We used a pack n play with DD for the first 6 months, and it worked well. I did hate how awkwardly low we had to get once we took the newborn insert out but whatever. For her crib mattress we used this mattress which I liked because of the waterproof cover. It did smell when we first got it like some of the reviews say, but aired out pretty quickly. I don’t have any strong allegiance to either and am interested to see what others recommend
I’ll say this… a LOT of shit has changed since my last and that was only 7/8 years ago. I get overwhelmed by all these new “docking” and “napping” choices and everyone raving about what “you can’t live without”. Probably why I still haven’t bought anything and all I currently have is a crib LOL eta:spelling
CRIB: we have a basic one with a sealy infant/toddler side mattress. Question: DD used it for 3 years total between the infant side and the toddler side...it still seems firm and the industry standard is it has a shelf life of 5 years...seem safe?
BEDSIDE: Last time we had a pack and play with the infant insert and there was also an infant attachment. The infant attachment definitely has an incline that they say is no longer safe and I can't image using the PNP with just the infant insert because there is sooo much space. I want to get a smaller bedside bassinet and keep it at the $150 or under pp. Halo style but on the cheap.
LOUNGING: We had the now recalled Fischer-Price rock and play sleeper. That thing was amazing. We only used it when we had DD in the same room as us napping during the day. She never overnight or did long naps. Just that small snooze or when we needed to put her down. Recalled but we still have it to use for quick "put the baby down" moments. We also had the now recalled Boppy Lounger that we used for DD to lay on while she was on the couch next to me. Again, still have it and still plan on using it.
@And846 there definitely is a lot of space in the PNP with just the bassinet thing. That’s the one we had. I also forgot about lounging stuff- we really just used the boppy lounger which I loved, and also plan to use this time. Even if DD fell asleep in it, we were always right there anyway. It’s how I survived the very early days. I’d take her outside in it in the shade and drink coffee while she snoozed.
@and846 I believe the general consensus is that you need to get a new mattress for the baby, something about reduced SIDS risk with new mattresses vs old. We have the same question though, DD's will be 3.5 yrs old when he's born, and she didn't even use it much the first 6 months.
@MrsLaLaBug you really only need one place for baby to safely sleep, at a bare minimum, I don't get the whole trend of loungers, etc either. I'm not a big "baby container" fan anymore, and I don't believe dock-a-tots are safe so we don't use anything like that. We have a PNP that we keep downstairs, the crib in the bedroom, and a Halo bassinet for our bedroom. We had an activity center that we converted to a table (skip hop brand) for DD but the age range you can use it is soooooo slim (like 4-6 months), so I won't bother converting it back to the activity center. Oh, and we do have a swing, but tbd how much we will use it because it's so much like the RNP in that having babies on an incline for sleep just isn't safe.
Well after reading this, apparently it’s time we got a new mattress 😂 DS’s is fine for him - it’s probably getting up there in age but if it’s for SIDS risk only, he’s fine (mattress is probably about 4 years old now, which it would have been about 2.5-3 years when he started using it). But the extra one we have will be close to 5 years by the time this LO gets here.
I have a Boppy lounger but I wasn’t a huge fan of it with DS - just didn’t feel secure enough. Plus, if I have LOs on the couch, I’m sitting with them and usually have them in between my legs so I don’t really see the need.
We’ve always used a Graco swing in the past, but it finally bit the dust with DS so I’ve got to figure out something else. I love letting LOs have free roam of the floor, but with 3 kids and a dog, it just doesn’t seem like a realistic option. So we’ll be getting some kind of swing/bouncer or something.
We also use the PNP a ton. Again, multiple kids…it just makes life easier lol. We had used the same PNP for all 3 of my older kids, but since we were “done” with babies, we used it this summer as the outdoor containment device at my parents house when we would take the kids swimming. So now it’s gross and we definitely will need to upgrade. Not sure if we’ll use it in place of a bassinet (it will take up a lot of our floor space in our room, so I’m leaning towards something smaller), but we definitely need it in our living area. DH is currently using what will be her bedroom as his office, and she’ll probably room share with us until 9-12 months, so I’m not even bothering putting the crib up until she outgrows whatever bassinet system we end up using
Bassinet: For our first we used a Moses basket on a stand for bedside and moved it around the house during the day for naps. I'll probably keep the Moses basket in the living room this time, but we picked up the Ingenuity Folding Rocker for $30 for this time around at bedside.
