Pack n play for 5 month old?

[p_inzaghi]

I am debating whether it is worthwhile to buy a pack n' play or other playard even though DS is 16 pounds and too large for the bassinet feature. Do people get much use out of them beyond that?

Appreciate any thoughts on this!

Thank you!

Leslie

[lotsofjoy]

After my DD (now 2.5) was too big for the bassinet, we used it as a catch all for baby junk. She has never spent a single moment in it....wouldn't even sleep in it. If we travel, she sleeps with us.

IMHO, If you haven't needed it yet, it's probably not worth the $$

-Renee
Chaya 9/01
TWINS EDD 6/12

[tinkerbell1217]

I used my PNP with DS til he was almost 4 solely on trips since he didn't seem to like hotel beds and we did not cosleep. Other than that, it caught all the toys and baby stuff for quite a long time!

Kelly

[Chelsey333]

Mine didn't come with the bassinet feature. But I used mine until my son was about 18 mos. We went away on the weekends a lot and he slept in it then. But for the first year of his life it was wonderful as a playpen. I wanted him to be safe while I ran downstairs to switch the laundry over, etc. I definitely am glad I had it.

[DCmommy]

We use ours as a "crib" when we go away (i hate the idea of hotel porta-cribs), which for us entails many weekends away at the grandparent's or at friends' out-of-town weddings. He sleeps and naps in it with no problem when we're away; I thinks it's comforting to him to know where he is at least a little bit. When we were moving, I used it as a safe play area when I was packing up. Most of the time, it's folded up in our closet, but we recently took it back out after seeing a post here on turning it into a ball pit, which DS now loves! I only plan to do this on rainy days (like today!), otherwise it'll go back in the closet. It takes up too much space in our small-ish condo to leave unfolded all the time.

For us, it has been worth the money if only for the use we've gotten out of it when travelling. But if you don't plan to travel much, or if you wouldn't bring it with you when you did, it probably wouldn't be worth it, unless you really needed a safe place to keep your DS while you were doing something else. HTH!


Megan
Mommy to Patrick, 1/16/03

[amp]

My DS is going to be 1 shortly and we still use the PNP when we travel or are visiting someone during naptime (like an all day trip). If you plan to do any traveling to grandparents or hotels, it's convenient. Otherwise, you may not get much use out of it.

FWIW, we didn't follow the instructions and DS was in the bassinet portion until he was over 16 lbs (more like 18 or 19), but that won't help you if you are just getting it now.

[jk3]

It's great for travel. It's also wonderful if you have visitors- aplace for a napping child, etc. Now that DS is completely on the go, it also works well if I have to leave the room for a minute!

[Jen in Chicago]

Ours is up in our small bedroom for Jude to safely play in so I can get ready in the am's. We have traveled with it. It is great when friends come over so we can put the kids to bed and the parents can play!

[ppshah]

We could not live without our PNP. It's set up in the family room - I put DS in it if I need to go to the bathroom, do laundry, get readdy in the morning etc. It's the only safe place for DS upstairs. There is a playroom that is "babyproof" downstairs but I get nervous leaving DS alone for more than a few minutes- Kiddos that age can find trouble anywhere!!! We never really used it before DS started crawling other than for naps/travel.

Without any fancy features like bassinet/changing table you could probably get one pretty cheap. We actually bought ours before DS was born for our nephew to sleep in.

hth