Do you feel laden down with baby paraphernalia? Do you make 15 trips from the car to the house when returning from a day trip?

It’s inevitable that you need to carry a bit more kit with you when you have a baby or toddler but it is possible to consolidate this into a manageable amount and not end up feeling like a mule crossing the Himalayas.

Whether you are spending one night with grandparents or two weeks in the south of France what your baby will need is somewhere to sleep.

Some doting grannies will install a cot in their home and many hotels and holiday houses will offer a cot but often you’ll need to take your own.

A host of different uses

Baby travel cots are used for a host of different events depending on your lifestyle. A compact, portable, light baby travel cot can be perfect for a long day spent in the park or at the beach as it gives your baby a little cocoon in which to sleep. A high sided travel cot with see-through mesh sides can make a very useful playpen either at home or elsewhere when your marauding baby needs to be contained. If you don’t have room or don’t wish to buy two cots when you have babies very close in age, a travel cot can usefully bridge the gap until the older toddler moves into a junior or single size bed.

What to look for

As with all other baby items, you will have to make the decision about how much to spend and the main points to consider are:

How much use you are likely to make of your baby travel cot?
Often the only socialising you get to do with a very young baby is when you go to friends’ for supper and take the baby along. You don’t want to arrive looking as though you are staying for a fortnight so consider a very compact baby cot such as Urchin Samsonite Pop up Travel Bed. You can use this for the first 6 months and its great for the beach, park or garden as well. You can safely use this compact travel cot whilst on holiday but be sure to keep your baby away from draughts on the floor and you may want to add another layer of padding beneath the mattress.

The size when erected
Some baby travel cots are huge! Most children are sleeping in a bed by about 2 ½ so you don’t really need a travel cot which is long enough for a 4 year old…

The size when folded
This is very important to consider especially when you have to pack the boot of your car with all the other stuff and also if you are flying and need to check the travel cot in with your luggage. The Twin-Arc travel cot is a mere 50cm x 20cm when packed away. Once more it is tried, tested and approved by our customers - see the great reviews.

The weight of the travel cot
Thank goodness for technology! Travel cots used to weigh a ton but thanks to clever new designs you needn’t feel as though you’ve been to the gym after putting your travel cot up. The LittleLife Twin-Arc Travel Cot is a full size travel cot but weighs only 2.6kg – that’s the same as a couple of bags of sugar!

Is the travel cot washable
Yup – it’s inevitable that leakages from most orifices will occur…make sure your can chuck any fabric parts in the wash or at the very least scrub with soap and water.

What is the travel cot mattress like
There has probably been more written about baby mattresses in the last few years than the state of the nation and it has become a bit of a minefield of information. Some simple rules apply – a breathable mattress is preferable, a solid plastic cover will make your baby sweaty in the heat and you need to be able to find a sheet to fit.

The age suitability of the travel cot
Sometimes all-singing, all dancing, and multi functional products are trying to cover so many areas that they don’t do any single job properly. Try and think about what you will use your baby travel cot for and buy accordingly. A young toddler who can stand up will need a high sided cot which does not tip over; a floor-based cot such as LittleLife Twin-Arc Travel Cot is perfect.

You’ll know if you’ve chosen wisely if you and your baby have a good night’s sleep and if your friends say “wow, you look so calm and chilled…I was expecting you to have so much stuff with you!”

Just smile………………..