Graco Contour Electra Travel Cot

Our daughter is now 14 months and has used her travel cot as her main cot since birth. As we live in a 2-bedroom house and already had 2 boys sharing one room, we wanted something that she could use in our room for a while, that wouldn't get in the way too much, whilst still giving her room to grow. Graco's Contour Electra was perfect. It looked really stylish with its contoured design, and nicely padded top rails, and the mesh sides meant that baby ...
...which we used as a crib when she was small, with an integral nightlight and a vibrating mattress and music centre to help soothe her to sleep. And a toy bar to keep her amused when she was awake. Baby had plenty of room for sleeping or playing, and it also doubled as a changing unit. It could be packed up or moved out of the way easily when needed, and was also handy for travel.


** THE MAIN COT **
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Our daughter is now 14 months and has used her travel cot as her main cot since birth. As we live in a 2-bedroom house and already had 2 boys sharing one room, we wanted something that she could use in our room for a while, that wouldn't get in the way too much, whilst still giving her room to grow. Graco's Contour Electra was perfect. It looked really stylish with its contoured design, and nicely padded top rails, and the mesh sides meant that baby could see you. It had a full size bassinet which we used as a crib when she was small, with an integral nightlight and a vibrating mattress and music centre to help soothe her to sleep. And a toy bar to keep her amused when she was awake. Baby had plenty of room for sleeping or playing, and it also doubled as a changing unit. It could be packed up or moved out of the way easily when needed, and was also handy for travel.

** THE MAIN COT **
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As the main travel cot, it is an almost full size cot (L 104cm x W 73cm x H 87cm), being about 10cm wider than the average cot but about 20cm shorter, so it was easier to squeeze it into the small space we had left in our bedroom. It is easy to assemble just by pulling all 4 sides up to snap in place, then pushing the centre down which locks the top rails. This safety feature makes it very sturdy, and there is no danger of it collapsing with the baby in it. The mattress is then placed on the base, which attaches with a velcro strap at each end. The cot does not come apart for cleaning, but the fabrics come up well when sponged over with upholstery cleaner. It also has 2 wheels on one end so it is easy enough to move it from one place to another.

As we were planning on using it as our daughters main cot, I considered getting a proper cot mattress for it. You can get them in standard travel cot sizes, or some places will custom make them. But as the manual states "Use ONLY mattress provided by Graco. DO NOT use your bassinet without the mattress provided by Graco." And the mattress looked so comfy anyway, with about an inch of padding, so I decided to just stick with that one. But I wish I had got one now as it is not really designed for permanent use once your baby outgrows the bassinet, and has started to bunch up a bit around the folds in the mattress, which doesn't look too comfortable for her to sleep on. Luckily she won't have to suffer on it for too much longer, as we are changing things around in her brothers room so we can fit in a proper cot bed for her.

** THE BASSINET **
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Assembling the bassinet can be quite fiddly and takes some patience. I think the hardest part was trying to remove the cover on the battery compartment (this takes 3 x 'AA' batteries) on the inside of the electronic topper, as it is quite hard to access. Apart from that it is just a case of following the instructions (the pictures are very clear to follow), inserting the poles in the right places and sliding the 2 toppers on at either end of the base. A small vibrating box, also needing a single 'D' battery, is strapped into place on the centre of the base. This is connected to a wire which is channelled within the mesh base and also attaches at the end to the electronic topper. The whole thing then just clips on easily at either end of the travel cot and over both sides, and feels fairly secure. The padded mattress sits on top of the mesh base and attaches with velcro straps.

It is a full size bassinet and is suitable for use from newborn until around 3 months, when baby starts to get more active or weighs over 6.8kg. It keeps baby at an easier height to pick them up when they're small. It is also at a similar height to the bed (the top of our mattress came about half way between the top of the cot and the mattress in the bassinet) so if you can fit it next to your bed it makes the night time feeds easier. It is quite a big crib for a tiny baby, but I always swaddled our daughter when she was small so she felt secure. And it meant that by the time she had outgrown it, the change to the full size cot wasn't so daunting for her.

** ELECTRONIC TOPPER **
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The electronic topper really made life easier. Our daughter always went straight off to sleep on the vibrating mattress with the music playing softly. It's just a shame she couldn't carry on using it with the main travel cot. There are 4 different buttons located just underneath the nightlight:

NIGHTLIGHT - The first button turns the light on and off, which is easy enough to work out by the picture of a light bulb under the button. It is not too bright, giving just enough light for you to check on baby, but without disturbing them, and is set to turn off automatically after 5 minutes if you don't switch it off yourself.

VIBRATION - The second button with a symbol of 2 wavy lines, operates the vibration, pushing it once for the high setting, or twice for the low setting, you can push it a third time to turn it off. If left on it will switch off automatically after 7 minutes. Our baby always stopped crying as soon as we turned it on and was soon sleeping soundly. We tended to use it on the low setting as it is quieter, it isn't that noisy on either setting though (unless you turn it on without the weight of the baby on it), but it can be a bit annoying if you're also trying to sleep.

