Congrats AFX! Parenthood if fun (sometimes.)
[quote=flu]
Congrats on the baby…
I think you/wife first thing you need to get over is caring about way the crib or any baby furniture looks..It will save your pockets… Generally, it’s gonna get thrashed, and specifically for the crib, you might end up not really using it for a long time…..At least it was for me.
1)In the first couple of months, the baby wants to be swaddled, so you probably are better off sturdy yet inexpensive bassinet.
2)In the next couple of months, you probably would want to get a co-sleeper to make it easier for your wife if she has to get up in the middle of the night.
3)Probably at a little over 1 year, do you actually need the crib. But then about 2 1/2, you can end up putting said baby in her toddler bed. At least that’s what I did.
Her original crib now holds all her toys and stuff animals after about 1 year of total use.
Effective crib use was very low in my case. She started sleep on a full size twin mattress at age 2.5 that was placed on the carpetted floor with no bedframe.
That, or you end up with a kid that wants to sleep in your bed with you and your spouse.
Furniture at places like Pottery Barn for Kids looks nice. But seriously, it’s overkill both in practicality of use and on your wallet.[/quote]
I have to agree with this… Cribs didn’t get used much in our house.
Older son was great at sleeping in his crib… for the first 13 months. But he was a climber and learned to scale and face-plant out of it at that point. He didn’t learn that face-planting hurt. After the 2nd faceplant in less than 24 hours we got a toddler bed and a gate for his door… his whole room became his bed.
Younger son was a terrible sleeper – didn’t use his crib consistently till about 13 months… He and I got really comfy on the guest bed so I could nurse him and sleep at the same time. When he finally did sleep through the night we moved him to the crib… but he could climb out of it by 19 months. At that point it offered no value (containment) so he upgraded to a twin bed.
Fortunately the crib was a hand me down… which I later handed down to the next family. (Don’t worry – it was a safe crib with all the features you get in a new crib.)
