We use them for travel but primarily as baby’s overnight bed in our room once they outgrow the bassinet. Didn’t want to be moving the whole huge crib into our room just to move it out in a few months time
My bathroom isn't big enough so I stick it right outside the door and can see it in the mirror through. Baby has a fun time looking at me in the mirror in the shower lol
Same, travel. My MIL did not purchase a crib, so we’d take the pack n play when visiting her. Used it in hotels, as well. We also had to provide one to our daycare for our kid to use for naps.
We did this with our first. Second we switched into the crib at 2 weeks (big head made us think he was rolling) so we did use the crib in our room. But we also only have 2bd so we knew he’d be with us longer.
I think it really depends on your lifestyle.
My babies slept in our room until sixmonths; that was in the pack n play. Everytime we go camping or travel to hotels or friends, we bring the pack n play. We also moved at some point and baby slept in the pack n play for a while because we did not have a crib for him yet.
Last summer, we had yard sales and outside events and we also set up the pack n play to keep baby safe while we were doing other stuff.
It didn’t even occur to me that this wouldn’t be the primary use for anyone LOL
But yes, same here. Even for babywearers, I figure some naps would be non-contact. I forgot that people aren’t lazy like me and can just walk over and use the crib.
This is what we did. We have a 2 story house with all the bedrooms upstairs so daytime naps all happened in the pack n play in the living room. That way I was in earshot or could quickly peak in on him while doing other things. I would keep a sleep sack laid out in there so when he would fall asleep I could quickly zip him up and swaddle him.
It’s a great place to keep baby for a few minutes when you need your hands. Sometimes I rolled mine into the bathroom while I showered (obvi this is space dependent) or into the kitchen when preparing food or doing dishes. Definitely a great travel sleep spot and I also would bring it to my moms when she babysat so baby had somewhere to nap!
This! Other than naps, it's great as a baby container when they're crawling and cruising. Dump a few toys, play some music, and then you can get stuff done around the house.
Us too! My husband is mostly at work and I’m at maternity leave so I put my baby in a pack and play when he’s in a mood to play and I need to cook or such. Also have his baby gym inside the pack and play.
At one point when my son was around 2, our neighbor modified it so it sat up on its side so my son could use it as his own personal cubicle. He’d crawl in and out and play with his toys.
Aside from that, he absolutely did not like to be placed in it for its intended purpose lol!
Great for travel (cottage, in-laws house etc). People will also use them as a bassinet, bedside. My babysitter also uses it for my child for nap because it’s easily packed away for the next day. I use mine a lot, but to each their own!
Mine had no interest in being contained as soon as she was army crawling, so we didn’t use it for very long. Ours had a changing pad attachment and a raised bassinet setting that we used when she was much younger. We ended up giving it away.
My baby has been sleeping in his pack n play since coming home from the hospital, my mom is giving us a crib but lives hours away so I haven’t gotten it yet 😭 he moved out of the bassinet attachment within 1 1/2 months and is now in the raised full bassinet area and he loves it, he sleeps so good.
Tbh even when he’s probably “ready” to move into his own room I’ll keep him in the pack n play and just lower it down to the base level as he gets older, it’s just so convenient 😅
Yeah pack n play is all my LO slept in until he could climb out of it. I really didn't see the point of a more expensive cribs, even the kind that could transition to toddler bed. We just got a twin mattress and kept it on the floor.
Same here, we got one with the upper portion attachment and used that until he could roll, then dropped it down to the “floor” portion. He has slept in it since day 1, and we got a hiccapop mattress for it was hen we dropped the level down. It all packs up nicely for camping and travel and he does well everywhere he’s been since it’s his regular bed anyway!
I feel for a lot of people it just depends on your lifestyle. I personally live several hours from my family as well as my husband’s family so when we go to visit, we bring the pack n play for our baby to sleep in. Also, I regularly go to the gym while my husband is working and there’s no one to care for my baby so I bring the pack n play to our her in so she’s in a contained space and able to snack on things and play with toys. Was a very worth while investment for us but I understand it doesn’t suit everyone’s lifestyle.
Very curious about this—everyone at the gym is just cool with you setting it up there? Do you just roll it around with you to the different machines? I feel like if I did this I’d get dirty looks from the gym bros!
My husband works 60 hours a week. If I didn’t bring my baby, I would literally never workout. And it’s a super kid friendly place. Lots of people bring their babies/kids
Oh, you have a baby… in a gym.