MUSIC - The third button which operates the music is indicated by a picture of musical notes. The music has 3 volume settings, pushing it once for the loudest setting, twice for the medium setting, 3 times for the low setting and a fourth time to turn it off. If left on it will switch off automatically after 10 minutes. Again we tended to use it on the low or medium setting, although the high setting isn't too loud either. I did find it a bit annoying though on the lowest setting if I was trying to sleep, as with my head on the pillow I would only be hearing the odd high note and would lie there trying to work out which tune was playing. It's a while now since we've used it but I think I remember it having 2 different medleys, so if it stopped and you started it again it would play a different selection of familiar tunes.

EXTENDED TIME - The fourth button has a timer picture (like the top half of a clock with one hand). If pressed this will double the amount of time of the other 3 functions if they are already active.

** THE TOY BAR **
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The toy bar assembles quite easily, sliding the padded cover onto one bar and then sliding the other bar in at the other end. This then clips on at either side of the travel cot and can be positioned anywhere along it. You can also adjust the height of the toy bar, having it in a lower position for a younger baby so it is easier to see, and pulling the bars out a bit to arch it more for older babies. It has 3 soft toys in the form of a lion, a teddy bear and an elephant, these are all made in the same fabrics to match the travel cot, and so have more contrast than colour. They attach with velcro to 3 straps which hang down from the toy bar. Although in all the pictures I have seen of this travel cot the toys are hanging straight, I found it better to attach them upside down, this caused the toys to tilt at an angle to face the baby so she could see more of their faces. The toy bar can be attached with or without the bassinet in place, but I found it is not really safe to use once baby can reach it. Once our daughter had pulled it down and hurt herself with it, we decided it was time for it to go.

** AS A PLAYPEN **
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We haven't actually used it specifically as a playpen as we also have a Babyden (will be reviewing soon), but it has been useful as somewhere safe for her to play close by while I'm sorting other things out upstairs. We always keep a couple of soft toys in there to occupy her and can also detach the toys from the toy bar for her to play with. It's not as easy to attach toys to the travel cot as it is with normal cots, but with the right toys it can be done. Any toys or books with single straps are no problem, but toys that fix on with 2 straps will depend on the distance between the straps. They can only be attached to the corners of the travel cot, as the metal bar can be exposed slightly where the fabrics meet the plastic corner bit.

** CHANGING UNIT **
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The changing mat comes in 2 halves of moulded plastic which slot together to create a curved base. The retainer on the straps is pushed between them with either strap then being fed into the relevant slits on the padded mat. The mat is then secured on the base with 3 clips on each side, and a velcro strap at each end. It is easily put into place with the ends just resting securely over the rails on either side of the travel cot. It is safe to use for babies up to 11kg in weight, but should only be used in place on the travel cot, although I did also use it on the bed a couple of times, it was ok but it rocked a bit. The safety straps are handy and keep baby nice and safe, and as the mat is curved it is harder for them to roll off anyway, but they should obviously not be left unattended. As the straps are situated quite close together, it is quite hard to avoid them if you are dealing with a particularly messy baby. Luckily they remove easily for washing and the mat is just wiped clean like any other. The changing mat should not be left on top while baby is using the cot. When not in use it is easily folded in half and held together by another velcro strap, it can then be stored underneath the cot along with nappies and other baby changing essentials.

** FOR TRAVEL **
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We haven't actually managed any holidays yet since our daughters arrival, but the travel cot did come with us a couple of times on day trips to relatives, so she would have somewhere to nap. It folds up very easily when you know how. You just have to remember that the buttons cannot be pushed in to unlock the top rails, unless the centre of the base has been pulled up first. When the cot is fully collapsed, the mattress is wrapped around it and secured with velcro straps. It is then zipped into the travel bag one way only as it has slots for the handle, feet and wheels to stay out, which is handy as it can then be pulled along. The folded dimensions are 78cm x 25cm x 25cm and it weighs 14kg.

The bassinet is designed to be used as a full time crib and is not really practical for travelling with. I suppose it could be taken separately, if you have plenty of room to fit it in, or have the patience to dismantle it and reassemble it. I think if your baby was small enough to need it you might be better to get a pop up crib as these are fairly cheap and take up much less room than standard travel cots.

** VALUE FOR MONEY **
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The Contour Electra retails for £99 at most high street stores but can be found at slightly cheaper prices on the internet. The colour you get will depend on which store you buy it from, as most will only offer it in one colour. For more colour choices try European websites, I actually got our one on eBay a couple of years ago paying only £90 including postage from Germany. For me it has definitely been worth the money, but if you plan on using a separate crib or moses basket, you would probably be better off getting a more basic travel cot at half the price.

If you're not bothered about the vibrating mattress and size of the bassinet, you could get the cheaper Contour Bassinet and add your own toys and mobile, like Tomy's Moonlight Dreamshow which also combines a night light and music (see my other reviews).

The Contour Electra is also available in a deluxe version from the European websites. This also features a canopy at one end and a storage attachment which clips on at the other end with places for all your changing necessities, nappies etc. As far as I can tell these are the only differences although there may be slightly more padding. But as the Contour Electra is such a versatile travel cot anyway, I'm not sure it's worth the extra £30 for the deluxe features that probably wouldn't get a lot of use. And Babies'R'Us usually seem to stock models that include the canopy at the normal price anyway.
 

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