Cots or Mattresses

[JeepGirl6]

I have been using actual crib mattresses that I bought for nap time for children 18 months and up since I have started my daycare 5 years ago. Do any of you use crib mattresses? Each child has their own mattress and I wipe them down weekly. I found cots for sale by a lady near me. She has 4 cots and will sell them to me for $20 each. Should I switch to cots? Does this look more professional? I just thought the mattresses were more comfortable for the children. What do you guys think?

I feel in a way this sets me apart from a child care center because they are required to have cots. I think if my child was going to a home daycare I would prefer him to be on a mattress because he will be more comfortable.

[Michael]

Similar thread: https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63788

[JeepGirl6]

Thanks Michael! Anyone else?? Maybe nobody else uses actual mattresses?

If you had a choice in a home daycare would you want your child to sleep on a crib mattress or a cot?

[JoseyJo]

Thanks Michael! Anyone else?? Maybe nobody else uses actual mattresses?

If you had a choice in a home daycare would you want your child to sleep on a crib mattress or a cot?

Personally I would prefer cots (both as a parent and a dcp). Right now I use mats as I don't have room to store cots.

[Leigh]

I like the cots because they are easy to clean, stackable, durable, and the kids LOVE them. The cots I use are like this: http://www.schoolsin.com/ecr_stackable_kiddie_kots.html

I can't say that I think using mattresses is wrong, but I would not choose them.

I chose cots because I am not allowed to use mats for overnight care, but must use a cot or a bed. I couldn't see buying mats AND cots. I would LIKE to have easy-to-store mats!

[Cradle2crayons]

I use the 3 inch thick mats. And honestly, hose are pretty dang comfortable, and yes I've slept on them while camping. If they support my heavy self, I'm sure a child would think hey are pretty soft too.

I wouldn't use mattresses myself, although if I had to, I would use the ones that have the easy to clean non staining overlay on them.

[JoseyJo]

I use camping mats over carpet squares. They are MUCH more durable than the kinder-mats (we have had ours for 5+ years and never had to replace one) and can be cut down if needed (they start out 6 ft long so we cut ours down to about 4.5 ft). I made my own pillowcase-type covers for them out of twin sheets- I think I got 2 out of every flat sheet, and I made pillows w/ cases to match each one out of the rest of the sheet. When I do them again I won't make the pillow cases as I wash each pillow every week anyway so the cases on the pillows aren't useful.

It was a lot of work to get it all done, but I still have the original ones going strong!

That being said I would rather have cots as I think they "look" more comfortable. The kids don't ever complain about the mats and sleep well but as an adult I would rather sleep on a cot