Playmats?

[ask_dec2005]

Hi,
Just wondering if anyone had recommendations for a good playmat for baby?
Thanks!
Arati

[Marisa6826]

These HABA ones are supposed to be absolutely worth the money. Honestly, you can do without one if you need to. Just use an old comforter and some regular soft toys. Once your babe can sit up, the last thing they want to do is lay on the floor! ;)

http://www.oompa.com/cgi-bin/category/Baby_Toys_PLA

-m

[eb1]

I was going to suggest this one too...not that I have it, but it's SO cute.

We used the Baby Einstein one and loved it. My DC was infatuated with the musical star, and everyone I know who used this one reported the same thing!

[sdbc]

We had the Baby Einstein one, but Rory never really got into it. By the time she was interested in toys, she was shuffling across the floor and wouldn't stay on the mat anyway (around 4 months).

A comforter would have been just as good for us. If you have hard floors, I'd recommend a foam mat. They have the pack of 4 2x2 foam mats at TRU right now. You should only use that supervised, though, because if baby takes a bite, it could be chokable.

[ask_dec2005]

Hi!
Thanks for all the advice!
We have cold tile floors on the first floor of the house. So I thought, it'd be nice to have a playmat. But maybe a thick blanket etc may be better.
Out of curiousity, how long did your babies play with the mats?
Arati

[em_jon98]

The foam mat (actually they are big squares of foam that "lock" together) someone else mentioned are pretty nice for putting down on cold floors, tile or hardwood, and can be used later for other purposes. We had one that we used to use in the kitchen when DD was really little, and now we sometimes put it down over the hardwood in the living room so she can do somersaults and other tumbling without banging her head or other body parts on the hard floor. So, the foam has a longer useful life, IMHO, than the playmats have. But, you do need to be careful to make sure teething babies don't take a bite out it because they can choke on the pieces if it happens to break off.

We got our foam mat at Sam's a few years ago for about $8, but almost every place that sells toys or childern's things will have some version of a foam playmat. Some are more decorative than others...ours is just solid primary colors but there are mats out there with numbers and letters on them, and some have removable pieces so an older toddler can take out the number/letter/shape, etc., and play with them. They also very in price depending on how decorative they are and where you are buying them at. I would recommend you just shop around until you find something you like and think you baby would find interesting. Don't forget about looking at online stores like Overstock.com and Lillian Vernon...they sometimes have really cute mats like this for a fairly good price.

HTH!

[LittlePrince_Mom]

We have a handmade foam mattress covered with a removable cloth cover playmat that we bought at a boutique. I just wanted to chime in to say that we really love the playmat. We used it all the time. We kept it rolled up in his room and I rolled it out at least once a day approximately from age 0 to age 1. At first it was a wonderful place to lay baby down whether on his back or for tummy time wherever I wanted in the house. Later it was a play area, and helped cushion the fall when he started sitting and falling over. When he started walking independantly at age 1 the use did go down, but we still use it sometimes as a comfy place to sit when building lego or doing puzzles and definitely pull it out when DS wants to practice somersaults. I loved it so much and found it so useful that I bought this playmat for a few friends as presents when they gave birth and I've heard similar feedback from them. In short I highly recommend getting some sort of mat, I found it much more comfortable than a blanket, more versatile and definitely worth the $ IMO.
HTH

-E
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[ask_dec2005]

Hi--
What kind of playmat did you have on top of the foam mattress?
TIA,
Arati

[eb1]

I chimed in earlier, but just to provide more input to your follow-up questions...

I received our playmat as a shower gift, but I absolutely would have purchased it myself otherwise. In retrospect, sure, a blanket would work, but the playmat is more than a soft spot. The mats have overhead bars with different soft toys and are a visually interesting (but not overstimulating, generally) place for a baby. We used a lot of the items that came with the Baby Einstein mat as independent soft toys too, good for early reaching, gripping, etc., and just general toys for later in the first year. The mat also came with a nonbreakable mirror--another interesting thing for babies--which could be attached to almost anything, and a pillow (the item we got the least use from). You can move the toys around on hanging loops to create new "displays" for the baby, or even hang other toys on the overhead bars. Also, the mats are great for "tummy time."

My DS crawled early, but we got use out of the mat for much longer than his non-mobile period. He still liked to play/sit on it.

I don't remember when we packed it up, but we got a lot of use out of it for at least the first six months. It's in great shape still, in case we have another child, but if it had been ruined somehow, I'd go out and buy another one for a new baby in a second. I do not think I would have enjoyed using a foam mat for my DS, but that's just my taste/preference, since obviously it's an option.

I do think the Haba one is adorable, but I think $150 is very overpriced for a playmat.

ETA: There's another very popular playmat, I forget what it's called, but actually there are two versions...one colorful, and one that is black, white, and red. If you think you'd get use out of one, I'd recommend you pick one that appeals to you aesthetically more than anything.

[ask_dec2005]

Thanks for all the advice!
I had never seen the Haba mats before. Now, I'm even more torn ;)
Arati

[LittlePrince_Mom]

We have a playmat made of a foam mattress (kind of like ones you would excersize on in aerobics classes) about 2" thick, covered in a cloth removable cover. Ill try to attach pics, hopefully it'll work ,iwas having trouble yesterday. We also have a thin tiny love playmat which was colorful and fun but we found it less practical because it was thin, and only used it for outings to the park and such, as a blanket, over grass. HTH
-E
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[mommabear]

At first I didn't buy one because of the price but then bought the tiny love gymini. It was worth 10 times the cost. I was our favorite toy until 7 mon. However We never cared about the music and lights. On this version they were on the mat to encourage tummy time I guess. He was only interrested in the hanging objects so my advice would be save some money and get one without music.
The haba one is nice but I think it will be less enjoyed than the tiny love. Save the money for other toys.