Playpens, Cribs And More

When I had my first born, I am fixed on buying a wooden crib for him. We grew up in a wooden crib. Actually what we had then was not just a crib, it’s like a big playpen. Its measurement is somewhere between 4 feet by 6 feet and 5 feet by 8 feet. I can’t remember exactly but I remember my mom (who is an inch short to 5) would lie down with us inside the crib. It was really huge. And if you are not aware, I grew up in Nueva Ecija, yeah, in other words, province. Houses in the province usually have bigger lawns, so the huge wooden crib is not taking a space at all. It is just normal that I prefer wooden crib over plastic or meshed ones.

The hunt for a good wooden crib. From the books I had and some research, I have known that buying a wooden crib is not a breeze. There are a lot of factors you should consider. One of these, and the most important one is the distance between the crib slats is not more than 2 inches and 3/8. So while shopping for a good wooden crib, I always had a tape measure with me. It’s a good thing that most of the cribs on the market follow this safety precaution.

Another thing that I consider is the flexibility of the crib to my physical limit and to the baby’s rapid growth development. I remember reading a book about moms not having a monkey like hand. You know how infants are, it’s hard to put them down without waking them up. Just imagine a crib where it’s height is not adjustable and you have to put the baby all the way down. Yeah, our arms are not that long and so we need a crib that can adjust to that physical limitation. Most cribs in the market is a drop down type. This is the type where one side of the crib can be lower down. I opted for another kind, the one where you adjust the height of the crib flooring.

The wooden crib I had with my first born lasted up to my second born. Since I did not research much on the composition of the wooden crib, I washed it soaped it and sun dried it a bit. The materials was soaked and so the crib collapsed. Actually not a disaster collapse kind but the kids had fun collapsing it. So when I had my third son, I thought of buying the mesh kind rather than the wooden crib.

And yes I did and it turns out that wooden crib is much, way better. I am comparing them based on their price. The mesh kind crib I bought is of the same price as with the wooden crib. The mesh kind, lasted for only 3 months or less. After Kayil and Mico tore the mesh kind down, I had to buy a wooden crib. Now the second crib I bought is still up (except that a slat was damaged, again, due to Mico’s antics) and I think even Sati will use this one.

How about you guys? What kind of crib did you use? prefer? plastic/mesh type (playpen type) or wooden crib?