Joie Kubbie Sleep: The honest review of our team of testers

The Joie Kubbie Sleep won Gold in the Mother&Baby Awards 2025 for Best Cot, Crib or Moses Basket.

This award-winning travel cot is a great option if you use a next-to-me crib at home and want to keep baby close when you're out and about. It boasts a lift and lower panel and a removable bassinet so you can use it for safe co-sleeping and keep baby within easy reach for night feeds. It folds up easily for travel and the handy carry bag makes it easy to both store at home and take with you when travelling. The two integrated wheels make it easy to move around while the mesh walls allow better airflow and also let you see in and baby see out with ease.

The Joie Kubbie travel cot was reviewed by our team of testers for the Mother&Baby Awards 2025, and we recently had a second parent tester review the product again to find out if it still lives up to the award-winning hype. We have included both reviews below to give a wider perspective on the product.

Testing the Joie Kubbie Sleep travel cot

My partner and I are proud parents of our baby girl Eva, who is four months old. We had been searching for a travel cot recently as we knew we would be staying overnight with family soon and wanted to be prepared.

I was looking for a travel cot that was safe and secure for my baby but also compact enough to fit into our car boot. We’re tight on space as currently the carrycot takes up a lot of room in the boot, which we need to take her out and about in until she’s six months.

I opted for the Joie Kubbie Sleep travel cot because it has a similar ‘next to me’ style of bassinet to her bedroom crib. Sleeping side-by-side with my baby since birth has allowed me to check on and feed her without leaving my bed, so I really liked the idea that I would be able to do that when not at home too. Also I liked the idea it could be used at home too, as Eva has nearly outgrown her moses basket that she sleeps in for daytime naps downstairs so it could be a perfect swap.

Assembly

I decided to try the Joie Kubbie Sleep at my mum’s. The cot arrived in a neat compact bag, and I was able to carry it up the stairs on my own. I followed the instructions in the manual to set it up. I attempted to assemble the travel cot but the sides of the cot wouldn’t click into place no matter how many times I tried. My mum couldn’t figure it out too. Feeling frustrated, my partner and I watched a tutorial online on how to put it together, and realised the sides had to be clipped together first and then the central part pushed down – attempt in the reverse sequence and the sides do not click. I felt this could have been made clearer in the manual, considering a lot of sleep deprived parents would be trying to follow just pictures. After that, it was simple to put the connecting bars under the mattress and place it in the cot.

Design

I liked the fact that no tools or special equipment were required. I’m really impressed with the quality of the build and loved the mesh sides, which was great for keeping an eye on our baby. Once assembled, it felt sturdy enough to last a number of years, which will be helpful for when our daughter can start using it as a playpen. I also liked the design features of a zip open side which can be used for storage when used as a cot, or as easy way to access the playpen e.g. put toys in there, instead of leaning over it.

Key features

The Kubbie is simple but stylish, has a removal bassinet and mattress and it can double up as a playpen. Eva is too young to use the cot as a playpen but I’m sure it will come in handy once she starts to crawl so I will have somewhere to keep her safe when away from home. I like that it won’t take up a lot of storage room in our small house too.

Usability

We placed the cot next to the bed and although it was not completely flush to the bed, lowering the side panel came in really handy for breastfeeding during the night.

I was anxious about whether Eva would sleep as well as she does in her bedside crib at home but thankfully she slept well. We stayed over for one night so I’m not sure how her sleep would fare over a longer stay due to the mattress being considerably thinner than her bedside crib. At the end of our stay, unlike setting it up, it was easy to collapse and fold into a tidy travel bag.

Final verdict

I love how compact this travel cot is and the raised platform can be adjusted so the cot can take you from newborn up to an older baby who can sit up and stand. Although on the expensive side, I think the Joie Kubbie Sleep cot is a great investment.

Mother&Baby Awards 2025

We also spoke to these real mum testers to get their thoughts on the Joie Baby Kubbie as part of the Mother&Baby Awards 2025.

Highlights:

"The zip down feature made monitoring the baby easy and when using it on holiday it made a very useful safety/play pen when around other older children and animals."

"I’m honestly so impressed as this fixes so many issues I’ve had with other travel cots making staying away from home harder."

"The build of the cot is excellent and good quality and the fabric is very soft."

"This is one of the best travel cots I have ever used!"

"It’s sturdy and the bassinet part makes this a great alternative to a next to me crib which does the exact same thing for a fraction of the price."

"I liked the cot overall, it is relatively lightweight and easy to carry one handed."

"I love that you can enter from the side when on the lowest setting, rather than have to lean over and break your back putting your baby down to the bottom whilst asleep."

How did this product make your life easier?

Heidi Gately says: "I loved the idea of being able to use it as a playpen when away in a hotel. It is great to be able to get ready without worrying if my baby has his hands in sockets or wriggled under the bed! The mesh sides meant he didn’t feel as trapped because he could see me whilst he played. This aspect was the best part of the crib for an older baby."

Lucy Gumise says: "It’s a stylish compact design which is brilliant having the drop sides- great as a breastfeeding mum although not completely flush to my bed it worked well for us The cot feels sturdy and robust, the mesh sides are great for keeping an eye on baby and vice versa and the colour is neutral and in fashion currently."

