DS is 3 months old and we already have a bassinet, rock n play and a swing. with DD i never got a pack n play because space was an issue. anytime we travelled we used the rocln play or coslept. with DS I dont want to cosleep ever because it was a hard habit to break so we are always avoiding overnight stays away from home because sleep arrangements are tricky. I dont like to use the rock n play for overnight sleep. if you have a pack n play was it worth it? is it convenient to travel with? if so please recommend one!
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I mean, we used it only for travel but it was kind of necessary for that. So I guess? Neither boy slept well in it though.
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So worth it for travel and use in our house. We also use it for visits to friend's houses and most of them have babies now and their own we can borrow, but it's useful for if they don't or if it's being used by another baby. We got a standard fairly cheap graco one and when folded up they really don't take up that much space.
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It was definitely worth it for us for travel purposes. My oldest didn't sleep great in it, but he would've slept worse without it. And my youngest sleeps in it just fine. It's easy to pack up and assemble, so it's gotten a lot of use in our family.
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i wouldn't get a pack n play if you want to travel with it (airline travel).. they are heavy and cumbersome. I'd look at a guava lotus, baby bjorn crib, etc. I LOVE our bjorn travel lite crib. But if I were doing it again I'd buy second hand, they are so lightly used and expensive new. I've also used several pack n plays. Love our bjorn so much more.
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I think ours is one of our most used baby items but I don't think it's necessary for everyone. We travel to family (not hotels) often and it has been invaluable for that alone. Ours has one with a napper that flips over to a changing pad. My oldest slept in the napper as a tiny baby and my second and third use the napper in the daytime quite a bit. And for #2 and 3 we exclusively changed diapers on our first floor on it. With our oldest we were in a one level condo otherwise we probably would have used it for that too. The other time it has been super useful was when LO2 went through a phase where he would wake MOTN and refuse to go back to sleep. We were able to put it in our lower level and put him in it so he wouldn't wake LO1. I think it is great to have once your LO outgrows the RnP but if you didn't need it with your first you might not need it now. And fwiw, ours is super easy to pack up and travel with but not the napper/changing pad attachment or bassinet.
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Definitely for travel. We also use ours when visiting friends past LO's bedtime or naptimes or if he gets babysat at their house. Friends who come here do the same. I didn't register for one but was gifted ours by my aunt who knew better
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We had two and used both often!
One in our room for naps and night sleep, 3-6m.
One in the living room to put him down in a safe place 0-8m, then it became toy storage for months 8-10.Now one is packed away and one is at the grandparents house.
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we use it for travel after outgrowing the Rock n Play
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We got a lot of use out of ours, but there are probably other baby containers that could serve the same purpose. DS hated the RNP so we ended up using the top of the PnP as a bassinet. Then when he got bigger I put him in there as a playpen while I got ready.
We never brought ours on trips though. Everywhere we ended up going had them.
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We have two. A Graco travel lite crib and a standard run of the mill Graco. We have the standard one set up all the time in our family room, and it is where DD naps on the weekends. She naps in one at daycare, so she naps really well in it. She actually sleeps really well at night in it too, when we travel or if for some reason we need to sleep on the first floor. I can't imagine not having one.
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Yeah, we could not have survived without it. Ok, we could have SURVIVED but it wouldn't have been easy. But we do a lot of overnights and we needed it for that. I think getting one so that you're not trapped in your own home would be worth it!
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It's been worth it to us! We have a basic graco one and while it's a little annoying to set up (compared to the fancier ones like baby bjorn or lotus or whatever) but we use it whenever we travel by car. You can get a basic one on Amazon for $40, so it was actually cheaper to have a new one shipped to our vacation rental house than to fly with it.
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Definitely necessary for travel. Neither of our kids coslept, they think it's playtime when they're in our bed. When we're not travelling, we keep it set up in the playroom as a baby container. A is almost 10 months old and sometimes she just needs a place to sit and play for a bit where we don't have to worry about her getting into big brother's choking hazard toys.
