Help for !st tiem mom: Pack N' Play- Fancy features? Basic model? Outdoor model?

[joyelyse]

Hi,

I had registered for the fancy Pack N' Pay with the soothing vibrations/music and the canopy, but then my MIL got on me about the price and got me thinking what I am going to use this for.

I live in a smallish (or largish depending on your sense of scale---2.5 bedroom) apartment without stairs, so the crib and the changing table will always be convenient when I'm at home. There is no room to set up a PnP in the bedroom, so I can't use it as a bassinet next to the bed in the early days. However, there is room in my husband's home office to set it up, so we could have the baby in with him. I suppose it could be used as a bed while traveling, but my MIL and parents live plane trips away. Am I really going to fly with this thing?

Then the debate came as to whether we'll take it outside. If so, then I want to get the one with sun protection and bug protection. We have a smallish yard that I do spend a lot of time in. Also, we camp periodically, maybe 1-3 times a year, but I can't imagine setting up the PnP in the tent. Do you take yours outside often? My mom remembers taking us outside occasionally, but those play pens didn’t have sun shades or anything fancy, and certainly didn’t approach $100.

So, I don't know if I should be buying this at all. If I do, how do I know if my baby will benefit from the soothing vibrations/music or if that's just a waste. And am I likely to take this outdoors? What about the traditional play yard use? No one seems to talk about the kids just playing in there.

Please help!

[jvorhis]

We had one that had all those features and did not use any of them. I did get it at my shower so we did not pay for it but if I had to do it again I would just have picked out a simple model. Just my opinion but you probably won't take it outside. When the baby is an infant there are more portable options and when they do get a little older I would recommend a super yard (even for inside the house). They are wonderful and will give your baby a little more room to play. My daughter would not go in the pack-n-play when she got to be about 6 months. I hope that helps

[NoemiArthur]

I'm also a soon to be new mom, but for what it is worth, when I was looking at the pack n play at the store (the one with all the bells and whistles), the salesperson suggested the model without all that for the following reasons:

1. You don't want baby to get used to sleeping with vibrations because when you move him/her to the crib and it doesn't vibrate, he/she might not like that.
2. You can play music from a stereo or get a crib attachment toy that plays music instead.
3. The canopy has had some problems with blowing off in the wind.

So I registered for the simple pack n play with the bassinet/changing table feature for setting up in the living room.

Instead of a traditional bassinet I have also decided to go with the Graco lite (which is a smaller version of the pack n play). I figure that this would be good to have upstairs for baby to play in (later) while we shower/get ready. And I think it comes with a small sun shade, so on the occasional time that we go sit out on the deck (or have meals) there, I figured we would take this outside (smaller and easier to move) and use a combination of the sun shade and our own table umbrella.

Hope this helps.
Newbie
EDD 5/24/05

[amp]

We have a PNP w/ a changing table and full bassinet features. We used both a lot! I ended up with Csection, so I couldn't climb stairs multiple times per day. DS napped in the PNP bassinet everyday. It was a lifesaver! Not to mention, babies/newborns generally sleep in short bursts and very frequently only fall alseep on you and wake quickly after you put them down. Another reason to love having a place for them to nap in the same floor of the house where you spend most of your time. We do use ours when we travel to relatives, but we generally drive to those. We have not flown with ours, although many people do. We've only flown w/ DS once and we stayed in a hotel. Most hotels have PNPs for your room if you request it, which is what we did.

We spend time outdoors quite a bit, but just in our yard or walking. We never used the PNP outside, but then again, we didn't have a feature that made ours safe (sun protection) to do so. Ours had a goofy decorative canopy that was too small to provide any protection, so we just didn't use it and we didn't take it outside. We generally kept DS in the shade or kept him indoors when he was much littler. When he got older we used hats and lots of sunscreen on him and let him crawl around on a blanket. We didn't start spending lots of time outside until he was able to manage it without the PNP.

We never had or missed music or vibration in ours. In fact, the canopy had toys that hung for baby to look at, but we never used that, as the toys were pretty high up. We just hung a mirror and toys that he could use or touch as he got more interested in that. Once DS was mobile, we stopped using the PNP for naps and for corraling him. I know lots of people use them for play, but we never did, and preferred to let him explore. We put it away at about 6 mths and only use it for travel now.

[SpaceGal]

I registered but ended up purchasing our Pack N' Play ourselves. I didn't get one with a nightlight or the vibration features but I did spend about $100. I hate to admit it and as dorky as it sounds I got ours cuz I liked the pattern better than the ones that came with those functions and it matched the high chair I liked as well. I know super dorky.

We got a Baby Trend one...with a swing away changing table and full size bassinet. It has a toy holder, wind screen, removable canopy and a parent toy for stuff. The canopy has some little animals hanging from it as well.

