where to buy cot / cot mattress?

I thought we had found a cot and mattress that we really liked, but my husband's boss just warned us off this particular brand, as the drop rail on theirs had major problems and ended up falling on their daughter's head! 

I'm really struggling to find something else that we like, as the selection of cots seems pretty limited compared to what I've seen for cotbeds and I know nothing about any of these brands and what is supposed to be good, etc.  Can anyone recommend any particular stores we should check out and especially any specific brands for both cots and mattresses?  The quality of what I've seen so far has not been great and my search had me in tears last night! 

There has been a lot of controversey about drop side cribs after almost a million of them were recalled in the states last year, so personally, I would steer away from them!

Have you tried John Lewis or Mamas & Papas, also there are tons of websites like Kiddicare, Glasgow Pram Centre etc etc. The search for a cot shouldn't be that difficult that you are in tears!! Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Have you looked at Mothercare? I can't help much in the way of cots because we have cotbeds but I think they have a cot version of the cotbed I have, which I would recommend.

I would also recommend the mattresses the girls have. http://www.mothercare.com/premium-spring-interior-with-spacetec-coolmax-mattresses-Other-pages/b/206464031

What I love about this most is that it has a top cover that you can zip off and on.It's made to let air breathe between the baby and the mattress but if the baby gets this dirty it can be easily washed. There is also a waterproof layer under the detachable top so nothing can ruin the mattress and it can still be used even if the top part is being dried or whatever.

I just had a look to see if they had a cot version of the cotbed we have but I don't see anything. This is what we have, however. http://www.mothercare.com/Mothercare-Ashton-Cot-Bed-Save/dp/B001TIR68Q/sr=1-2/qid=1292408610/ref=sr_1_2/280-3164830-2421123?_encoding=UTF8&m=A2LBKNDJ2KZUGQ&n=44362031&mcb=core

Is there a reason why you need a cot over a cotbed?

We have this cot from Mothercare.

http://www.mothercare.com/Obaby-Bear-Cotbed-Country-Pine/dp/B001DK8GZ2/sr=1-1/qid=1292408985/ref=sr_1_1/277-0065860-9389204?_encoding=UTF8&m=A2LBKNDJ2KZUGQ&n=42764041&mcb=core

It is a cotbed but personally I wouldn't use it for a 'regular' bed because it doesn't seem very secure without the sides on it (I'm probably just paranoid and I'm sure it's perfectly safe but that's just me).  There's no fear of drop sides because you have to unscrew the bottom to adjust the height.

As Ashley said, is there a particular reason you don't want a cotbed.  From what I can tell they are the same when in cot form...but possibly more expensive.

Thanks for the recommendations, everyone!

We are trying to find a cot rather than a cotbed due to issues with space.  Our house is 2 bedrooms now but the spare room is two floors away from the master bedroom, and I don't feel comfortable having a child sleep that far away...it's just a really awkward set up, with the kitchen and living room not even on the same floor as the spare room (and we're holding off on moving because we may be moving back to the US when the baby would be somewhere between 15 and 18 months).  A cotbed is just too big to fit into our room but the cot dimensons we've seen would work...and I'm hoping we can just keep the baby in our room until we know one way or the other whether we're going back to the US or staying in the UK. 

We haven't gone into Mothercare yet but will check that out this weekend.  I really liked the cots we saw at Mamas and Papas but hated their mattresses and the cot I liked the best was slightly bigger than the standard cot size, so we'd have to go with their mattress for that one, I think?  I think it's the mattress search that has been the most frustrating.  That Mothercare mattress is more along the lines of what I had in mind (breathability is important since our bedroom is on the third floor and can get stuffy). This shouldn't be such a BIG DEAL but pregnancy hormones combined with dealing with a huge leak from our shower to our kitchen that our rental company still has not addressed after 4 days (!) combined with general frustration over the space issue has just left me overreacting to even the smallest things. 

We bought DD's cot (it can convert to a toddler bed by removing the one side) from IKEA. This was 2 years ago but they still carry it (it's now £50 cheaper too!): http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00118815 & they carry the mattresses too. We have this in our room and DD's now 2.5 (because we're waiting on DH's US Visa so we're still in our tiny 1 bed flat so it's kinda pointless to move right now).

We bought DD's cot (it can convert to a toddler bed by removing the one side) from IKEA.

Thanks for the link--I don't know why it didn't occur to me to check out Ikea! Will definitely take a look there, as well!

Crazy woman!  I could have told you Ikea. 

If you want to go check it out, but we are at the in-laws or something, we can always pick it up in our awesome car on another day.   

Sometimes Ikea does weird linen sizes, so make sure you buy the linens from the same place, although they are really easy to make. I made my own sheets for a cot that had a weird shaped mattress. We bought our main cot/crib/whatever from Mothercare and have been happy as a clam about it. Also - I forget there was a Cambridge contingent on here, don't you guys have meetups??

Just glomming on to say thanks for all of the info -- I've been looking, too, and the selection in a lot of the central London stores leaves something to be desired and online shopping is so thankless for determining quality.  So the first person accounts are very appreciated.   

kiddicare.com is  brilliant website, I've had so much from them and it is always fast delivery and frequently good sales.

kiddicare.com is  brilliant website, I've had so much from them and it is always fast delivery and frequently good sales.

Have you ever used anything from their own line of products, kiddicouture or whatever it's called?  I think I read that the line is fairly new, so I wasn't sure what people thought about the quality.

Oh, and yes, we do have Cambridge meetups!  Though our numbers are diminishing...maybe we can plan a get-together after the holidays?

I can second Kiddicare. They tend to be cheaper than most places and they ALWAYS have a sale on. I've not tried their own brand but they have straightforward return policy. I usually read the reviews before I buy there. If I'm a bit iffy on something and there are no reviews then I tend to not go for it. Amazon is good for reviews too.

I got my cot secondhand, so I'm not tons of help there, but we were able to get a mattress from Ikea for it and I've been very happy with it.  It fit the standard sized cots with no trouble and I've been fine with linens for it.  They had a good range of different quality levels to choose from.

Good luck!

We got our cot from Mothercare and had no problems with it for the just over a year we used it (started her out in moses basket and she refused to sleep in it from 19 months).

We've used Kiddicare for various other things as they were the best price.  Got our travel system through Glasgow Pram Centre and have had excellent customer service.