Mamas & Papas Premium Dual Core Cotbed Mattress - 140x70x10cm

Product Information

Silver Cross is a much-loved brand but it’s branched out beyond its iconic prams and is now turning out equally iconic cot mattresses. Any parent will tell you that sleep (both yours and your baby’s) is the only thing on your wish list for the first few years of parenthood. So anything you can do to ensure a good night’s sleep for your baby - and for you too - is more than worthwhile. It's our mission to make parents' lives easier, so we've reviewed our fair share of baby beds over the years - take a look at our round-up of the best cribs and best travel cots if you're looking for a better night's sleep. Before we recommend new products, we always ask our trusted Mumsnet users, of which there are more than 7 million each month. That’s a lot of honest, impartial advice. Expert guidance Truthfully, the look of a baby cot mattress should always be secondary to safety. There’s no getting around it. You might like ribbons and frou frou around your four-poster bed, but where a child sleeps should be kept simple and unfussy.

But essentially, if you want to give the mattress a thorough clean, first remove the cover, wash it according to the instructions and ensure it is thoroughly dry. Some mattresses can be washed themselves, but most are wipe-clean at best. And because purchasing a new mattress is crucial for a supportive and protective night's sleep, we'll always be here to help your growing family settle into their sleep routine. Coil spring cot mattress – open coil springs surrounded by foam and fillings. Tends to be sturdier than a typical foam mattress. According to the National Childbirth Trust, British Safety Standards are your friend and you should specifically look for products conforming to them. Horrible as it is to even think of such a thing, these protocols are in place to reduce the number of accidental infant deaths that occur each year due to strangulation or suffocation.

With features including perspiration control and temperature regulating additives, baby will be cool and comfortable all night long. With a water repellent and a wipe-clean inner, you can keep your mattress clean and protected against nighttime incidents. Great peace of mind. If some of the premium cot mattresses feel like quite the outlay for the year or two your child will use them, the Snüz SnüzSurface Duo will impress you as it’s suitable from birth up to age four. It isn’t cheap, but we were seriously impressed with the clever design at work here. Some have a special surface for sleeping on that might be water-repellent or hypoallergenic, for example, so that needs to stay on top. Others, such as the Snüz Surface Duo Cot Mattress and the Silver Cross True Fit Superior Cot Bed Mattress above, have a ‘baby’ side and a ‘toddler’ side with differing levels of firmness. There’s no getting around it. Cot mattresses aren’t a buy for life, so lots will end up in landfill. But if you’re fully committed to a green-friendly solution, be careful to read the small print.

Run your hand across the top surface of the mattress. It should be completely flat, with no bumps, dips or bunched-up bits.

For support, your choice of cot mattress should be no thinner than 8cm. However, a minimum of 10cm is what most experts, including Which?, recommend.

The mattress has two different surfaces (one on either side, obviously): a slightly firmer surface for babies to give them the safe support they need, and a softer side for toddlers. To change between the two sides, you just zip off the removable cover and turn the mattress around inside it. Hollow-frame (Purflo) cot mattress – advertised as fully breathable and fully washable. It’s basically a mesh cover stretched over an open frame. Expensive. The average lifespan of a cot mattress is anything between 0 to 48 months. After that point, it's time to move into a big kid bed. Best practice is to always buy a new cot mattress for each child. How do I clean a cot mattress? As a rough guide, foam mattresses are cheap and cheerful and not especially hardwearing, but that might be no bad thing if you’re planning to replace it when those little night accidents stop happening.Spring-interior mattresses are mini versions of a typical adult mattresses and coir and Purflo mattresses are part of a subset of innovative, premium-priced ‘green’ products.

If you’re going for a more premium brand, you might want to think about its longevity. Some mattresses will last a child up to four years of age, such as the Snüz Surface Duo Cot Mattress and the Silver Cross True Fit Superior Cot Bed Mattress that we’ve featured in our round-up, so suddenly a slightly hefty price tag doesn’t seem so bad. Are secondhand cot mattresses safe? verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ Like the Snüz Surface Duo Cot Mattress, above, this mattress has two surfaces: the firmer baby surface and, on the other side, a softer surface for when your baby grows into a toddler. The main difference is that this mattress is a cot bed model only, which we think is a more natural fit for this type of baby-to-toddler option. It also has a waterproof cover that's removable and washable, like the Snüz - a very practical addition. For the first two years of their life, your baby will sleep for around 13 months. That's a lot of sleep, but it's vital for developing their cognitive skills and nervous system. So, it's fair to say that sleep is essential, especially as it gives you chance to catch up on some much-needed rest as well. It’s a good idea to rotate your baby’s mattress 180 degrees every month or so, just so that it wears evenly. Most mattresses these days don’t flip.

How long does a cot mattress last?

Secondhand mattresses are best avoided – if only because the links between passed-on mattresses and cot death can neither be confirmed nor refuted. In 2002, a BBC story said that researchers at The Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow claimed to have found a "significant” link between having a secondhand mattress and a risk of cot death. No causation was established, but it’s worth bearing in mind. You should also ensure that the mattress fits well, with no gaps between the mattress and the cot, and that the mattress itself is both clean and dry. What size should a cot mattress be?