I’m not sure what happened but the end of the year just seemed to disappear and we have found ourselves behind with the reviews from our product road tests! Never mind, with school going back soon I will get my life back and we will get back on track.

The October road test gave two lucky mums the opportunity to road test the Cot Canopy by Content&Calm, an ingenious canopy designed to black out a cot while maintaining air flow and breathability around the baby. It is ideal both for travel, to allow parents to have the lights on and curtains open in the same room as the baby, as well as for regular home use, for example in a bedroom which requires the blinds and windows open for ventilation and cooling in summer but where the baby needs darkness for sleep.

Our two customers to road test the Cot Canopy were Jennifer and Lisa. Here are their reviews.

Jennifer

[Jennifer took the Cot Canopy with her on a holiday to Hawaii, where baby Nathan shared a room with his parents and his 5 year old brother.]

I was lucky enough to be selected to road test the new Content & Calm Cot Canopy. I was particularly excited to receive this product as we had an upcoming holiday to Hawaii and my 5 month old baby Nathan would be sharing a room with my 5 year old son. I was concerned about two major issues, 1. How I was going to get Nathan to sleep during the day when the room he was staying in would be flooded with light and 2. How I could possibly ensure that Nathan would not be distracted by sharing the bedroom with his older brother. I needn’t have worried as the Cot Canopy eliminated both of these issues!

We were travelling with a Phil & Teds Travel Cot which is considerably smaller than the standard travel cot so I was a little concerned when I first saw the size of the Cot Canopy. As you can see from the pictures, although it wasn’t a snug fit or a particularly attractive one it still did the job remarkably well.

Pros

1.     Allowed Nathan to sleep in the daytime as the Cot Canopy blocked out almost all of the natural light in the room.

2.    Ensured when Nathan woke in the night he did not see his older brother beside him, thus ensuring he just settled himself back to sleep as he would have done if he was in his own room alone at home.

3.    Nathan settled very easily in the Cot Canopy. He had no trouble adjusting to the change in his sleeping environment at all.

4.    Very easy to set up. It only took me about 5 minutes to assemble.

Cons

1.     The metal poles are relatively heavy and took up more of our valuable luggage allowance than I would have liked.

Overall I would highly recommend the Cot Canopy, especially if you were using it on a holiday that didn’t involve air travel!

Lisa

[Lisa trialled the Cot Canopy at home as the baby was still sharing a room with her and her husband.]

I have completely enjoyed using the cot canopy, my little 8 month old transitioned from the cradle directly to the cot with cot canopy and it has been a dream transition. Her sleeping patterns maintained or improved, she settles for day sleeps a lot easier, and re settles as well. I have utilised the loop inside the cot canopy to hang a toy and she will quite often self settle laying there looking up at the toy.

Reading in bed is bliss. She is not bothered by the lights from reading, our talking nor does she seem as disturbed by my husband’s loud and consistent snoring.  Prior to trialling the cot canopy she would often wake upon his alarm going off, now she is sleeping through it.

There are a few points that I have found to be slightly disappointing, it is very difficult to change the bed with the canopy on, I needed an extra person to get the canopy on the first time, and one of the disadvantages of the advantage of the shade it provides it is very difficult to locate her dummy during the night if she needs it to resettle.

Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed the privilege of being selected to trial the Canopy and look forward to continuing to read in bed and for my husband and I to discuss the days activities in bed.

Thank you once again.

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Thanks to Jennifer and Lisa for your honest reviews.

The Cot Canopy comes in two sizes to fit different sized cots, starting at $199.95.  Until the end of January, save $20 on the Cot Canopy, now $179.95 for the small size.