Portable Crib Advice

[joly1]

My 6-month old daughter is sleeping very well in her own crib (Thank you Dr. Ferber) but is having trouble sleeping in the pack-n-play at my mom's house. As my mom watches my daughter while I am at work, she doesn't want to always have to be at my house at naptimes. My daughter seems to need the feel of the bumpers and a firm mattress to help her sleep. Any ideas for an inexpensive and safe crib? Thanks!

[duvie]

This doesn't answer the crib question, but does your DD have a blankie or other "lovey"? I recently gave my DS (5.5 months) a very small soft blanket to hold when he sleeps (he pats it as he falls asleep). This seems to help when we travel since he has it even though he is the pack-n-play instead of his crib.

[shishamo]

you can buy a better, thicker, regular mattress sized to fit pack-and-play. My kids never liked PackandPlay either, and I always thought I should get a nicer one. You can get one at places like BabysRus, I think. $20-30?

[mommy111]

Hi!
For those parents out there looking for real, comfortable, full-time use but small sized cribs.
I've been in this dilemma of not having enough space and needing a small but comfortable and sturdy crib for regular use. No one was able to offer any useful alternatives except the flimsy portable cribs or mini cribs with no drop rails. So I thought, day care centers have small cribs, right. I went online and, voila, found a number of dayare dealers that sell small sized but very sturdy and safe, non-portable cribs. A little expensive, but given that I'm using it as my full-time regular crib, not too bad. Got mine with drop-side for $175 from a web retailer, I think the website was called excellent4kids or something. Anyhow, type in 'daycare crib' in the Yahoo search box and you will get a large number of websites that deal in them. Remember to comparison shop, though, b/c exactly the same cribs vary in price from $175 to $300. (If you come across a cheaper small crib, please also let me know, we are looking for something for grandma's place).
Hope this helps

[nabigus]

mommy111--

I'm in the same boat, and found the daycare cribs as well. (We haven't actually bought one yet.)

Another option I found was a couple of the portable cribs that are also meant for daycare use and are super sturdy: the LA Baby "Little Wooden Crib" and the Childesigns "Stowaway Portable Crib" are both solid hardwood, certified and all that. They seem to be less expensive--with shipping, $120-$200. (A couple people also sell them on eBay.)

I'm still trying to find a less "industrial" mattress for one of these, since it's going to get used every day.


Nancy, expecting 1st in August

[lmarcam]

We've been happy with the Cosco iron portable crib (it cost about $80). It has a real mattress and you can buy bumpers for about $20 (necessary since the sides are hard). If you do a search, you will find many happy users of this crib on the board, that's how I found out about it. Good luck.