Infant Travel Beds

[aoconnell]

Has anyone used an infant travel bed when travelling w/your infant on a plane trip (or any other kind)? Just took our Pack N Play with us on a plane trip, but it is so cumbersome and heavy. Surfed the net and saw that there are several products on the market that are "infant travel beds", one by Samsonite, one by Allo Baby, one that is called the Wee Sleep Bumper Bed; one called the Nap 'N Pac. They are not playpens. Some are more like larger or sturdier co-sleeper "nests" for use in bed with parents; some look like large bassinets that would go on the floor. All seem to fold up and be much smaller and lighter than a Pack N Play.

My DD is now 9 weeks (12-1/2 pounds) and we have 3 more plane trips before Labor Day when she'll be 4-1/2 months.

Thanking you in advance for any guidance you can give.

[MamaKath]

With both our kids we got travel bassinets for plane trips and packed them in our luggage. I am not sure it was worth the $$ and I probably would not if we had another baby. What we found was most often, away from home they wanted to be with us in our bed, since they were off routine. We also found (especially with our son who is our second) that bringing a full size stroller that had the legrest zip up to make a bassinet type area he could not fall out of eliminate the need for the seperate bassinet/playpen/porta-crib.

HTH~

[nupe]

I was searching for one just 2weeks ago. I had decided on the Leachco nap n pack. I called Leachco to find out where I could find it locally and also online. No one local had it in stock (and didn't know when they would get more), and I didn't want to pay outrageous shipping at the online places that I was not familiar with--who knows when they would ship, if they had it in stock, etc.

http://www.leachco.com/
http://store.yahoo.com/leachco/evfornap.html

So instead at that point I bought a PNP at the destination because of easy availability.

Then I ordered the Deluxe Snuggle Nest by Baby Delight from babycenter.com. It is also available at our BRU. It folds up smaller than an adult standard pillow. We are using it right now with our 5 week old on vacation. It is very handy! Also it came with the Dr. Karp DVD, which is a nice bonus since we had just read his book. Haven't tried out the nightlight or sleep positioner that come with it yet.

http://www.babydelight.com/

The Nap and Pack and the Deluxe Snuggle Nest both have retail prices of about $50, and both are further discounted at various places you will find.

Nupe

[amp]

I went to the link for the snuggle nest and it looks neat, but it is only to be used for babies up to 4 mths and who are not sitting up or rolling over. Just be aware of that limitation before buying it.

[nupe]

Andrea:

Excellent point.

I plan to use mine as a changing table after DS outgrows it as a travel bed.

Nupe

[mamicka]

We have the Nap 'N Pac & loved it. We haven't used it for about 3-4 months since DS is now walking but we got a lot of use out of it prior to that.

[nupe]

Snuggle nest update.

DS is now 2 1/2 months old. The Snuggle Nest was great on our last trip as I noted. Shortly after we returned home however, he started pushing himself with his feet, toward his head. He would end up bumping the top of his head on the headboard of the Snuggle Nest and then would start crying, so we have been using it infrequently since that time.