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, 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, based on expert awards, customer reviews and value for money.
1. Silentnight Safe Nights Memory Wool mattress - £120-£150
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Silentnight is probably the biggest name in the UK mattress market and their Safe Nights Memory Wool mattress won Best Nursery Product at the Mother and Baby Awards 2016 and Best Safety Product at the Loved By Parents Awards 2015 and 2016. It also made a top 10 list on a website called Emma’s Diary and it is approved by Allergy UK.
It can’t claim to be organic or anything but it is foam free and instead uses a ‘natural fibre’ called memory wool (no, I’ve never heard of it either). It also uses pocket springs, which are much better than cheaper open coil springs which you’ll find in some cheap mattresses. The cover is removable. |
Silentnight won an award at the Mother and Baby awards
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Another thing going for this mattress is that it is widely available. However, it’s only available in 140cm x 70cm as far as I can tell.
One other fancy feature is that one side is suitable for winter, and another is for summer.
It is recommended for 0-2 year olds.
One other fancy feature is that one side is suitable for winter, and another is for summer.
It is recommended for 0-2 year olds.
2. John Lewis Pocket Spring Cotbed Mattress - £100 - £180
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The John Lewis Pocket Spring Cotbed Mattress gets consistently strong customer reviews (4.4 out of 5 when I checked) and it has been given an award by independent product testers. It is mostly polyester with some polyurethane (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).
The unusual feature about this cotbed mattress is it has an outer washable cover and then a waterproof inner cover which can be slept on if the bed gets wet in the night. If you’ve ever attempted to find a clean sheet and change it in the dark then you’ll realise this could be a useful feature… It is a firm mattress, so more suited for young babies (older children can have a more comfortable softer bed, according to most guides I’ve read). Comes with a 5 year guarantee. Available in 140x70cm and 120x60cm |
The John Lewis cotbed mattress is popular with customers and experts
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3. 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
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
4. Harrison Spinks Baby Natural Start No. 2 - £240
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Harrison Spinks is at the classy end of the UK mattress market. The company was named best manufacturer at the National Bed Federation Awards in 2014 and they also make the John Lewis Natural Collection of adult mattresses.
Their Baby Natural Start No. 2 won a gold award in the cot/cotbed category as part of the Mumii Best Baby and Toddler Gear Awards 2016. It has about 1000 mini pocket springs. Any mattress seller will tell you that pocket springs are much more supportive than grotty old ‘open coil’ or ‘traditional’ springs. It also contains ‘sumptuous filling blends of mohair, Herdwick wool and home-grown Yorkshire hemp’ and has an organic cotton cover. The cover is non-removable, so you’ll probably want to get a mattress protector as well. It costs about twice as much as most cot mattresses, but you can flip it over to reveal a softer side which is suitable for toddlers so you can use it for longer than most cot bed mattresses (up until they are 5 years old) |
Harrison Spinks make posh mattresses for adults and babies
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5. 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 4.5/5 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 120cmx60c
6. 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). 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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7. 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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8. Mother Nurture Luxury Quilted Pocket Spring Cot Bed Mattress - £60
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I’d describe the 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’s similar in specification to the Cosatto Springi Cot Bed Mattress, which is about £85 |
This Mother Nurture mattress has good specs for the pricetag
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9. Kit for Kids Kidtex Spring Cot Bed Mattress - £40 - £50
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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 Sping Cot Bed Mattress and the Mother Nurture Luxury Quilted Pocket Spring Cot Bed Mattress (£60 - see number 8) 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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10. Kit for Kids Ellergenics Cotbed mattress - £250
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And the prize for making up new words goes to…Ellergenics!
Anyway, this Kit for Kids mattress is worth considering if you are dealing with allergies. It is (according to their own website) ‘the first cot mattress to have the seal of approval from Allergy UK’. It claims to be effective at keeping out dust mites and fungi. I also like it because it is double sided, with a firm side for young babies and a softer side for toddlers. There aren’t many reviews, but those I could find were positive. It’s not cheap, but because you can turn it over, it should last for a few years rather than just getting a year or two out of it (young babies need firm mattresses according to most guides, toddlers can have a softer mattress). |
Ellergenics - it's a bit pricey, but it's good for allergies and double sided
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