I Have a Pack N Play Any Reason to Buy a Crib?

amother

Mon, Oct 27 2014, 4:27 am

I have a big Pack N Play, one of those fancy ones that have the changing station/napper/bassinet thing. Is there any reason that I would need to buy a crib or can I use this until the baby be"H can sleep in a bed?

Iymnok

Mon, Oct 27 2014, 4:35 am

I do this. Put a safety bar on the bed. Since my packNplay is saggy we pt a piece of plywood under the mattress.
When the baby starts climbing the walls threatening to rip the mesh it's time to move. Or if there's a sibling on the way.

amother

Mon, Oct 27 2014, 4:48 am

I kept my older daughter in her pack n'play until her sister was born. I think she was around 19 months or so. I plan to do the same with my baby until the next one comes along!

Dev80

Mon, Oct 27 2014, 6:04 am

The only reason we got a crib is b/c I didn't think my oldest slept so well in the pack n play, so we bought a crib at a good price and he slept much better. For my next one we got a thicker mattress to put into the pack n play, I'm not sure it's100% recommended but I did it when he was already a year+ and it does fit perfectly so I'm not worried about safety. It could be he will go straight from pack n play to bed. If your child sleeps comfortably now so there may be no need to think about it just yet.

elliegator8

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 12:25 am

It depends on the kid and how well he sleeps in it. My son refused to sleep in anything other than a car seat, and from that he moved on to a co-sleeper, leaving the crib and pack n play completely unused. If it aint broke, dont fix it. Enjoy the sleep Smile

Odelyah

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 12:36 am

No, I don't think there's a reason to buy a crib, even without a fancy pack 'n play. Or any pack 'n play for that matter, from the baby's perspective. Unless you want one, which is also a reason.

out-of-towner

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 12:40 am

Dev80 wrote:

The only reason we got a crib is b/c I didn't think my oldest slept so well in the pack n play

Same here. 1 year old wasn't sleeping well in it. We got a por-a-crib, partially because of cost, more because of space constraints (rather than getting a full-sized crib), but it had a better mattress and she sleeps much better now.

MaBelleVie

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 12:48 am

Well... Lie down on the pack n play mattress and decide if you would want to sleep on it Wink

It also isn't as large as a crib, so it won't last you as long.

amother

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 12:52 am

Dev80 wrote:

I want to get a mattress for the pnp at my parents house. What mattress did you find that works in the pnp?

seeker

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 2:07 am

My DD's were both happy in their pack n plays for at least two years (one transitioned to a toddler bed around 3 1/2, the other is still two) That's not entirely accurate because both did go through stages of refusing to sleep anywhere but my chest (ouch, I know!) but once they learned to sleep on their own the PnP was good enough for them. If they seemed uncomfortable I would surely have switched them out but they were fine. I like that the sides are soft as opposed to crib sides which tend to be hard and also have those spaces between bars that hands and feet can slip through, seems annoying to me.

Dev80

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 2:56 am

amother wrote:

I want to get a mattress for the pnp at my parents house. What mattress did you find that works in the pnp?

We just measured the size that we have and got a mattress for a porta crib that fits. I live in Israel so we bought here but check this out on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dream-On.....U0H6O and there are similar links on the bottom, take the measurements and hopefully you'll find something that fits. Again I don't think I'd do this for a very small baby but for an older baby I felt more comfortable with it (just b/c the pnp has lots of warnings NOT to add a mattress but I'm sure that's to save themselves as well)

naomi2

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 9:18 am

another vote for getting a regular crib mattress for the pac n play. if you get that, I don't see the harm in keeping you DC in it until they transition to a bed

sky

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 9:42 am

IMHopinion wrote:

A pack n play does not have a firm, comfortable mattress,

You can buy an excellent crib mattress for a pack 'n play. I've used it long term (until age 2) mainly because I had 2 kids in cribs and didn't want to buy a second crib. My kids are tall so at some point they had to move out because their height was the same length of the pack 'n play.

seeker

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 3:37 pm

My kid was longer than the pack n play when we moved her out, simply due to logistics - I had wanted to get a toddler bed but we needed to rearrange furniture and find a bed and assemble it and with all that goes on in life we just didn't get around to it very fast. But she seemed to like pressing against the sides in a sensory kind of way. She seemed a little lost when she finally got a bed with no sides to snuggle against. Go figure... I remember worrying about my baby who as an infant was very long, I thought she would grow out of my mini co-sleeper before I was ready because her length at 3 months or so was almost the length of the cot. Then I looked at her sleeping, scrunched up froggy-style, with plenty of space all around her, and stopped worrying. Smile

amother

Bisque

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 3:47 pm

My baby is also very long. I guess I'll have to watch and see how she sleeps when she gets older.

Last edited by amother on Sat, Mar 28 2015, 4:24 pm; edited 1 time in total

Beyla

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 6:54 pm

Funny that we just did the opposite : my son had a crib since his birth and when we stopped cosleeping, I found out he constantly woke up in his bed because of the bars of the crib. So we changed for a pack and play and moved the mattress in it. He now sleeps perfectly bh.

mandr

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 8:14 pm

Once you stop using the bassinet top part of the pack n play, you will have to keep reaching down to put your baby in and take him/her out. It's annoying, to me, at least. I used a portacrib until my baby was about 10 months old.

I feel a pack n play is great for short term use, but that's about it. It's not really that comfortable.

miami85

Tue, Oct 28 2014, 9:11 pm

You don't need it right away, but a crib is significantly bigger than a pack n' play and it can be harder to climb out of a crib than a pack n' play. It got to a point that my toddler was climbing out of the pack n' play--which also poses a flip-over risk, but not out of the crib. We didn't get a crib for my older son until he was 8 months old. He definitely slept better once we got the crib.