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We have two - one upstairs and one downstairs. We never used them for sleep, other than infrequent travel, but they've been invaluable for a safe place to put down our adventurous toddler. We've used it even more with our second son than we did with our first.
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Is a crib worth it? We honestly only use a packnplay and we are on to kid 2 with it. My kids never have a problem sleeping in a 'new' bed when we travel. We often don't bring it with us when we travel because others have them, but we have ours when people come to see us. When we have visitors we can also easily rearrange rooms. My first took a really long time to learn how to climb out of one (and he's a climber).
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it's nice for travel except that it's heavy and cumbersome. i wouldn't take it on a plane (i know others do, i guess i am a wimp) and it takes up a good chunk of trunk space. for travel and trips to the grandparents, i've been liking the kidco peapod (we got it after LO2 turned 1).
LO2 actually uses a regular pack n play as his crib, but assuming you don't need a crib...
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For travel yes. She slept in till 2 when traveling.
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Pack n plays are so huge I would never ever want to travel with one (on a flight).
If you are mostly looking for travel and the occasional baby holder when LO becomes mobile, I highly recommend the Lotus Travel Crib. It's basically a super light weight PNP that folds very small. Easy to set up and take down. Once we got that the PNP was rendered useless. -
We had a very basic one, it didn't have all the attachments and when I folded it up, it fit inside my suitcase (checked, of course).
I think we spent $50 on it, we got it at Costco, I believe.
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We didn't use one in our house, but we bought one to use at my parents'/ILs' houses when we go back home to visit. We just bought a basic Graco one that is just a pain to lug around on the plane. Hotels typically have a crib/pnp and we will just rent one if we are renting a house on vacation. I find that there is so much crap you have to bring already with two kids that an extra item to bring to the airport isn't worth it.
There are lighter ones (but more pricey) that have gotten good reviews (Phil & Teds for example) and i would only get it if i knew it would get a lot of use.
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Thank you all so much. I'll look at all the options you suggested. I'm already leaning towards something more lightweight and travel friendly
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We found that we didn't really need a travel crib for travel since most nice hotels can provide you with a crib. We were fortunate, though, since both sets of grandparents have mini cribs we can use while visiting.
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I never had to buy one, but it was worth having for us. It was mostly used to corral DD when I was getting ready in the morning when she was willing to be contained in it! Then it went to daycare since we had to BYOB. With #2, I feel like I'd use it even more b/c I probably can't focus my 100% attention on her at all times. So for me, less for sleeping and more for general day time use.
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Thanks everyone!
Yes we have been provided with a crib by hotels before but to be honest The crib they gave us once was a bit grimey looking so I didnt let DD sleep in it.
I am looking at options online now, its amazing how many different types there are even within just the graco brand! -
My sister has worked at many different hotels and was manager of the housekeeping dept at one...she recommends bringing your own pack n play. The hotel ones never get cleaned or even wiped down, and it's also not a guarantee they'll have one always available. You can buy a Graco one on Amazon for $60 without all the bulky attachments.
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We never got a crib! DD sleeps in the pnp. At home we have a mattress furniture, and travel she still sleeps great, because it's her bed. We have a graco.
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We've used it occasionally for travel - nice to have, I suppose, but just depends on how you use it. My LO sleeps terribly in it. Looking forward to a week of that starting Friday... hooray... (eyeroll)
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We got a travel crib instead of a pack n play or a bassinet. It was super handy for keeping baby next to the bed and for travel, because it was compact and very easy to pack up. We moved him out of it around 8 months or so because he would rock back and forth in it, making the whole thing scoot across the room.
https://www.amazon.com/Graco-Travel-Lite-Stages-Manor/dp/B00HAZUJLI -
For us a regular one was a waste, but the bjorn travel crib got so much use.
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Eh. We only used it a few times with DS1, but we hardly traveled. We used it with DS2 during the newborn phase when he was sleeping in our room. I imagine we'll use it when we travel again this summer.
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We have a travel crib and have never missed the pnp.
The grandparents have them for when we visit and they are so bulky and non of the kids will sleep in them. The Baby Bjorn on the other hand puts them all to sleep. Comfy and packs up small. Win win
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