cot is extremely thin. I also bought a waterproof mattress protector.
I provide good clean bedding for the cot, fitted sheets and blankets that I leave stored in a zip bag. It's up to the guest whether they use them or not.
We have a high chair and a baby bath and stand-step stools for little ones to use in the bathrooms.

Impossible to use a stairgate here as our stairs are very narrow and standard size stairgates won't fit. We have never got round to having custom made stair gates. Our grandchildren have managed the stairs well so we won't bother to invest in stairgates now.
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Ecosse
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Post by Ecosse »

Just for info, sids isn't really an issue after 6 months of age - the risk (albeit always low) gradually rises up to the age of 4 months and then decreases to virtually zero at 6 months. That's not to say there aren't cot deaths after that, but the risk is only as great as any child dying in their sleep.

So, as most parents are still in the 'argh' days of parenting with an under 6 month old, and are therefore less likely to travel than those with older babies, cot bedding is not as much as an issue for us holiday home owners as you might think.

We don't provide anything other than a protective sheet simply because kids tend to sleep better in a bed that smells of home. It saves on our washing, too :)

...and yes, while I would describe myself as a fairly relaxed parent, I still spent the first 6 months of my 3 kids' lives sleeping with my hand in their crib, checking for signs of life!
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

My housekeeper has one that we use if it is asked for, along with other baby equipment she has saved from her own children.
newtimber
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Re: Travel cots etc

Post by newtimber »

Fleur wrote: I bought a really good, second hand Graco travel cot, which had been barely used. In the local supermarket I bought a new mattress as the one in the cot is extremely thin. I also bought a waterproof mattress protector.
For health and safety reasons, you need to be careful about using a different mattress to the one supplied with the travel cot. If you look at the manufacturers website for your travel cot and read the instructions, some warn you not to do this. If the instructions for the one you have say this and there is an accident, you would have no defence at all. (I don't know which Graco travel cot you have, but this one http://download.gracobaby.com/ProductIn ... 58372F.pdf is an example) Others provide detailed specifications and size of any replacement mattress and say you should never use a second mattress in the cot - the mattress should be a replacement for the supplied one.
In my opinion, it's really not worth the risk and would only provide a travel cot as is.
Jenster
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Post by Jenster »

Agree with Newtimber. We only ever used the matress that came with the travel cot when mine were little. Babies are so light that extra padding isn't really necessary.

Edited to add: I think the reason some travel cots warn not to use other matresses is because of the danger of a little one getting trapped between the cot and the matress if it doesn't fit properly.
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Cymraes
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Re: Travel cots etc

Post by Cymraes »

newtimber wrote:
For health and safety reasons, you need to be careful about using a different mattress to the one supplied with the travel cot. If you look at the manufacturers website for your travel cot and read the instructions, some warn you not to do this. If the instructions for the one you have say this and there is an accident, you would have no defence at all. (I don't know which Graco travel cot you have, but this one http://download.gracobaby.com/ProductIn ... 58372F.pdf is an example) Others provide detailed specifications and size of any replacement mattress and say you should never use a second mattress in the cot - the mattress should be a replacement for the supplied one.
In my opinion, it's really not worth the risk and would only provide a travel cot as is.
And this is exactly why I took the decision to not supply any baby equipment. You do things with the best intentions and it can come back and bite!
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