PSULLY - RE: Cribs

[Piglet]

I didn't want to clutter up the pinned thread, but wanted to respond to your crib quest...

When we were expecting DS1 over 5 years ago, we went looking for a decent crib and tried to get the best we could within our price range. We ended up going to a local baby store ( I am in Calgary, so no help on specific stoer names) and just playing with all the cribs that were in our price range. We then asked for the opinion of the manager and she steered us to a low-priced crib that suited our needs. Let me tell you for the $229 we paid, that thing has stood the test of time! We spent some money on a good mattress, but the crib itself has been great. It is pretty basic, but made of solid wood (a harder wood if memory serves me). It has the same style sliders as all the expensive cribs. It has 3 height adjustments and has stood up to 2 kids (and hopefully will last through to our next kid whenever that may be). My kids are not too easy on their cribs either - DS1 slept on his crib until he was well over 3 and he jumped and jumped in it.

My best advice is to stick with your budget on the crib and buy a nice mattress. My parents bought a crib from Wal-mart for very little money and even it has withstood our frequent visits with the kids. Not quite as nice sliders as on our crib (it sticks a bit) and only 2 height choices, but really it has been fine.

Don't get sucked into spendning so much on a crib - wait for the strollers, diaper bags and carseats, LOL!

[psully]

thank you soooo much for replying and for the great advice. For some reason, no one has really given me much help on this topic.

We are definitely trying to save money, and that's why we decided against one of those fancy convertible cribs... the ones that are $600 and up!

that said, we're still considering a convertible, and this one we're looking at is only $350. Much more reasonable if you ask me.
From the information I've gathered, it has 3 mattress adjustments and a drop rail (good for me cuz I'm short). I'm not sure what kind of wood though, as the description just says "wooden".
But, again, I can't try it out anywhere.

From what you're saying, I shouldn't buy anything unless I can test it first? Or do you think it will be okay as long as we invest in a good mattress?
Even though you didn't buy your crib in Ontario, can I ask the name of the crib you bought? (or the manufacturer? ... if you remember!)
Also, do you remember what kind of mattress?

thanks again... sooooooo much.

P

[Piglet]

I don't know if I can help on the name of the crib because it was sort of generic sounding (Luna, I think). I bought the mattress at Toys R Us and made sure it had a high coil count. At the time, I looked in Sears, the Bay and TRU and bought the one with the highest coil count. The biggest thing for me with the crib was to have the easiest rail drop mechanism (i.e. quietest and simplest). I am also quite short - DH doesn't even lower the rail, so it had to work for me more than for him. Also, at first we didn't use the rail because the mattress was so high. To be honest, we wouldn't have had any use for the convertible crib because we went from DS1 needing the crib to DS2 needing the crib (with maybe a year of not use in between). We are working on #3 and will be going straight from DS2 to DC3 with the crib. By the time we could use the convertible featuer that crib will be OLD! I also would recommend buying a simple design - as kids grow and fashions change you won't necessarily love the sleigh bed, etc., as much as you did at first. Ours is SO simple!

Good luck,

[Neatfreak]

Can I weigh in? We picked out my daughter's first crib much like Marina did - found a gem that was priced for about $200 (it's a Cara Mia). Then we moved across the country, temporarily, for my DH's job, and we decided not to bring the crib and just buy one here to use. Unless we wanted to wait 12 weeks for a fancy crib to be special-ordered, we had to choose one from Sears, Wal-Mart, or Zellers. So we have the cheapest Storkcraft from Sears, and it's holding up fine. I had major reservations about this brand based on the Baby Bargains book, but it's mattress platform doesn't even creak when my 27 lb child is jumping up and down on it for fifteen minutes straight! The hardware is fine. The only area I think it's lacking is that it only has two height-adjustments for the mattress platform, and I was spoiled with the Cara Mia crib because it has four or five. The Storkcraft isn't award-winning workmanship, but it does it's job fine.

[psully]

thanks for weighing in. The more feedback the better.
Knowing that a Storkcraft can withstand some abuse makes me think that a Simplicity would probably be okay.... they seem to be in the same ballpark as far as reviews are concerned. And as Marina pointed out, a good mattress is probably more important.

just as an aside, I can't believe you found a Cara Mia crib for $200!

thanks.
Patty

[Neatfreak]

Floor model of their cheapest style! (We put the side with a scratch against the wall)