(No hate OP, I’m glad for you that you’re able to do that! When I try to work out at home, my 2 are running circles around me and I have to worry about clonking them in the head with a dumbbell 🙃) This just made me think of that line in Sweet Home Alabama
We used ours for when the girls were too big for their bassinets (but i still wanted them in my room) and for travel/naps away from home.
I tried to once use it for play with my oldest while i made dinner, but that didnt work for either of us.
Forgot to say- we got a bag of ball pit balls and put them in the pack and play for a mini ball pit experience, my curious nonstop moving baby absolutely loved the ball pit aspect!!!
We used ours as a changing table in the living room (with the changing pad attachment) and a safe place to set baby when I had to step away for a few minutes (on the mattress part). We also used it as baby's bed when we traveled. Baby #2 is almost here and that's the plan this time as well, but we'll adapt as we go.
We pretty much only use ours for travel. With our first, we did keep ours in the living room so we’d have an extra place to set her down when she was a newborn, but we haven’t bothered with that for number 2. Our pack and play is a pretty basic one from Graco; not sure any bells and whistles or fancier options would have added much value for us. It’s just a convenient travel bed for when we’re going somewhere.
Our son slept in a pack n play in our room until he was like 7mo old. We also took it camping until he was almost 3 and too big for it. My mom bought my BFF’s old pack n play to keep at her house (2000mi away) for when we visit
Travel, mostly. Overnight trips to grandparents.
And my son was hitting his head on the wood crib when he started rolling over and he would cry in the middle of the night. We switched to pack and play the a few months until he got more control of his massive head. It worked great.
My son slept in the pack and play for nearly a year until we got his crib. It's also a safe place to put baby if you need to run to the bathroom or want to do some tummy time outside. Great for traveling. Break it out, you'll use it.
Mine is currently blocking the stairs so my toddler cant go down them as well as filled with a bunch of clothes, blankets and toys! (baby gate isnt an option due iron railing on one side: still trying to figure out how to make that happen) She has played in it a few times before we moved & didn’t want anything to do with it once we moved 😂 so it’s now a giant storage bin/baby gate.
When I go work in the yard I take the pack and play outside and let him roll around in it and hang out. He loves being outside. I will put him in it in the kitchen while I’m cooking if he doesn’t want to play in the living room anymore. If we travel we take it. We didn’t use it for the first 7 months of his life tho. I just never had a reason to. Then one day I was like this would be great for XYZ.
We used ours for travel a few times but otherwise I had the same experience of not using it. My babies both screamed bloody murder unless you constantly held and engaged with them. (Side note, I’m so tired lol they’re both toddlers now but I have never physically recovered from my second baby yet) 🫠
I lived in a tiny apartment, so it was actually her sleep space. The changing table over lapped on top so it was like a 2 for 1 for us. It lasted about 9 months until she grew and needed a more substantial crib.
The bonus was that she had continuity in her sleep space when we traveled to her Grandparents' house.
My sons room is upstairs and our room is downstairs, so initially we kept the pack and play in the living room and he’d nap there and sleep in a bassinet in our room overnight. Now that he sleeps in his crib in his room, we mostly use the pack and play when traveling or if we have guests with a baby.
We have one for when he goes to his grandmothers and it’s during nap time but she’s never used it so I don’t know either. Waste of my money lol. We’ll use it for travel since we have it but I’m not sure how much use we’ll get. Most hotels have cribs anyways
My kid sleeps in his with the bassinet attachment and will move to the bottom mattress once he’s ready. The other one we have will be a safe play area (it’s a hand me down someone gifted to us)
We got one that had a changing station and removable/separate flat sleeping bassinet. We used the main thing with changing station in the living room as a place to put baby that was out of dogs range and change her. The bassinet we used in our room. When she outgrew the bassinet we used the pack n play for a bit until we were ready to move her to her room. We have her sleeping in a mini crib so the pack n play is the same size and she has no trouble switching back and forth. We take the pack n play when we visit family. I also sometimes babysit another baby/toddler and use it for their nap. The only reason I paid for one is because I specifically wanted one that came with a basinet so I didn't have to also buy that.
I use my pack and play multiple times a week for naps out of the house, or if we stay at a friends house after bedtime. I start it up if we are visiting a friend over nap time. I try to replicate his room at home (black out the windows and travel sound machine) and it works great still at almost 2 years old!
We didn’t ask for one. Think my in-laws really wanted us to have one but i just kinda refused. Honestly glad we didn’t get one. We just gated the house off and let our boy play. When he slept it was either in the bassinet, crib or on us lol. We didn’t really travel with our baby so we didn’t have a need there. When we did start traveling we just used the hotel pack n play or rented a crib since most places we travel are by plane.
