How to Choose the Right Baby Cot for Your Nursery
A cot is not just furniture. It is where your baby sleeps most hours of the day, for months on end. Getting it wrong is not a small mistake. In Australia, every cot sold new must meet a strict rule called AS/NZS 2172:2003, and second hand cots need to meet it too. If you are ready to shop our baby cots range, here is what actually matters before you buy, backed by the safety checklists doctors and nurses use every day.
The Numbers That Actually Matter
| Measurement | Safe Range |
| Space between cot bars | 50mm to 95mm |
| Mattress to cot side gap | No more than 20mm |
| Mattress top to cot top | At least 500mm |
| Mattress base to cot top | At least 600mm |
| Protrusions on the cot | No more than 8mm |
These numbers are not random, and nobody picked them out of thin air. A gap wider than 95mm between bars can trap a baby’s head. A mattress sitting too high lets an older baby climb out and fall onto a hard floor. Every single number on that table exists because a real baby got hurt before someone sat down and measured the gap properly.
Why the Standard Exists at All
Australia made AS/NZS 2172 mandatory because loose voluntary rules simply were not working well enough. A cot bought secondhand at a garage sale, missing its compliance label, with wide bar gaps and a soft old mattress, is genuinely risky, no matter how charming it looks in the corner. Check for the compliance label before you hand over any money. No label means no purchase, and that rule has no exceptions. It should be printed right on the cot frame, the box, or the instruction sheet.
Fixed Base or Adjustable Base
- Fixed base cots need at least 60cm of depth from mattress top to cot rail
- Adjustable base cots let you raise the mattress for a newborn and lower it as they grow
- Lower the base the moment your baby can pull themselves up to standing, usually around 6 to 9 months
- Locking castor wheels matter if the cot has wheels at all, brakes on at least one pair, always
Adjustable base models tend to last longer through the toddler years, which makes the higher upfront price easier to justify for most families.
What to Leave Out of the Cot
No pillows. No doonas. No bumpers. No soft toys propped in the corner overnight. This feels harsh to say so plainly, but soft bedding sits at the centre of a lot of avoidable sleep accidents, and safety groups have pushed this message for decades because the evidence keeps backing it up. A firm, flat, snug fitting mattress paired with a baby sleeping bag beats a cozy looking cot every single time, even if it looks bare in photos.
My Real Opinion on Cot Shopping
Skip the cots with carved decorations and drop-side rails, even the pretty vintage-looking ones. Drop-side cots caused enough injuries overseas that several countries banned the design outright, and gaps can still appear as the mechanism wears down over time. A plain, solid, standards-compliant cot beats a decorative one that quietly cuts corners on safety. Spend your decorating budget on the nursery walls and curtains instead, not on the cot frame itself.
