Soliciting More Advice about Baby Gear
We've pretty much narrowed our crib choices down to two. This is going to be our Christmas present from my parents, so we need to make the final decision very soon. In fact, I fear it's already to late for under the tree, so to speak, but nonetheless.
One crib has all stationary parts-- only a mattress that lowers. No moving side bar. It's a very nice and sturdy crib.
The other crib has a side bar that moves up and down. It's just a crib, which is just fine with me. We have more than enough beds for the kid once it's out of a crib.
We completely torn between the two, although the more people we talk with, the more we are convinced we need a side bar that goes up and down. But we also thought we should ask the blog world too since we got such excellent input about gear after my "freak out at the baby store" posting.
There's also some serious stroller angst going as well too, but The Crib Question rules the roost today: So, go on. Tell me what you think.
One crib has all stationary parts-- only a mattress that lowers. No moving side bar. It's a very nice and sturdy crib.
The other crib has a side bar that moves up and down. It's just a crib, which is just fine with me. We have more than enough beds for the kid once it's out of a crib.
We completely torn between the two, although the more people we talk with, the more we are convinced we need a side bar that goes up and down. But we also thought we should ask the blog world too since we got such excellent input about gear after my "freak out at the baby store" posting.
There's also some serious stroller angst going as well too, but The Crib Question rules the roost today: So, go on. Tell me what you think.
posted by Katie at 1:59 PM
19 Comments:
Must.Go.Down.
Leaning over an immovable bar to reach down, down, down a foot and a half, in order to pick up a 22 pound wriggling/puking/crying/evasive/wettoddler-type kid, at 3am, with your eyes crusted shut from lack of sleep, while your ovaries are jammed into your kidneys and/or spine, is NOT the most pleasant feeling. And then there's nowhere for the giant breasts to go...behind the bar, sandwiched next to your ovaries? In front of the bar, blocking the sun and scaring the kid? I promise you, you'll be glad you get the dropping-side style.
Oh, those were the days...ENJOY!!
haha!! Funny, Jen!
Yes- I agree- movable sidebar.
I have a crib with a let-down sidebar, and now #3 is in it and I have never, that's right, NEVER used the let-down sidebar. Ever. Yes, the bend can suck at times, but the few times I started to try and use the daggone thing it was such a pain that I just gave up. And this is the model that is supposed to have the EASIEST "hands-free" operatin. Pfffft.
Definitely moveable sidebar. We used ours constantly and finally broke the mechanism on the 2nd child. It was not that easy to use at first and we had to get used to the moving something on both sides. That aside, there were sooooo many times that it was necessary. Usually the barfing times. Jen's right the breasts have got to have someplace to go!
I'm throwing my weight behind the people who say the side must drop. Not only for help picking the kid up... but also for help putting him/her down. There are times when I need to keep Julia held as tightly as possible against my chest until she is gently placed on the bed. The ONLY way to do this is with a side that drops.
Here's the thing. Cricket may end up being the easiest sleeper in the world. Cricket may NEVER vomit in the middle of the night. Cricket may be a light baby that doesn't break your back to lift up and down out of a crib without a drop side. But, do you REALLY want to take the risk that one night you'll be seriously sleep-deprived, unbelievably tired (I can't stress that enough...), with a possibly sick, but definitely cranky baby at 4 AM when you're trying to lay it down for the 6th time that night, and realize that the only thing that's going to help this kid stay asleep while transitioning into the crib is for your legs to grow an additional 3 feet in height, or for the crib's side to drop... and that at that point it's far more likely that you'll spontaneously gain the extra height needed because that side is NEVER GOING TO DROP because you didn't think you were ever going to need a crib whose side dropped? Please, avoid that future blog post, get the crib with the side that drops.
I am laughing! laughing! laughing! at all these comments because they are so, so true. Honestly, I've never seen a crib with a side rail that didn't go down, so that's a new one to me. I definitely recommend the railing to go down for all the reasons above. However, we have baby No. 3 in the same crib we had with No. 1 and I'm not sure I've ever put the side rail down. While I am quite familiar with the need to keep baby as close to your body as humanly possible until he/she hits the bed, somehow this hasn't been as much of an issue with No. 3. Also, the darn crib's been through three kids...it makes noises it didn't used to, including a really ugly one that will undoubtedly wake a sleeping baby when putting the rail up.
