Pack n Plays! Huh, good god y'all. What are they good for?

Nukke · May 2013

....Absolutely nothing.

Say it again!

(you're welcome if you now have Edwin Starr's 'War' stuck in your head)

At least they're good for absolutely nothing in our case. My mother-in-law is all but insisting that we register for a pack n play. I've tried telling her we don't need one, and we don't have the space for one, but she keeps saying, "you're definitely going to need one! Register for one!" as though they're essential to baby rearing. She says if we don't use it, we can always just exchange it for money. By the way, she lives in PA, and we live in Ontario. She wants us to register for it, leave it there until we have room (when we move or something???), and she says, "if you don't use it, you can return it for money. Someone may want to buy it for you!" We go to PA twice a year. twice.

I've read so much about them my eyes are going to pop out. Every last function of them doesn't suit our situation. Here's what I came up with:

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They're excellent for travelling with. They fold up and you can take them in the backyard when you're doing laundry, yardwork, etc. You can take them to a friends house and you're not stuck needing to come home early because baby needs to go to bed. You can bring them to hotels, or long distance visits with extended family. They're great for in the house when Baby is getting in your hair messing things up when you're trying to clean. They're handy if you don't have room for a crib and change table and bassinet.

DH and I live in a 600 (thereabouts) square foot one bedroom apartment. We don't have a yard, don't leave to visit friends homes (except our neighbours). Our neighbours, btw, live across the hall. They're literally 20 meters away at the furthest point. Baby's grandparents (including my mother in law) already have cribs. The crib we have can "cage" baby if he/she gets in our hair when we're trying to clean the apartment. And we have a dresser that's doubling as a change table, and our crib converts from a bassinet.

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WE LITERALLY DON'T NEED ONE. I don't know how to make my MIL understand this. Should I copy these two paragraphs into an email for her?

I've tried sicking DH on her, but he just says, "yeah mom, we don't need one. We don't have room". She is not convinced.

wwyd?

happybride 276 · May 2013

Just don't register for one and ignore her. My MIL has insisted on things as well so I understand the fratration, and I have yelled at her just to prove my point. I am not proud of this and hope you can learn from my mistakes because all that has happened is that she thinks I am the bad guy and it has damaged our fragile relationship she is crazy and never thinks she does anything wrong. Even if she buys you a pack n play just return it and buy something else.

LiveNLove44 · May 2013

You certainly don't have the need or the room for one, so I wouldn't worry about registering for one. With that said, if you foresee her concern growing and becoming more of a problem, you could register for one and then return it/exchange it for things you really need (like truck loads of diapers/wipes/etc.) It can't hurt to have it on the registry, but I understand your logic and your frustration! Good luck!

Nukke · May 2013

I'm definitely not putting one on the registry. If someone buys one for us, I hope we can figure out what store it came from and it has a gift receipt. And I hope we have enough time (in the two days we visit) to return it. And then we'll have store credit or something from a store in Pennsylvania when we live in Canada. Excellent.

I sent her a very nice email with all the points above in those two paragraphs. (of course reworded). I'll see what she replies.

magdalina.h · May 2013

Two options. 1 do what you want and not register/ get one 2 register, get one and then return it with other crap you'll be returning.

ravenclaw1 · May 2013

Just don't register for one.

However, I can practically promise she'll either get you one or tell her friends you "Really need one!!!!" and they'll get it.

kat81again2 · May 2013

Just don't register for one. I think a pack & play is awesome but in your situation I agree it will just take up space.

psychgirl33 · May 2013

Just don't register for it. We didn't get one until Molly was mobile. She hates sleeping in it and won't sleep at all so we don't take it anywhere. And it's a pain to fold up. We have the space so it's a nice place to confine her for short periods, but if you don't have the space then it doesn't make sense.

When I was registering everyone and their mother told me we had to have a PnP, too.

EOB584 · May 2013

We haven't used our very much. Maybe a dozen of times in DD's 2 years. I *might* use it more this time around with the set up of our house but I don't know. My mom actually bought one at a garage sale to keep at her house so when we travel there I don't even need to bring ours - which give us extra trunk space. When we visit DH's family my SIL has one that we use. I don't think they are essential baby items for everyone to have.

I'd just ignore your MIL and/or maybe suggest that she buy a used one in good condition to keep at her house for when you do travel to visit.

AngelMommy11211 · May 2013

Register for a really expensive one, so most will be put off buying it, and if you do get it, you can just return it. Or just put your foot down and tell her no. If she buys one, Walmart accepts just about everything for returns anyway.

Nukke · May 2013

Zembits:
If she keeps bringing it up (which is weird if you have already told her no - she'd drop it eventually, right?) then I would just tell her your reasons... and maybe throw in that most are made of vinyl, which is one of the worst plastics for off-gassing... she wouldn't argue if you made it into a safety issue maybe.

I have no idea why she won't drop it either. The best I can think is that she's talked to someone (a friend of hers? maybe my sisters in law?) and they have told her that they want to buy us a pack n' play.

The vinyl thing might work well, actually, as she knows I'm weird about that kind of thing.

OpheliaChem · May 2013

Ignore her. Its your baby after all. From the way you describe her, she will buy you one even if you don't register for one. Soooo just let it go. I agree that you probably won't get much use out of it. We used ours a lot to keep DD downstairs. Upstairs we had her crib. But in a small space like yours, the crib will work just fine. As for traveling, yes the PnP is crucial but again, you have your situation covered.

A37licia · May 2013

Our has been very useful for the last 4 years for either traveling, like you said, or having kids visit overnight which has happened a number of times. But, we have the space to store it and the room to have guests throughout the year, so we keep it around. If she wants you to have it so badly and keep it at her place, let her buy it.

We don't fly with ours though, we just seek out one to borrow at our destination and have always been able to do that. We just take it when driving.

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Pack n Plays! Huh, good god y'all. What are they good for?

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