Babies' cots

It might be to do with the ban in the USA a few years ago , they had lots of baby deaths and banned them but I think our safety standards are different/better maybe the people that make them decided it was better to not make them, hence the difficulty finding them here..

I always loved my dropsided cot so much easier to manage baby when they were tiny.

Ah well, I was unaware of the ban in the US, and the deaths . Makes more sense.
I do worry about DD's back, though. But neither she nor I would put her comfort above the safety of her daughter! What a shame that some other, safer, system has not been developed.

I was surprised that my DGS's last cot did not have drop down sides.

Having to bend over to pick up a baby from the lowest setting is postively asking for back problems.

Exactly, Nelliem! And with my DD's pre-existing weak back it is a worry - she doesn't have anyone else to pick the baby up for her as she's a single mum. It's just her and the baby. In time the baby will be sitting up, or pulling herself up to a standing position ready for DD to lift her, but at the moment she is still horizontal

Indinana they do still make them... this one looks good..

www.mothercare.com/East-Coast-Nursery-Anna-Dropside-Cot---White/993611,default,pd.html

Maybe you could get a second (secondhand?) mattress and put it underneath the one the baby sleeps on to build the height up a bit?

I understand your concern about the low base - most of my GC have been in a very old cot (periodically renovated) that was used by my OH when he was a baby; then his siblings; then all our children and GC.

It has dropsides and the DDs have never had to bend too low.

That is a very good idea GrandmaKT

Tanith thanks for the link. I have seen some online - there are even cot beds with dropsides, but unfortunately the one my DD bought (secondhand - she is on a low income) doesn't have this feature. I have been tempted to buy her a new one, but then I think that really it is only a matter of maybe 6-8 weeks until the baby will be climbing up ready to be lifted.
If in the meantime her back does 'go' again (and when it does, she is completely incapacitated), then we will have to move them into our spare bedroom until she recovers. At least there is that option. It doesn't help that her baby is a big girl - weighing in at nearly 20 lbs at 6 1/2 months . Not overweight, but she is long - she's going to be tall! But then both our son's boys were exactly the same. The eldest, at 9, is the height of an average 12-13 year old .

There are apparently problems with older cots because the regulations now are that the spaces between the bars should be smaller than in our kids days.