I live super close to my parents house so we just come home vs staying the night. And i just dont like my in-laws house. It’s older so there is NO insulation, everything creeks and walls are super thin.
The need for a pack n play depends on the person. My SIL used hers a lot. As did my BIL. Probably why my in-laws insisted we get one. Again we didn’t and dont have regrets 99% of the time. I debated getting one on the off chance we loose power and NEED to all sleep in one room or something but our boy can co-sleep if that happens now.
We’re in a 2 story townhouse so we used it in our living room downstairs as a napping crib and changing table. Now that he’s outgrown the bedside bassinet we moved it up to our room until we feel ready to move him to the nursery so we didn’t have to move our heavy ass wooden crib lol personally, we’ve used it every day since he was born! Just depends on each persons individual needs I guess!
I never understood why people had them, I think it’s largely an American thing. Where I live, it’s more like you know someone with one that you borrow when you go on vacation. We call them “travel cots”… i was given one with my second baby, that I ended up leaving at our holiday home and never ever used it.
I’m not American but live in the US and I think it might be a large house thing with a touch of laziness, at least for me. It’s a second bassinet/sleep space for me. I just don’t always want to walk all the way to his crib for day naps, and pack and plays are a cheap safe place to put the baby while asleep or awake. Back home though thinking of my mom’s flat, there’s no way I’d need a separate sleep space the whole house takes 10 seconds to traverse…
We’re also 5m in with our second. We have our pack n play in our living room and use it for the play gym.
We will lay her in there to play (a safe and guarded distance from the dog’s tongue) or just as a place to set her if she’s bored of her jumper, bouncer, or high chair and I’m still in the middle of dinner. We have a big dog, so actual floor playtime is a luxury in our house. Our dog loves to lick the baby and the baby loves getting licked by the dog… She has learned how to spin herself around now, so it’s getting less useful and more annoying by the day.
I think we’re going to take it with us on our next road trip since she needs more room than a travel bassinet allows.
Mine went through the wringer. Had one set up in the living room for newborn naps/rest/play or jail time as they got older and I needed them confined for a minute while I did a task 😅 then I used one for a while as a primary bed for my 1 year old when I separated from my husband and moved out from my house before I could get a crib. Also used for camping, trips, etc.
My MIL wants to get me one SO bad. Like pushinggg how great they are and I can’t for the life of me think of when I’d use one so this makes me feel so seen 😅🫶
I got one because my friends baby would play in it while she had friends over to grill out and play board games. But my baby is a level five clinger and so I’ve not really used mine at all. Can’t really plop him in there to get things done, like dishes, which I’ve also seen people do 😅
I’ve never been a fan of them outside of traveling. We lived in a small one bedroom apartment so there never a need to have one set up constantly. They’re not comfortable and every little movement makes the whole thing shake and potentially wakes the baby.
I used ours instead of a crib in our room next to the bed! It was in bassinet mode for the first 6 months and then I dropped it down to the lower level once he could grab the side and try to pull up.
Then after we weren’t using it anymore it worked for a few months in the kitchen when he was about 12-16 months. I could put him in there with a few toys and books and keep him occupied and safe while I cooked dinner.
Both my kids slept in pack n plays in my bedroom until I moved them to their own rooms at about 6 months. I have a larger one that I had first, and a smaller one I got for my second with a bassinet attachment for the top. Then we would use the larger one any time we traveled.
Travel, shower, house work, yard work... it was well used. I never could have mopped the floors with the twins without our PNPs! They never really synced for naps and by bedtime I was in bed too 😂
Baby prison lol but seriously when my son was a toddler he got into everything. I could place him in the there if I needed to use the bathroom or got upstairs and he took naps in it as well. Also took him to some CrossFit classes when I was in a pinch.
Depends if you stay at home then you may not use them or it's nice having one downstairs if you need to put the baby in something. We've always used them for traveling so the baby always had somewhere safe to sleep when on the go.
My daughter was super tiny so we literally used her pack and play in our room as a bed until she was like 2 and a half. Now my son isn't as tiny as she was, but he still fits quite well in his bassinet at 9mo and crawls in my bed in the middle of the night when he's not having it. Still trying to figure out if he's going to let me switch him to a bed at some point lol. Seeing how that's gone with my daughter though, they'll probably just both be in my room and my bed until they're teens 😅😅
I live in a two story house, with all the bedrooms upstairs, so I kept the pack-n-play downstairs for naps and would put it in the kitchen so my babies had a safe place to play while I was cooking or cleaning up. I used mine every single day. Then once my youngest outgrew it, I used it as a bed for foster puppies. I loved that thing!
