best baby playards

Cool features, but didn’t work as well as I would’ve liked., July 14, 2009

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Angela Bright (Sacramento, Ca) – See all my reviews

  

When I first saw the added features of a bassinet and changing table, I thought that this pack n play was perfect. We kept this product in our family room when my daughter was a newborn. It made it much easier to be able to change her diaper and put her to sleep without having to walk to the other side of the house. But there was one problem. The changing table, though a great idea, did not work from the day we brought her home. When I placed her on the changing table, it would lean to the side and she would go rolling. She was by no means a heavy baby (7 lbs 2 oz), so this was not the issue. It was just bad design. The changing table is only attached to the pack n play on one side. After trying to make it work for about a week, we just detached the changing table and used the plastic cover on the pack n play surface to change her diaper. On the other hand, the bassinet was amazing. She slept very well in it and it had the added bonus of vibrating and having white noise that could play while she slept. Though I did not like that the white noise was on a timer and would turn off. Overall, I liked the convenience of being able to stay in our family room to do pretty much everything that she needed, but I think they need to refine their design a little.

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This is the greatest thing! So HAPPY I got it!, March 1, 2009

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Kara M. Hall “Happy Army Mom” (VA) – See all my reviews

  

Can’t say enough good things about the pack in play. Set up was easy, and for the first couple weeks I was on the couch (due to a c-section) so we just left it in the living room and would wheel it right next to me. But when I started sleeping in the bedroom at night, we would move it from one room to another. It was sooo easy to break it down and set it right back up. Only thing my husband would complain about is it was wider then our doorway to the bedroom, so if he didn’t get it through just right, he’d knock it against the wall. Didn’t have a problem though after he got the hang of it. It’s so great to cause it’s a lot easier to use as a bassinet, and not have to purchase one. Looking forward to getting lots of use out it! Very highly recommended!

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Nice Concept, Works Fine, Not Such a Value, June 19, 2009

Like many others, we purchased this playard primarily because of 1) Newborn Napper 2)Cute Colors/Pattern & 3) Graco Reputation for being an industry leader.

In hindsight, I’d purchase another Graco playard, probably just the[...]version with a bassinet as recommended by Baby Bargains (8th Edition & previous)OR purchase the inexpensive version with napper available at Walmart. I think that inexpensive napper version is less gender neutral, more feminine though. I should have listened to Baby Bargains but, the concept of having a newborn napper option was too much to pass up.

Pros:

1) Newborn Napper, and bassinet for baby when he outgrows napper

2) Changing Station, sturdy enough

3) Great Color Pattern

Shortcomings:

1) Price, all the bells and whistles do not justify [...] for this playard. At this price, go for a Chicco for quality of materials & wheeled travel bag

2) Diaper Stacker is quite wimpy. The 0 version of this playard with a ‘swept’ frame & ‘baby basics’ organizer in lieu of stacker is much nicer.

3) Napper Canopy, I don’t know why they even included this but, know that I’m paying for it as the Walmart version comes sans canopy

4) Lights, sounds, vibration features- not impressive. Again, Chicco playard bests Graco on this front

Overall

If you’re in love with this pattern & have to have the napper, you won’t be disappointed. Just know that there are seemingly better quality playards out there for the price. And if you think about it long and hard, remember that you’re just pretty much buying this for the function of a playard with bassinet. You can save a lot of money with a less expensive Graco model.

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