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 Love-Hate Relationship Sep 03, 2010
I loved the idea of a co sleeper. The closeness and ease of having your baby right next to you with out having them get used to sleeping with you.
True enough it was exactly what I wanted. It was amazing seeing him right next to me all night. It was the perfect height for my bed. It was easy to get him in and out during the night for feedings. When I pushed it away from my bed the wall was easy to put back up to make the fourth wall.
I ran into all my trouble when we went to move it into his own bedroom. First, it did not fit through any doorway, that is fine I understand. For the life of me I could not break it down to get it through the darn house. The instructions are on it and I understand how to do it, but executing that procedure frustrates me to no end. I had to get his father to do it. They have trouble doing it as well, my dad and the babies dad.
The next step was transforming it into a playpen. I again had the most difficult time. The fabric piece that makes it a bed is attached to one side in a way that forces you to once break the thing down. You can not however simply do one side, daddy had to do the whole thing in order to get it off. Unfortunately we have bent one of the bars in this process and it now looks funny.
It wasn't all that stable to begin with, I actually used that to my advantage while rocking him in it sometimes. It swung as much as a rocking bassinet. But it held weight just fine...we tested it...
Basically I loved it as long as it didn't need adjusting. Which as you can see only happened a few times. A few frustrating times.
 Arm's reach co sleeper Aug 23, 2010
I have not used the bassinet/playpen yet, so I can only speak to the condition it arrive in. I wanted to order this product due to its versatility (a bassinet that becomes a play pen once baby is big enough). The product arrive on time and in great condition (so far, nothing has fallen off or broken etc).It is sturdy and fits our bed (we have a queen size bed) just fine. We had no difficulties setting it up and all the parts were present. Hopefully, we will not regret getting it once we actually have baby using it.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Best bassinet -- great if you have room in your budget, but not a must-have Aug 12, 2010
I had a hard time figuring out how to review this. The bottom line is that it is sturdy, allows my son to sleep right next to me safely, seems durable, and is attractive. The pockets are great. My son still sleeps in it at seven months old, though our co-sleeper days are numbered due to his steadily increasing mobility. He still sleeps swaddled, so it still works for us for the time being.
Unfortunately, the co-sleeper didn't serve the purpose I bought it for. When my son was a newborn, he would only sleep while being held, and I ordered this in a sleep-deprived haze hoping that it would help. It didn't. While this does allow you to comfortably sleep and rest with a hand on your baby's back, count on your baby being one or two feet away from you while in the co-sleeper. For those facing similar struggles, I would see if your baby will nap while lying one foot away from you on a regular mattress before buying this. The co-sleeper didn't help us through my son's exhausting first couple of months. Of far more help was The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer. I bought it used for a few bucks -- money well spent.
By the time my son was ready to sleep in this, he was done with the frequent night feedings and willing to sleep in his crib, so in that sense the co-sleeper ended up being superfluous. And when my son is crying because he wants to be held, he doesn't care that I'm just a foot away -- he wants to be held. The co-sleeper has, however, provided us with some extremely happy nights and mornings. My son has torticollis and it's best if he can sleep with his head tilted a certain way, and this allows me to check his position whenever I happen to wake up during the night. And it is just wonderful to fall asleep while watching my sleeping baby, and so much fun to wake up next to each other. For these reasons, I LOVE the co-sleeper. But is it a must-have, especially if you're on a budget? Probably not.
As for the pack 'n' play function, it's a sturdy and solid pack 'n' play. Assembly and disassembly really is tricky, though, so much so that we left this at home when travelling recently. The joints on the pack 'n' play tend to stick, and we always end up needing to really wrestle with it. When we are done using this as a co-sleeper, I plan to leave it out permanently as a playpen in our living room -- we will only break it down occasionally, and the neutral colors will be nice. But a replacement for our super-portable Graco pack 'n' play, which sets up and breaks down in minutes? For us, definitely not.
Two more quick notes. Pack 'n' play sheets fit the co-sleeper mattress just fine, in my opinion. I actually have our Graco pack 'n' play bottom with a quilted sheet on top of the Arm's Reach mattress, adding a little softness (though the Arm's Reach mattress is OK) and bringing my baby a little higher and closer to me. Also, I debated whether to buy the Mini Co-sleeper when I bought this, and I'm glad I went with the full-sized version. We wanted to keep our son in our room with us for at least the first six months of his life, per AAP recommendations, and it was helpful to us to have this in our room instead of the big crib. I definitely would not have felt good about having my son in the Mini for more than a few months. The full-sized co-sleeper is truly the size of a pack 'n' play, which means it takes up a lot of room next to the bed, but that also provides plenty of room for the baby. My son is a big guy, and he will definitely outgrow this in terms of his mobility before he gets too heavy for it.
I hope this review is helpful. We are on a budget and have made extremely careful choices, so I would never have purchased this if I had known how little it would help us during the newborn stage. I don't think this is a very good value -- our Ikea crib is rock-solid, highly rated by Consumer Reports and Baby Bargains, will last until my son is a toddler, and cost 2/3 of this co-sleeper. The fact that the playpen assembly is so cumbersome is very limiting. On the other hand, it's hard to put into words how wonderful it is to have my son nearby, now that he's willing to sleep there. If you have a newborn who is willing to sleep in it, this would be so helpful during those early months. If you have room in your budget, it is really wonderful to have. I hope to use it for future babies and feel confident enough in the product that I will probably loan it to friends, because I think it will hold up really well.
Easy to assemble Aug 08, 2010
This review is strictly about the assembly and sturdiness of the item. I haven't delivered our baby yet so I can't comment on the use...
This product was very easy to assemble. It took all of about 20 minutes from beginning to end. It is also very sturdy, we are pleased so far. We have a pretty tall bed so the leg extensions were are must for us. I am very happy with the product overall. Excited to start using it =)
 mattress is lame Jul 18, 2010
This co-sleeper is just ok. I do not attach it to the bed- I use it the same way you would a crib. It's a little tricky to assemble and my husband hasn't had to break it down for any reason. My main complaint is the mattress... it's way too hard. My husband found an quilted pad online specifically made to fit this bassinet but it didn't do much good. The Arm's Reach website has an organic mattress for $120 but that's crazy expensive! I ended up carefully folding a microfiber throw to fit over the mattress and then covered both with a jersey fitted sheet. While it's not the best solution, it's the only way my baby will sleep in this bassinet.
I wish I would not have registered for this product.
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