Crib: we have the Ikea sniglar, which was great and is still being used by DS (we've taken a wall off to convert it to a toddler bed). We'll probably get another one of those ($100 here in Canada, plus the mattress), unless we move DS to a bigger bed but I'm concerned about the baby "taking over his stuff"
Lounging: like I said, mostly just used the Moses basket, and then we did lots of tummy time/floor time when that was age appropriate.
@MrsLaLaBug lol I feel the same and feel very much out of the loop now when it comes to baby gear. There’s even some kind of bassinet advertised on the bump site that detects when your baby stirs and automatically soothes them back to sleep… like, what.
I do want to get a simple bassinet for beside the bed, but don’t want to spend a lot of money as we would only use it for a little while.
Also I know each baby is different, but DD was only happiest in my arms. DH’s family gave us so many amazing things - swing, bouncer, pack and play, activity center - she hated them all and I felt so bad that I could not convince her to even give them a try without non-stop crying.
Bassinet: My step-sister gave us her Halo Bassinet so we'll use that in our room. She barely used it with my nephew, which worked out very well for us.
Crib: We went with the Hudson Crib by Babyletto with a Newton mattress. As an already anxious person, the breathability of the mattress gives me peace of mind
Lounging: We're going to stay clear of the loungers to start - they make me nervous. We do have a pack and play with a bassinet we'll keep downstairs and added a bouncer to our registry. My step-sister also gave us her old swing so we'll see if LO likes that too. Will all those options work for lounging? As a FTM I have no clue and everyone I ask in person keeps trying to shove the dock-a-tot down our throats lol
@karisahamdi I think all of those sound like good options! It’ll just depend what the baby likes too. Ive never used a dock a tot so no opinions there haha. I mean if anything you can just lay them on a blanket on the floor!
@karisahamdi my DD did not like her swing at all as a new baby. Plus in had her in a sitting-ish position and when she didn’t have head control that wasn’t good. We used the swing around 5 months. i refuse to look at the dock a toy - not even AAP certified if I’m not mistaken. We use our hoppy lounger next to us - can’t spill bagels and coffee on the baby.
@MrsLaLaBug, my son, too! That's the only way I could get him to sleep for awhile. One of my friends offered me one that she kept just in case but I told her no, I should use something safer... 😐 We have a Halo bassinet. DS hated that thing and would never sleep in it. I bought it barely used from another parent whose child barely slept in it so we'll see if this baby likes it any better. I've been looking at bouncers and swings. I'm a big proponent of buying secondhand. It just makes so much sense to me when people use baby stuff for such a short period of time so yeah... Oh yeah, my other challenge is my friend lent me a lot of the equipment I used with DS. We no longer live close to that friend so I've got to get my own stuff for this little one.
Our 2 yr old is still in the crib and has no interest in climbing out. Baby will go in the basinett in our room - we have the guava lotus bassinett and then sleep in it as a pack and play for a while...probably until the 2 yr old switches to a twin bed. I really don't want to buy a second crib since the 2 yr old will probably be out of it before the baby turns 6 months. Other than that we have a few bouncy seats we can pull out. Neither of our first 2 liked swings and i gave ours away so will probably stick to the bassinet, bouncy seat and blanket on the floor
@third2022 my DD is the same way. My sister gave us a toddler bed that we set up in her room so she can start getting used to it being there before baby needs the crib. Fx it works smoothly.
Revisiting this post a little late 😬 wondering if anyone used a co-sleeping bassinet that attached to the side of the bed? If so, does anyone have any recommendations for that?
@coffeemamaaaaa I had friends who did a sniglar as a sidecar on their bed and they really loved it. Also have heard good things about the Halo bassinest but I haven't used either myself.
@coffeemamaaaaa I did. We found a DIY template for a sidecar bassinet on Pinterest and it was pretty easy to make. Nice that we could customize it to match our headboard as well.
@coffeemamaaaaa We had the Halo bassinet with DS. I didn't love it. In fact, he barely slept in it but I think that was more a feeding problem then sleeping (was not getting as much breastmilk as I thought so he didn't sleep much at all.) I will say, if you're considering a Halo bassinet, just know it has very large legs. I tripped over it but then once during the middle of the night and hated that aspect. This time around, we're planning to try it with LO because we already have it but I've told DH that he has to cover the legs with pool noodles for me so I don't sub my toe as badly. We also bought a cosleeper bassinet and actually used that a little more then the Halo. I'll look on Amazon and see if I can find it. It actually was great for traveling, too but can only be used when the baby is pretty little. Let me look and I'll report back.
