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10 best cot mattresses for baby's beds - 2019
Buying a mattress for a baby’s cot is a bit overwhelming. Normally with a mattress you just worry about comfort and back support, whereas with a baby you suddenly start wondering if everything needs to be ‘organic’ and ‘natural’.
Broadly speaking you can split cot bed mattresses into three categories
Most advice I’ve read says that a baby’s mattress should be firm, whereas older babies and toddlers should have a softer mattress. I’m not an expert on this area, but that’s what others seem to say.
We’ve picked out 10 of the best cot bed mattresses for babies in 2018 and 2019, based on expert awards, customer reviews and value for money.
Broadly speaking you can split cot bed mattresses into three categories
- Cheap cot bed mattresses made from foam. £20+
- Mid-priced cot bed mattresses made from a combination of springs and foam. £50+
- Expensive cot bed mattresses made from ‘natural’ and ‘chemical free’ materials such as wool, natural latex, coconut husk (coir) and organic cotton. £100+.
Most advice I’ve read says that a baby’s mattress should be firm, whereas older babies and toddlers should have a softer mattress. I’m not an expert on this area, but that’s what others seem to say.
We’ve picked out 10 of the best cot bed mattresses for babies in 2018 and 2019, based on expert awards, customer reviews and value for money.
1. Little Green Sheep Natural Twist - £150-£180
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Natural Twist may sound like something Mark Kermode would refer to in a movie review podcast, but it’s actually a clever and well-regarded mattress made by Little Green Sheep.
So how can a mattress be clever, I hear you ask in a sarcastic tone? Well, it’s firm on one side and soft on the other side, so you use one side until the little darling is a year old and then flip (needless to say, most parents flip long before their children reach the age of one – haha, geddit!). That means you can get five years use out of it, whereas most cot bed mattresses are only really for the first year or two when babies need a firm mattress. So, whilst it’s not the cheapest, it might actually work out better value than buying two mattresses. |
What's the twist? It's double sided...
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Anyway, when I checked it had 5/5 on Amazon and it also won bronze at the Mother and Baby Awards in 2014. It also made it onto a GQ magazine guide to ‘Right on baby products’ (whatever that means).
It’s made from ‘breathable cotton, supportive coconut coir, comfy natural latex and hypo-allergenic wool’.
Available in 140x70cm, 120x60cm and a few other unusual sizes. In case you're interested, this is the mattress our children had in their cot.
It’s made from ‘breathable cotton, supportive coconut coir, comfy natural latex and hypo-allergenic wool’.
Available in 140x70cm, 120x60cm and a few other unusual sizes. In case you're interested, this is the mattress our children had in their cot.
2. John Lewis & Partners Dual Purpose Pocket Spring Cotbed Mattress - £200
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The John Lewis & Partners Dual Purpose Pocket Spring Cotbed Mattress is mostly polypropylene with some polyester (foam, basically so not 'natural materials') but has lots of pocket springs, which are the superior option in the mattress market (don’t buy an open coil mattress if you can avoid it).
It has a removable and washable outer cover and is another one which manages the clever trick of being firmer on one side than the other. One one side it's a a firm mattress, so is more suited for young babies (older children can have a more comfortable softer bed, according to most guides I’ve read). It comes with a 5 year guarantee. Available in 140x70cm. |
The John Lewis cotbed mattress is popular with customers and experts
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3. Mothercare Airflow Pocket Spring Mattress - £145
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Mothercare's Airflow Pocket Spring mattress won Gold in the Best Sleep Product category at the Mother and Baby Awards 2018 and silver in 2019. It also got the thumbs up from Mumsnet and was scoring about 4.5/5 from customers when I checked.
It can't claim to be wholly 'natural' as it's mostly made from polyester with a PVC cover, but it uses pocket springs, which are much better than cheaper open coil springs which you’ll find in some cheap mattresses. The cover is removable and they claim it is specially designed to stop overheating. It's available in 140cm x 70cm (standard cot), 190cm x 90cm (typical single bed) or 60cm x 120cm (smaller cot, sometimes called 'continental') |
Mothercare's Airflow Pocket Spring mattress won at the Mother and Baby Awards 2018
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4. Mother Nurture Foam Cot Bed Mattress - £20-£25
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There’s not a great deal to say about the Mother Nurture Foam Cot Bed Mattress, apart from the fact that it’s a rectangle made entirely of foam. There are no springs, no organically sourced coconut fibres or wool from Himalayan goats. It won’t guarantee your child a place at Cambridge or impress your NCT friends. It really is just a rectangle of foam.
