Thinking of converting blobby jr’s cot bed into something that can more easily be packed in the car. This will likely involve taking a saw to the base and sides and chopping in half. Question is what sort of fixing would be best to use to reassemble?

Had a look at the cam dowels but I don’t think they’d offer enough support. Maybe drill a deeper hole in each side and have a longer steel rod for support, but then I need something to pull the two halves together. I guess I could just use a couple of thick zip ties around the bars top and bottom for that.

Any other ideas? Preferably something I can pick up at screwfix or b&q.

Edit: This is the sort of bed I’m talking about…

Why do you want it to be easily packed into a car?

Why not just buy a travel cot?

Why not just buy a travel cot?

+1. A tenner from a second hand kids shop, or ebay.

dooosuk, that is a very good question. Blobby Jr is not liking the travel cot, he’s getting a bit big for it I think, and another sleepless weekend away is not an appealing prospect. Hence wanting to see if we can take his bed away with us somehow.

All of the strength is in the height of the side walls the base that supports the mattress has tiny fixings that will not easily support the 2 end faces.

Our cot that can be converted into a cot bed has to side rails that replace the sides of the cot, they are solid wood and about 200mm high and connect just below the matress like a normal bed base so you could try something along these lines.

How old is blobby jr why not just take the cot mattress and make him a bed on the floor. Ours have always liked sleeping on the floor.

He’s 15 months, we could put a mattress on the floor but he’d be off it in minutes!

I was thinking of sawing the two side panels in half and having some rod through the top and bottom horizontals in order to fasten them back together.

How old is blobby jr why not just take the cot mattress and make him a bed on the floor. Ours have always liked sleeping on the floor.

This. Or this

alternatively let him spend a couple of nights in his travel cot when at home to get used to it before going anywhere.

Don’t let him have his own way about where he sleeps it will only end in tears……. yours…..

Don’t let him have his own way about where he sleeps it will only end in tears……. yours..

+100000000000

Prior to de-cotting, her majesty used to sleep away in a Phil & Ted’s travel cot, which is extremely sturdy, and really quite large, whilst still lightweight. She a)liked it, b)didn’t turn it over, and c)couldn’t climb out, which is an advantage over some other things we tried.

Now she is in a toddler bed, we have a ready bed (sort of inflatable thing, pretty cheap). She isn’t locked in it, but she does mainly stay in it, and as long as the room isn’t freezing, it doesn’t matter if she goes and sleeps on the floor somewhere until we find her.

At some point pretty soon, you’re going to have to deal with your kid pottering around at will anyway and drop the side right down, you get to the point where they can climb out of the cot (can’t remember when that was for us, but I think before 2), and it is safer to take the side off than have them dropping down the full height of the cot every time they wake up at night.

Both Jr Stoners would sleep on a dog bed when we went away. A blanket wrapped around and under the bed made it into a kind of sleeping pouch. Put it on the floor with the head end against a wall.

Mrs Stoner apparently used to be tucked into drawer when she was on holiday as a nipper. Explains a lot. 🙂

Have checked out the ready beds and they do look good, I don’t think he’s quite old enough yet but give it a few months and we’ll go for one.

As for getting his own way… he’s fine about getting in it and getting to sleep initially, so it’s not like he refuses to sleep in it. He just wakes a lot and can’t settle himself back to sleep. He’s quite a light sleeper anyway. Maybe more daytime naps in it is the answer.

In the meantime I’m off down B&Q for a browse…

Our youngest also struggled with travel cots – in the end, sorted it by buying a piece of foam cut to size to fit snugly in the bottom so it approx matched the feel of her matress….. in fact now she’s grown out of the travel cot, she just sleeps on a piece of the same (but now larger) foam if we go away now.

and i thought my mrs made us take a lot of stuff….

Haha, we have trimmed down massively. Away with friends of ours last weekend who have a smaller baby. They had a full top box and a big car packed to the gunnels. We had everything in the boot of a golf, didn’t even need to take the estate.