Product Spotlight 12/30: cribs, bassinets, travel cribs, & sleeping surfaces

wanderlustsoul

We'll be tackling lots of baby furniture and gear over the next few months, but one of the major focus points of the nursery is the CRIB/BASSINET! So let's start there!

Many people find themselves with a million different sleep surfaces, e.g.: a bedside bassinet for when they're itty bitty, a sturdy crib (which may or may not convert to a toddler bed down the road) for their nursery, travel cribs, a Pack and Play for other areas in the house, and we want to hear about them ALL! Do you like all the bells and whistles like a SNOO? Or perhaps just the minimalist dream of the Finnish Baby in A Cardboard Box tradition? Please share!

(And generally this is a lighthearted space to share cute baby products, but this is a good time and place to share this page linked by the American Academy of Pediatrics on safe sleep habits for babies).

Prior and Upcoming Product Spotlights

wanderlustsoul

We had a great bassinet that we used for DS until he was technically 4 months old (it's European so no brand recommendation). In reality, until he was just over 3 months old, then we travelled for 3 weeks, and when we returned, we put him straight to his crib. I absolutely LOVED having him beside me but he slept 100% better in his own room with the crib. The dog would wake him up all the time.  We're going to do the bassinet again but I might move baby 2 earlier, depending on how the baby sleeps. DS only fed 1 time a night as of 7 weeks old. 

We just had a regular bassinet that had a rocking feature, which was cool. And a regular crib that turns into a toddler bed. Nothing fancy. Kid sleeps great in it so fancy isn't needed for us. But the bassinet was great for the 1st 2 weeks where he fed so often and I could just lay him in it without having to get out of bed. It had a side that unzipped and attached to my bed. 

I'm a huge stickler for safe sleep (sorry not sorry - the risk isn't worth it to me and I'm far too anxious). For the first 8 weeks, he only slept in his bassinet and then he napped while I held him and watched loads of trashy TV. Eventually he started napping alone in his bassinet. I owned a boppy lounger but he never napped in it unless I placed him down at the end of a nap to go pee. 

We had a PNP but he only slept it in when we travelled and never at home as it wasn't necessary (we lived in 1 floor apartment then). 

marikkita12

last time around we lived in a one bedroom apartment so munchkin slept in his crib from day 1. This time we are in a 2 bedroom (yay!) so baby will be in a halo bassinet in our room until she outgrows it and then will go to her crib in the other room. My son was almost 4 when he started sleeping through the night (most nights) in his own bed (also most nights) because we were in the same room. I’m hoping she will be a better sleeper

canucklehead123

We just purchased a pack and play for the baby to have a safe and out of reach sleep/tummy time surface in the living room - never had this with DS he slept in a Moses basket on our coffee table for much of those early days 😂 Definitely won’t work with a 3 yr old running around.  Like others we have a bassinet for bedside for the first few months (we lasted about 3 months with DS, probably about the same this time around) and will move to the crib after.  We have also commissioned grampa to build DS’s very own big boy bed so that’s exciting and we are going to be starting the transition out of the crib for him in the next few weeks so that it’s not such a big shock when baby comes. 

Our little guy hated all the gadgets (swing and mamaroo) that are designed to put a babe to sleep - so while we have all that collecting dust still, I don’t know if we’ll use it all. 

becks_726

We had a super basic rocking bassinet for in our room the first 3 months or so. Never intended to move her out so early but it was the best move. Everyone slept so much better with a bit of distance and I was desperate to have access to my bedroom while she slept. 

In the nursery we have the super cheap ikea crib. Great value. We’ll be moving DD to a toddler bed sometime in the next 5 months to pass along the crib. FX that goes smoothly. 

We never really used the swing much and it was fairly well used before we inherited it so we got rid of that when DD outgrew it. Hopefully the next kid is equally content on a flat surface. The PnP on the other hand was instrumental in the early months (and then for travel after that) because our dog is a bit... rambunctious. 

jessd0117

We used a pack n play with the bassinet feature for the first 2 months and put it in our room, but not right next to the bed. It was the perfect size and hardness, and had just a very slight incline with helped so much with DD’s reflux. However now that I’m thinking about it, DS and I also spent a great deal of time napping on the couch together so we wouldn’t disturb DH. DD actually did quite well with sleep, has always been a pretty good sleeper so we moved her to her crib in her room around 2 months and never had any issues. 