@runninginva thank you!! My last would only sleep if he was literally next to me so that could be a good option too! Thank you so much for looking for the link too. Super appreciated!
And846
member
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eta:spelling
BEDSIDE: Last time we had a pack and play with the infant insert and there was also an infant attachment. The infant attachment definitely has an incline that they say is no longer safe and I can't image using the PNP with just the infant insert because there is sooo much space. I want to get a smaller bedside bassinet and keep it at the $150 or under pp. Halo style but on the cheap.
LOUNGING: We had the now recalled Fischer-Price rock and play sleeper. That thing was amazing. We only used it when we had DD in the same room as us napping during the day. She never overnight or did long naps. Just that small snooze or when we needed to put her down. Recalled but we still have it to use for quick "put the baby down" moments. We also had the now recalled Boppy Lounger that we used for DD to lay on while she was on the couch next to me. Again, still have it and still plan on using it.
@MrsLaLaBug you really only need one place for baby to safely sleep, at a bare minimum, I don't get the whole trend of loungers, etc either. I'm not a big "baby container" fan anymore, and I don't believe dock-a-tots are safe so we don't use anything like that. We have a PNP that we keep downstairs, the crib in the bedroom, and a Halo bassinet for our bedroom. We had an activity center that we converted to a table (skip hop brand) for DD but the age range you can use it is soooooo slim (like 4-6 months), so I won't bother converting it back to the activity center. Oh, and we do have a swing, but tbd how much we will use it because it's so much like the RNP in that having babies on an incline for sleep just isn't safe.
I have a Boppy lounger but I wasn’t a huge fan of it with DS - just didn’t feel secure enough. Plus, if I have LOs on the couch, I’m sitting with them and usually have them in between my legs so I don’t really see the need.
We’ve always used a Graco swing in the past, but it finally bit the dust with DS so I’ve got to figure out something else. I love letting LOs have free roam of the floor, but with 3 kids and a dog, it just doesn’t seem like a realistic option. So we’ll be getting some kind of swing/bouncer or something.
We also use the PNP a ton. Again, multiple kids…it just makes life easier lol. We had used the same PNP for all 3 of my older kids, but since we were “done” with babies, we used it this summer as the outdoor containment device at my parents house when we would take the kids swimming. So now it’s gross and we definitely will need to upgrade. Not sure if we’ll use it in place of a bassinet (it will take up a lot of our floor space in our room, so I’m leaning towards something smaller), but we definitely need it in our living area. DH is currently using what will be her bedroom as his office, and she’ll probably room share with us until 9-12 months, so I’m not even bothering putting the crib up until she outgrows whatever bassinet system we end up using
Crib: we have the Ikea sniglar, which was great and is still being used by DS (we've taken a wall off to convert it to a toddler bed). We'll probably get another one of those ($100 here in Canada, plus the mattress), unless we move DS to a bigger bed but I'm concerned about the baby "taking over his stuff"
Lounging: like I said, mostly just used the Moses basket, and then we did lots of tummy time/floor time when that was age appropriate.
I do want to get a simple bassinet for beside the bed, but don’t want to spend a lot of money as we would only use it for a little while.
Also I know each baby is different, but DD was only happiest in my arms. DH’s family gave us so many amazing things - swing, bouncer, pack and play, activity center - she hated them all and I felt so bad that I could not convince her to even give them a try without non-stop crying.
Crib: We went with the Hudson Crib by Babyletto with a Newton mattress. As an already anxious person, the breathability of the mattress gives me peace of mind
Lounging: We're going to stay clear of the loungers to start - they make me nervous. We do have a pack and play with a bassinet we'll keep downstairs and added a bouncer to our registry. My step-sister also gave us her old swing so we'll see if LO likes that too. Will all those options work for lounging? As a FTM I have no clue and everyone I ask in person keeps trying to shove the dock-a-tot down our throats lol
i refuse to look at the dock a toy - not even AAP certified if I’m not mistaken. We use our hoppy lounger next to us - can’t spill bagels and coffee on the baby.
Or at least is very similar to what we had.