Mamas & Papas Lua Bedside Crib Bed Review

We asked new mum Grace Holliday to put the Mamas and Papas Lua bedside crib to the test with her six-week-old baby girl.

The Mamas & Papas Lua bedside crib made it into our lineup of the best Moses baskets because it has all the appeal of a traditional Moses basket - with some clever extra functionality to help make naps and night-time with your baby that little bit easier.

The Lua bedside crib is a sophisticated beside-the-bed cot. It comes with a removable bassinet, plus an inbuilt shelf and a changing mat included. It's suitable for travel use as well as daily use at home.

Design

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Weighs: 10.9kg | Age: 0-6 months

The Lua bedside crib is designed so that you can sleep safely with your baby close to you.

Our parent tester, Grace, says she couldn’t imagine wanting to stop watching her newborn long enough to fall asleep at first. 'As it turns out, the utter exhaustion handles that,' she says. 'But the second element that made all the difference was using a bedside crib. It allows me to wrap my daughter’s hand around my index finger as we both fall asleep.'

The Lua is the first bedside cot from Mamas & Papas. Grace says it's clear the brand has picked up on what works in similar products that have come before. 'However, while harnessing those core features, they’ve also created something much more aesthetically pleasing than the clunky, cumbersome eyesores that some bedside cots turn out to be.'

One word of caution - the Lua requires assembly. This requires a bit of patience. 'My husband and I tried to wing it without the instructions but failed pretty miserably,' says Grace.

'As both sides of the cot can be pulled down manually, you have to adjust the internal mechanisms to allow the sides to stay in place. The legs attach easily but come set at their lowest level. This means the plastic clips must be manipulated correctly to lift it to your preferred level. We raised the legs to level six, its top-level, which sits comfortably beside our bed. It's a bonus to know that the crib can also be adjusted for babies with reflux.'

The storage shelf, which comes rolled up, needed a bit more attention. 'It must be attached the right way around,' explains Grace. The integrated pockets are useful for storing nappies and the like. But they need to be on the bottom, not the top, to give the cot its sturdiness.

'Once assembled, we were initially concerned that the crib rocked back and forth a little. If you knocked the cot with your hip while walking past it, it wouldn’t stay still. As a result, it’s not quite as sturdy as I expected.'

But as they got to grips with the Lua bedside crib, our tester says she came to appreciate the fact that its lightness makes it genuinely portable. 'Even a few weeks post-c-section, I find it easy to move,' she says.

'It’s narrow enough to fit through doorways pretty easily. This means you can move it from room to room as needed through the day without a great deal of faff. There is also the handy option of removing the bassinet. I've done this on a few occasions so our baby can sleep downstairs with us.'

'Down the line, I imagine this crib will work well in my home office with the sides up. It also means the cot lives up to its claims as being suitable for travel. And it comes with a travel bag.'

Comfort and features

The Lua bedside crib's internal dimensions are smaller than the cot our tester was previously using, and she thinks her baby appreciates being in a slightly less vast space. 'In terms of our daughter’s feelings towards the cot, she took to it well,' Grace says. 'And the mesh is fine enough to see and watch her silhouette and movements through.'

But the best feature of the Lua bedside crib, according to our parent tester, is how easy it is to access your baby safely. 'The ability to pull down the side to reach your baby from the bed - as opposed to undoing zips or buttons - is a huge part of the appeal for me,' Grace says.

'While you may want to be able to watch your baby while lying in bed, you may also be nervous about your duvet or blanket ending up inside the cot once you fall asleep. To avoid this happening with our previous cot, we tucked the duvet under the mattress on the opposite side.'

'But with the LUA, I can keep the crib side down until I’m going to sleep. And then lift it back up without having to get out of bed or disturb the baby by zipping things up. The pull-down-side function has an auto-return feature too, for added safety.'

Value for money

The Lua bedside crib is a lot more aesthetically pleasing than several of its competitors, according to our parent tester. The soft grey colour and pale wooden legs will suit most interiors and bedrooms. 'The Lua completely does away with bulky plastic legs, thick seams, and the various zippers that other bedside cots come with,' says Grace.

One tiny criticism; the material creases easily due to the design. 'The sides of the cot, in particular, take on an ‘un-ironed shirt’ appearance, while the material shelf that comes rolled up has creases that then hold in place once constructed.'

Overall, the Mamas and Papas Lua bedside crib is a compact, versatile, and travel-friendly alternative to a traditional Moses basket. At £219, it's more expensive than some of its competitors. However, our parent tester would 'willingly' pay the extra for the Lua bedside crib because of its compact size and the ease with which you can pull down the sides.

You might also like our Purflo PurAir Breathable Bassinet review - we rated it the best premium Moses basket can buy, based on our tester's feedback. And don't miss all our other baby product reviews.