Our crib is actually one of the Davinci ones that’s now discontinued, but DD has used the heck out of it. We used it as a toddler bed for the past 2ish years (she will be 4 this month) and just ordered the side rails and made that crib/toddler bed into a full sized bed for our daughter. So we’ve gotten sooo much use out of it and she will continue to use it probably until she’s off to college or something lol. 

This time around we will most likely get a little bassinet for our room again and then move to crib around 2 months. Our home is pretty small and only 2 bedrooms so DD and this new little one will have to share a room for a couple years. We knew we didn’t want to stay here, but aren’t ready to make that move yet. 

jessd0117

I meant DD and I spent lots of time on the couch. I don’t have a son lol sausage fingers make it hard to type longer posts out 😂

daisy528

We will use DD’s mini crib for this babe. It fits perfectly in our bedroom, and this babe will be in our room for the foreseeable future (two bedroom house with two kids in a tiny room already). 

sojoba

For the first couple months DD we used a Halo, i liked having it right by the bed but honestly she didn’t sleep well in it until I got the newborn insert. For times we were lounging in bed we used the dockatot. Eventually we switched to a PNP in our room until we moved her to her own room & crib at around 9 months. 

NO idea what I’m going to do with twins, I was so excited not to have to buy anything this time around. I think the Halo will be way too clunky to have 2 but I have read they can share a PNP/Crib until they start rolling. 

karacc18

In the past we used the Rock n Play next to the bed (Which is a big NO NO now so that has been thrown out). I am borrowing my friends Halo for this baby, so I am interested to see how it works out. To be honest, we ended up co sleeping with the older two because they only wanted to sleep literally attached to me. My kids also were terrible sleepers and never took to the crib, so we will put it back together and see if third time is the charm but I doubt it.

bntfroggie

We usually did a cradle next to our bed up until 2 wks before my maternity leave was up and then we moved baby to the crib.  We also tried to do naps in the crib so it wasn't completely foreign.

cammie0526

The best baby purchase I made for DS was the Halo DreamNest. Basically just a fancy pack n play, but better. He slept in our room until we moved him to his nursery at 6 months. We plan to do the same this time around if I breastfeed again. If BFing doesn't work out, we'll still keep him in our room in the beginning but would probably move him to the nursery sooner. 

navete

With my son I resisted getting a proper bassinet (thought it was a waste of money) and instead used the bassinet for our Uppababy stroller...but I didn’t want to spend the crazy price tag for the stand so I had all sorts of different scenarios of placing the bassinet next to me near the bed. At first I placed the bassinet on a trunk secured between the bed and window but then I obsessively worried about him being too cold next to the window, or somehow the bassinet falling. Then I placed the bassinet on the floor next to me, but was freakishly paranoid about getting up in the middle of the night and somehow stepping in the bassinet so I kept moving it all around the room...what an easily avoidable nightmare 🤦🏽‍♀️. This time around I am spending allll the money on a proper bassinet, even if baby will only be in it for a couple months 😅. 

We’ll keep baby in our room until either he/she starts sleeping through the night, or the more likely scenario (since my son didn’t sleep through the night consistently until around 15 months 😅), move baby to a combined guestroom/nursery around 3 months. Eventually the two kids will share a room, which will probably coincide with sleeping through the night.

DuchessOfCambridge

I also follow safe sleep bc I’ve had two nicu babes with breathing issues so it made me anxious to not. Used the halo bassinet which was AMAZING after csection. DD will get a big girl bed and new baby will get her crib when ready. We have two pnps as well. Got rid of our rock n play and unsure if I want to use the mamaroo again as I did hear of a baby passing. We have a dockatot as well that is only used for supervised daytime naps. Like I bring it around with me while doing things so I can keep an eye on baby