A week of sleep training – Cosatto Story Cotbed review

If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen a few stressy tweets about Lambs bedtime routine. Recently it has been all over the place, to the point of us co-sleeping for the last 4 months.

We saw a difference in his sleeping pattern this summer. I couldn’t tell you what caused it, but what I can tell you is going on holiday made it a million times worse. Sharing a room with Lamb in our hotel meant he was scared to go back into his own room when we returned. He literally screamed for hours and refused to lay down in his cot. Maybe he had suffered with night terrors, maybe he was scared of the dark, but this being unknown to us made it so much harder to overcome.

I shouldn’t of let it go on for so long but I was exhausted, stressed and on my own a lot of the time while Daddy Lamb worked night shifts. Putting Lamb in my bed meant he would fall asleep at a decent time and I would have some of my evening to myself. I honestly don’t know how I got anything done over the last 4 months. But, of course, this was a recipe for disaster and made everything a trillion times worse. Deep down, I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I just wanted to peace and quiet!

With our wedding rapidly approaching (yes, it’s in 11 days), last week I decided enough was enough and something triggered in me to fight Lambs fear of sleeping alone. You definitely need to be mentally prepared for sleep training. I knew I would lose a lot of sleep and would have a very upset toddler on my hands. But I didn’t care. I was ready.

Four months ago I threw in the towel and gave in to lambs bedtime demands, but things were about to change! Including Lambs bedroom! I think this is what prepared me for the sleep training. A new bedroom, a new routine, and in that new bedroom, a new Cosatto Story Cotbed!

So lets start with a little bit about the Cosatto Story Cotbed. It’s strong and sturdy. That’s what I noticed first of all and what impressed me the most. The cot we had previous to this one cost around £200, so not a cheap cot, but not the most expensive one. The Cosatto cot is in a different league. Ok, so the price tag is quite high, and if I’m honest that would normally put me off, which is why writing reviews like this is vital for the higher priced products. People need to know you get what you pay for.

The underneath drawer is so useful for us. We struggle with storage in our house so having an extra large space to put things like towels and blankets, opens up space for storing more of Lambs clothes and remove them from my wardrobe!

Lamb is obviously too old to use the cot-top changer, but again, a really useful space saver. Other than for storage (Lambs changing table has 4 large baskets), we didn’t use the changing table very long. I think for my next baby I would have to rely on a cot-top changer as we have a small house and I know a second baby would push the space we have to our limit!

A few details about the Cosatto Story Cotbed…

• 3 in 1 cot bed
• Suitable from birth to 5 years
• Safety teething rails
• 3 mattress heights
• 3 modes: cot, junior bed and sofa
• External size: 145 x 77 x 95.5cm
• Matching cot-top changer
• Changer top: L: 80cm W: 50cm
• Matching under-cot drawer
• RRP £410

Introducing Mr. Robot…

When we first introduced Lamb to Mr. Robot he didn’t seem too excited. I was secretly hoping he would see his shiny, new, yellow cot and love his bedroom again. How naive was I? Well, I love him and so does Daddy Lamb (“this cot is incredible!”) and we were determined to make Little Lamb love him too.

So here is how the sleep training went…

As soon as I put Lamb in his cot he cried. Letting him play in the drawer and get used to his new bedroom gave him a little more confidence when I left him alone in his room. It has taken lots of small steps, but taking my time with leaving him alone has slowly progressed into me being able to put him in the cot with no tears.

A week ago if someone had told me in 7 days time Lamb will be sleeping in his cot again I would have laughed in their face. Then 7 days later I would have apologised to them for laughing and high fived them for being totally right!

It’s taken 7 long days and nights of laying in the cot with Lamb (yes, I said it, in the cot), sleeping on a spare mattress next to the cot, and lots of “mummy will be back in a minute”, and we finally have a boy in his own bed.

Ok, so the bedtime routine isn’t perfect, and I’m still laying with him to settle him into bed. He’s still waking in the night once or twice, and often has a bottle to settle him again, but the main thing for us is he’s sleeping in his cot again. This is a huge achievement. Thank you so much to Cosatto for providing us with the stepping stone to this new bedtime routine. Lamb is now Mr. Robots best friend and often kisses him goodnight!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post on our new Cosatto Story Cotbed, and my experience with sleep training Lamb. I’d love to know your top tips and advice on sleep training as there’s still some perfecting for us to do. If you have any questions about anything in this post, please get in touch, I’d love to hear from you.

Alex x

 

 

* we were sent this product free of charge in exchange for our honest opinion and review.