:) Oh such a thought.... we have a crib that the side bar moves up and down. Sadly I don't recall the last time I put it down. The option is nice - but I find it makes too much noise and sometimes shakes the crib a bit to put it up and secure it. No one wants to wake Gracie up! The crib has served us well for our kiddo's - I just wish they had lids at times because my girls are MONKEYS!!!
Good luck! :) Have fun getting the stuff you want for your baby. It was one of the most fun things of my life.
Gotta have the drop side babe. Nursing will ruin your back enough, you don't need a cot to do it to you too. We specifically didn't buy a crib from Ikea because none of them have dropsides.
I think the more you go to the baby stores the better you'll feel about the whole thing. Just go into one at a time to buy one piece of equipment to make things easier. One trip = car seat, one trip = stroller etc etc. That should save you feeling overwhelmed by everything.
Our cribs don't have the drop sides. It's ok now, but I think I'll regret that as they get older and heavier. It would be nice if it went down too to make laying them down very very carefully when they've finally gone to sleep easier and make changing the sheets easier.
We sacrificed drop-down sides for smallness and got a "minicrib." The smallness was key and I don't regret it, but if space is not an issue for you, get the drop-down sides, BY ALL MEANS. I have a terrible back and Nat weighs about 25 pounds now and also needs the floor all the way down and ouch my back.
In fact, we're probably gonna move her to a big girl bed at her second birthday on the dot just because I can't deal with laying her in the crib anymore. (They do tend to stand to help you lift them out when they wake up.)
Well, Charlie has never slept in his crib, and the side does go down. However the times I have put him in it for play or what not, I've never dropped the side. And all the foster kids I've had, I've never dropped the side. The only plus about the side on Charlie's crib that holds toys dropping is that it's beside our bed and if I lower the side (which I think right now it is) then it's flush with our bed and he can come and go as he pleases.
I like cribs better without drop sides, I just think they look nicer. And since in our house a crib is a decoration and not used for sleeping (by choice, I'm not complaining) looks are all that matter.
Oh, it came. Sorry I haven't emailed yet. I'm a bad bad person.
DOWN. IT MUST GO DOWN.
Our reason was that I'm short (5'2")--I could reach P when the mattress was on the bottom setting only if he was near the side closest to me. If he was next to the wall (and sound asleep but with diaper blowout, which happened all too frequently), I couldn't reach him. When the mattress was at its highest, we never used it but when he got older and we moved the mattress down, we used it all the time.
Oh, and you can get a crib with drop sides that have all the bars on the inside, so that you can't tell that it actually has drop sides. Usually they're the knee-push drop sides, rather than the latches. They're also safer for kids since they can't get their fingers caught.
I have no firsthand experience, but I'm wondering if you and partner are about the same height or not? Maybe if there is a big difference, the drop side might help negotiate a height difference.
As the mother of 2 boys...I would have to go with the one where the sides go down. I don't think I ever actually put the sides down to get the boys out but it made changing the sheets alot easier. Its better to be safe than sorry.
Eh. I don't really know. Sanna's crib has a drop side, but we never put it up. I think non-drop side cribs tend to have lower sides than ours does when it's up. Moving it up always wakes her, so we moved the mattress all the way down so we don't need to worry about her rolling out. Of course she only sometimes naps there.
In my experience so far, the babies' outgrown clothes don't care one way or the other whether the crib has a drop side :). The actual babies have been in the actual crib for a total of five minutes when I needed someplace to set them down, and I think they weighed 11 lbs together at that point, so I don't have an educated opinion on the matter just yet!
Are you getting a bassinet or a co-sleeper, or going to try to use the crib from day 1?
It HAS to go down.
Otherwise, that's all I've got regarding cribs.
However, when you want advice regarding the stroller, I'm there. Because the most important thing for me was mobility.
PS: I love anything Maclaren. Worth every penny.
We inherited (from friends) the cheapest crib from Ikea with no moving anything. Our son is big and heavy. We spent the money we would otherwise have spent on official baby furnishings on an antique cherry cupboard for his room: his clothes go in it, our linens go in it, it gives us great pleasure whenever we look at it, and we think he will enjoy it for his life. Picking him up has never been a problem, and now he stands up and gives us his arms when he wants to be lifted.
I think it all comes down to your height actually. :-) On my third kid here, and have *never* dropped down the side to put them in and out, but I think that's cuz I'm 5'10". If you're in any way height challenged :-) I'd go for the drop down.
Plus it does make changing the sheets easier, which can be a GREAT thing at 3AM after a big throw up! :-)
Good luck to you! I've never commented here before, but read regularly... Wishing you and Partner Godspeed!
Carolyn
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