Sophie Leadbeater says: "I love how compact and light the travel cot is. It's super easy to pack away and put up. It took me only a few a minutes to put it up the first time I used it and I only had to glance over the instructions to be able to do it. It has great features like being able to pull the side down to check on your little one whilst they are asleep and the two levels for a newborn baby and for an older baby who can sit up or stand."

Would you recommend this product to other parents?

Christy McKenzie says: "I'd recommend this product to a fellow mum if it was their first travel cot purchase. If bought when your little one was tiny you'd get the full benefit of the bassinet depth and, later, full depth and potentially get a lot of use out of it. - Overall the quality of the product is lovely - as nice as I've seen - It feels like it would be the only travel cot you'd need in their first year. - The styling is very smart and the fabric feels high quality and luxe yet practical - The build quality is top notch and the fold and erect mechanism easy to operate - The packed cot is as small as you could expect - The mesh sides are generous, sturdy not flimsy and offer good all round visibility."

Victoria Rowat says: "The small size of this cot is a massive pro as it would fit next to most beds, even in a hotel, and the raised newborn aspect is so nice. The cot also has the option of removing the newborn raised platform and the baby can then be put down to the bottom, super useful for when they can stand and climb. The box says it is from birth to 15kg. However, my 15 month old son is 12kg and he is too big for it. He has no space to move around at all. So if I were to recommend this product, I would also want to point out that it’s usefulness declines rapidly as the baby grows; Perfect for 0-6 months, then you’d need a new travel cot."

Heidi Gately says: "I would recommend this crib over others mainly due to it’s size and raised newborn platform. Most other travel cots on the market are large and the baby is essentially lying on a caged mat on the floor. This raised newborn platform allows the baby to be next to you and at your level which is so important in those early days. The small size also means that it can be put next to mum in most situations. However such advantage becomes disadvantage as the baby grows. There is a very limited lifespan to this product and the compact size means that the baby grows out of it very quickly! By the time you’re ready to remove the newborn platform, I expect your baby will be close to growing out of the cot anyway!"

Would you choose this product above all others on the market?

Lucy Gumise says: "I personally would choose one that sits flusher to my bed side so I didn’t actually have to get up to feed my baby - especially when at newborn stage I’d also look for one with a comfier looking mattress as the mattress/mat supplied feels thin - my baby is big so I’m unsure just how comfortable it would be to use frequently - odd mattress size it was so hard to find a suitable sheet !"

Sophie Leadbeater says: "It's the smallest travel cot when folded away that I have seen, and I have used a few! it feels strong and sturdy so you can feel confident that your baby is safe and cosy. I loved the side material so you can see through but it also wasn't too transparent that your baby could be distracted to go to sleep. I also loved the pull down side so you can check on them easily or feed them without lifting them over the top."

Christy McKenzie says: "I love a lot about this travel cot but for me personally it doesn't warrant Best Cot Crib or Moses Basket - The build quality suggests to me more than an occasional cot, but it feels more 'travel' than being THE bedside bassinet you'd use as your 0-6month option for when little one is still sharing your room. So I'm a little confused on where this product is aiming. - To get max value for money you'd be someone who travels with it frequently - not keep it under the grandparent's spare bed for the odd visit - which may not be everyone - The specs say suitable for up to 15kg but I feels it's definitely too small for this, unless your baby is a very immobile sleeper. My 10kg little one already moves far too much for this to be the travel cot of choice for us for anything other than the odd night. - The lowering cot side didn't hit the mark for me, being hard to operate and not sliding far enough down."

What changes would you make to this product?

Victoria Rowat says: "The carry handle can only be used when the zip of the travel bag is not fully fastened since the carry handle is actually located on the underside of the mattress, the bag itself has no straps. A shoulder strap would have been very useful, since this is not a lightweight product. The wheels seem incredibly useless. They can’t be used when it’s folded up, and when it’s erected, it has to be practically 90 degrees before the wheels will roll. I’m not really sure what the point of them is! There is a zip on one side of the mesh. My son loved this escape route. I did not."

Heidi Gately says: "The main disadvantage was the weight of the thing, it was not an easy item to transport! The carry bag didn’t have any straps so it was a bulky and heavy piece of baby paraphernalia! If a rucksack style travel bag was available for it, I would definitely have to buy one to go with it. Also there we straps and poles that had no specific place to put them other than in the top of the bag. I feel sure that I would lose these very easily and the newborn platform is very dependant on the addition of these poles"

Lucy Gumise says: "The mattress - it’s thin and there are support rods underneath that I’m sure baby may feel although he did stay asleep all night In the cot- dropping the side seems to tilt this too so I’d want that design element Reviewing if I had a choice myself. Other than that I do like the Kubbie a lot for its price point."

Maria Martin is Digital Group Editor for Yours.co.uk and Motherandbaby.com. She is a mum-of-two with a passion for helping women from all walks of life – from supporting breastfeeding mothers with expert advice to encouraging conversations about mental health. In her professional role, she has over 10 years' experience in the digital world, including editing articles, focussing on SEO, social media engagement, picture researching and video editing.