So why have we included it in our guide to 10 of the best cot bed mattresses?
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A highly rated cot bed mattress for £20
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- Secondly, it gets very good reviews with an average of about 4/5 on Amazon.
- Thirdly, even if this isn’t your main mattress it might be useful as a second mattress at the in-laws house (rather than trying to take a mattress in the car every time, which isn’t much fun).
It claims to be firm enough for babies, but soft enough for older children. Presumably this is either achieved through magic, or by being medium firmness.
This one is available in 140cmx70cm but there’s a similarly priced Mother Nurture mattress in 120cmx60cm
5. Naturalmat Quilted Coco Mat Cot Mattress - £150
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The Naturalmat Quilted Coco Mat Cot Mattress has won a couple of awards from Mother and Baby (Silver, 2017) and Made For Mums (Bronze, 2017 and Silver, 2018). There’s a quilted version and a non-quilted version, but it’s the quilted one which has won the prizes (‘quilted’ refers to the criss-cross pattern on top).
In case you are interested, it is mostly made from a Coconut by-product (coir) and it doesn’t contain any springs. The cover is removable. There aren’t a lot of reviews compared to some, but those that I’ve found are positive. You can get it in 60cm x 120cm, 70cm x 140cm and it also comes in 90x190cm which is a standard single bed size. Natural Mat also won a silver award in the Loved by Parents award in 2013 for their ‘Latex Mat’. |
The brown stuff is a coconut husk ('coir')
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6. Clevamama ClevaFoam Support Mattress Cot - £70
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I must admit I’d not heard of Flat Head Syndrome before I found this mattress but according to the blurb, some mattresses increase the risk of Plagiocephaly (by the way, if you’re a new parent, you’ll soon get used to worrying about things you'd never heard of).
It is, essentially, a foam mattress but it claims to have been specially developed with academics from Trinity College in Dublin to ‘protect the round shape of your baby's soft head’. I’ve included it because it gets glowing customer reviews (4.8/5 when I checked). Available in 140cm x 70cm and 120cm x 60cm |
This mattress claims to reduce the risk of 'Flat Head Syndrome'
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7. Mother Nurture Pocket Spring Mattress - £50
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I’d describe this Mother Nurture pocket spring mattress as a mid-priced, mid-range mattress which will do the job for people who aren’t looking for super-dooper organic, natural materials.
For your money it offers:
I’ve included it because it’s very similar to lots of mattresses on the market which cost about £100, but it’s a fair bit cheaper. It only seems to be available in 140x70cm unfortunately. |
This Mother Nurture mattress has good specs for the pricetag
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8. Kit for Kids Ventiflow Cot Bed Mattress - £60
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Here's another low priced mattress which gets solid customer reviews and is made from a combination of springs and foam.
As far as I can tell, the main difference between the Kit for Kids Kidtex Spring Cot Bed Mattress and the Mother Nurture Pocket Sprung Mattress (£50 - see above) is how the springs are constructed. The Mother Nurture mattress uses pocket springs, whereas the springs in this mattress are linked. By this point, I imagine you have drifted off to sleep at this dull discussion of springs. Anyway, the point is that when you are talking about adult mattresses, pocket springs are better than linked springs. Available in 140cm x 70cm |
Another cheap spring and foam mattress which gets very good reviews
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9. East Coast Nursery Cleaner Sleep Micro Pocket Spring Cot Mattress - £90
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And the prize for the longest mattress title goes to East Coast Nursery Cleaner Sleep Micro Pocket Spring Cot Mattress.
It makes our list because it was Gold winner at the Mother and Baby Awards 2019 in the sleep category - although we've struggled to find customer reviews for this one so do a bit of digging in case some have appeared in the interim. It's got a removable cover, which is convenient, and uses a combination of micro pocket springs and foam. It's also got a 'amicor luxury anti-microbial fabric' which they say is good for allergies. |
This one was the winner at the Mother and Baby Awards 2019
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10. Slumberland Luxury Pocket Sprung Mattress - £145
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The Slumberland Luxury Pocket Sprung Mattress is another which was praised at the Mother and Baby Awards 2019. It won a silver prize in the 'sleep' category and a gold prize in the 'safety' category.
A useful feature is that you can wash the sleeping surface at 60 degrees and it uses pocket springs, which are the posh type for those who are taking notes. It's made by a mattress company you've probably heard of and it's made in the UK. It's got something called an 'Actipro treatment' which is an anti allergy thing, but sounds like something you'd apply to an astroturf at the local leisure centre. Available in 140x70cm and 120x60cm. |
Slumberland's cot mattress has won gold and silver awards
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