***PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS COST HAS BEEN RECALLED DUE TO SAFETY REASONS. DO NOT BUY OR USE***
(Udated December 3rd 2012)
http://www.hlntv.com/article/2012/11/19/peapod-travel-tent-baby-recall
After we’d been on the road for six weeks and finding that only three places we’d stayed in had cots, we decided to take action and find a suitable travel cot that would squeeze into our rucksacks. If you have a baby that doesn’t move during the night then you’ll probably be happy co-sleeping. But after a few terrible first weeks of attempting this (see earlier blog entitled ‘three in the bed’) and many consecutive weeks of designing makeshift beds out of cushions, chairs and spare mattresses surrounded by our rucksacks, we decided to take action.
Knowing we were meeting friends from Australia in Ubud, Bali on October 5th also meant that it was feasible to order a cot online, get it delivered to our friends in Perth and then have it hand delivered to us in Bali.
The Peapod travel cot: tent and inflatable mattress
After much researching online I stumbled across the ‘Kidco Peapod’ travel cots. They’re the pop up variety with a self-inflating mattress and are small enough to pop inside your rucksack AND only weighs 2Kg. After trying to source it from an Australian supplier and failing, I had to order it from the States.
The Peapod is compact and lightweight
The cot, having already travelled a considerable distance (U.S.A. to Australia and then to Bali), was about to encounter the true meaning of travel. Let the real road test begin.
My initial reaction was positive. The cot takes less than a few minutes to erect. Three seconds to erect the tent (release the band and it pops up) and a couple of minutes to inflate the mattress (undo the valve and the mattress self inflates). Easy.
Surprisingly enough it’s also very easy to pack away. Having spent many a holiday camping, I’ve watched numerous people struggling to pack their ‘pop up tent’ away and I was expecting a similar dilemma, but no, it was not to be. Even my other half managed to make it look easy!
Now came the real challenge – will ‘the boy’ sleep in it?
To start with, no he wouldn’t. He’d got used to his make shift beds and obviously wasn’t feeling the love for the Peapod cot as much as I was. At first he was reluctant and I thought the poor cot had made an unnecessary long distance journey to be with us, but finally, after a couple of days ‘the boy’ crawled into the cot and slept. Breakthrough.
The Peapod is compact and lightweight
We’ve been using the Peapod for over 3 weeks now and it’s superb. We no longer have to get creative with cushions, or haggle for a spare mattress on arriving at a destination, and with the built in mosquito net ‘the boy’ is safe from the hungry beasts.
We’ve also been taking the tent to the beach as its high UV protection makes it handy to use for afternoon naps.
The Kidco Peapod really does what it says on the tin.
Please note that this is a genuine review based on my experience with this product.
Top tip of the day:
If you can’t find what you need domestically, it’s definitely worth looking at what’s available in other markets. Although postage costs are high, if you do find the right cot, then you will certainly reap the benefits when you’re on your trip.
FYI – These are available in AUS – same thing but called the kinderkot – about $150 AUD and available online and in specialist baby stores – the kinderkot was highly recommend to me for travel! Just in case you don’t want to order from the US
Hello Debbie, thank you for commenting I appreciate the information. Hopefully this will a help to others too.
Hi,
I went to look this up and found a lot of references to a 5 month old suffocating against the non-breathable mesh sides in March this year. Kidco say they’re still waiting for the results of the investigation, but for little babies I think it’s probably too much of a risk.
We are from The Netherlands and took a Deryan travel cot on our 4 month trip. We didn’t try it at home but our daughter (20 months) was so tired from the plane the first night, she didn’t care that she was in an unfamiliar bed! And after 2 nights it was normal for her to sleep in it. Good part was that we didn’t need to rely on baby beds in hotels and she didn’t need time to adjust to her new surroudnings: where ever we put her “bed”, that was where she would sleep!
By the way, the Deryan travel cot looks a lot like your peapod… But for those of you who worry about the matras: the Deryan has a space under the tent where you can safely put the matras. So there is no chance of your baby getting under the matras.