One of the reasons I insisted on a Pack N' Play was that we have two floors and I didn't want to have to be confined to the second floor with the crib when the baby sleeps and I also didn't want to leave the baby in the bouncer or swing everytime it sleeps either. Originally I just wanted a Pack N' Play only because I didn't want to spend money on a crib (I ended out getting a convertiable one tho) but I knew I wouldn't be lugging the Pack N' Play up and down the stairs either. This way I have a place I can put the baby down where I won't have to worry about he/she rolling off the couch or my cat getting too snuggly with the baby. The other reason why we got one was for when we travelled to my parents place. So the baby can sleep somewhere. I doubt I'll bring it everywhere we travel but it's nice to have that option. I might bring it outside when the weather is nice but who knows I could be lazy at that point and only want to put the baby on a blanket on the grass but who knows...things can change.

Oh one thing a friend did say is that she had a play yard and she ended up not using it much when her son was small but uses it a lot now when he's at day care. She gave it to her sitter and he sleeps in there when he takes naps. So it's useful that way.

I would say if you are short on space then maybe wait on it. If you registered for it then just leave it there. I mean if you get it then that's cool you got something that you might be able to use later. I registered for a few things that I didn't really have to have or needed but I would be happy to receive just to have the option on having available to me. If in the end you don't get to using it or so you can take it back to the store. But if you're feeling guilty then take it off the registry and pick it up later if you do feel you could use one. The one thing with all this baby stuff that I'm realizing even before our little one comes is that it's all so dependent on the baby. He/she may or may not like the things you picked and you may end out stuck so a lot fo things I just sorta keep in the packages with the receipts and wait to see if I ever get to it...if not it's going back to the store.

Hope that helps you a bit.

[daniele_ut]

I just bought a PNP in the Bentley Bear pattern (retails for $99.00) for $49.99 at Big Lots. You might want to check there if you have one nearby. Then you could get the full featured PNP and your MIL can't complain about the price. Mine came with a 3/4 bassinett, changing table and mobile. I didn't really need those accessories for this baby, since he moved from the cradle to crib already, but it was such a good deal I couldn't pass it up. We plan to use it this summer when we will be on the road for 5 weeks for work and play. We'll use the basinett for #2 I am sure.

[HannaAddict]

Received one we thought we wanted with all the features (vibration, basssinet, mobile, etc.) and didn't use any of them. In fact, we just recently used it at all - when he could sit up on his own but before he started trying to stand up and crawl around. Now it is a big toy storage unit! We didn't use it for a bassinet since it didn't seem firm enough, not what we expected (ended up using our pram as bassinet, worked great). We also didn't need a second place to change him. So, I would go for a stripped down version. I bought the pack-n-play mosquito netting for using it outside.

Kimberly
DS 3/18/04

[lilycat88]

I'd vote for somewhere middle of the road. We have the Pack N'Play in Colby that has the music, vibration thingy, full size bassinet, changing table, canopy with toys hanging off, and I'm sure other stuff as well. We do use ours constantly because I need somewhere on the first floor to change Susanna. For the first 2 months or so, we did use the basinnet for naps when we were downstairs but from about 8-9 weeks, we moved her to her crib for all sleeping so we don't use the basinett feature at home. Currently, we have it set up and use it for all downstairs diaper changes and we do have the basinnet in it and it provides a handy place to keep diapers and wipes within reach. Ours had one of the diaper storage things on it but after you get beyond size 1 diapers, you just can't fit enough in it to make it worthwhile. We do use the little sections to put supplies like vaseline or desitin. We also do take it when we visit the grandparents and it's been a great help. The last time we used the basinnet for sleeping, she was a couple of pounds over the weight limit but I wasn't concerned because she isn't rolling over yet. I'm sure some moms would cringe at that but I certainly wouldn't have done it unless I felt secure with it. The next trip, I'm sure we'll leave the basinnet at home and have her sleep in the bottom of the Pack N'Play.

As far as the other features...
We used the vibration/noise thing a few times but if I had it to do again, I'd not bother. The same goes for the canopy thing. We used it a couple of times during the 2 months she napped in it downstairs to keep the glare of lights off her face but it mainly just gets in the way now and the toys are worthless. Hope this helps.

[joyelyse]

The PnP in Colby is what we'd originally register for. Now we registered for the Berenstein Bears. It has the bassinette, but nothing else. (Though some have the changer...weird.) I figure we can put a pad on the floor or on a table when we're out. At home it won't do us any good, since the changing table is always right there. And it’s $60 vs. $140 for the Colby.

Thank you all for your input. It was really helpful!

[new_mommy25]

We lived in a 2 bedroom one floor apartment. The crib and changing table was in our room and the other room was the office. We recieved a basic model with a 3/4 bassinet and a changing table. We set it up in the dining room. I can tell you that we used it every single day. I hardly used the changing table in my room but I used the changing table on the packnplay every day until Noah got too big for it. Actually, I was sad when he got too big! Also, DS took a lot of naps in the bassinete. I liked having him nap out there because I could go about cooking and stuff in the living room and still keep an eye on him. He is the type of baby who could sleep through anything so I would be washing dishes 5 feet away from him and he would not move.

Just my .02.