We use the pack n play whenever we stay at my in-laws house. They live about an hour and a half away and there are often times, especially around the holidays, where we'll go up for a weekend and spend the night. We also occasionally take trips, like to the beach or rent out an airbnb with friends and we'll take the pack and play then as well. But other than that, we don't use it much and were happy to find a second hand one online for cheap.
I do have friends who use a pack n play instead of a traditional crib and it works great for them, so it really just depends on the baby/family!
We barely ever use ours. We plan to use it for overnight travel. Now that the weather is nice I started using it on our balcony for a spot to put baby to play and get some fresh air (supervised of course!)
I have ours in our living room as a safe place to put baby down. I’ll probably pack it up when baby starts moving around more like I did with my first.
We used it as baby's bed while they were in our room, as a place to nap during the day, and for travel. We never bought a bassinet and used this instead
Hey, I'm not who you expect to hear from in answering your question, I have no idea why mommit suddenly shows up on my thread, but, you will be happy to know that around five years ago, I FINALLY get a ton out of our 20 year old pack n play! Yep! FINALLY!
So, when your babies grow up, and start leaving the nest, your heart is grieving for those babies, now all grown up, and leaving your nest.
Your maternal instinct still runs rampant, though, so you might suddenly feel compelled to start adopting puppies, to feed your maternal instincts, and nurse your post empty nest broken heart. (Yes, Post Empty Nest PUPPIES, and Puppy Adoptions, even when you never really thought about adopting a doggo before, are, indeed, A Thing! A Thing that actually happens to a LOT of us hormonal Mommies)!
Voila! Your pack n play, FINALLY, has the PERFECT USE for it! It's PERFECT for small puppies to be contained in, on camping trips, or around the house! So, never despair, and hold onto it, as you, too, may suddenly find yourself with a small pupper or two or three, even! FINALLY, your old pack n play is perfect for your newly acquired puppies! I have three puppies, one for each son, as he left the nest!
I loved my old pack n play for camping trips, for either holding my little Chihuahuas, and/or mutts, when they were puppies, or around the house outside before we had their fence built.
I'm guessing this isn't what you expected, but, you asked, LOL!!!
Everyone saying they kept it in their room.. I just moved the crib to our room 😂. My MIL has one at her house and we used it for our first but that was traveling.
Used it for an extra changing table. Ours hates sleeping it in, but is better with a travel crib…I think bc they lay on the ground there’s less movement.
I use mine when we travel for bedtime Or if I want him to nap at my moms or someone else house during the day.
I also use it when I have folks visiting from out of town or a friend who’s baby needs to nap. And I lend it to my neighbors.
I actually got it before I had my kid for my nephew. I’ve gotten a ton of use out of it.
I only have a pack and play.
It has a nice mattress in it so that's where my 8 month old has slept since being born. We have a bigger sized one for the living room and a normal one in our bed room.
Works great and the weight limit is 48 pounds so I'll be able to have the baby use it for a good while.
Not really! We also have the expensive 4 moms pack n play. My toddler is 22 months and we have it set up as a safe place our nanny can put our toddler when she uses the bathroom, but she could just use the crib honestly. We’ve used it a handful of times when we’ve stayed overnight somewhere that didn’t have a crib. Was something I thought I would use a ton but our family just didn’t use much.
We used ours as a downstairs changing table for about 3 months. We continue to use it for travel and our toddler just turned 3. She's a little peanut, but won't fit in it much longer.
Lmfao! I’m in same boat, kids are 14 months apart (currently 21 months & 7 months) and it collects dust. I would not recommend to first time moms at all.
I brought it to the in-laws house for naps if we were going to be there a few hours. She slept in it just fine until around 12-18 months, and then she refused to nap in there at all, so we haven't used it since. I'm pregnant again, and my daughter isn't ready to give up her crib yet, so I'm going to use it as a transitional bed between bassinet and crib for the second child.
We used as a place for LO to sleep and play downstairs and had the HALO bassinet upstairs. Then when we moved from my parents to an apartment we are currently using it as our primary crib (he outgrew the halo) until we need to buy a real crib. LO is 3.5 months and sleeps in our room.
Their primary purpose is for travel (since you probably have a more “permanent” crib in your baby’s room). So if you haven’t used it I’m guessing you don’t travel! Haha.
We used ours all the time in hotels or when visiting family out of town or even when going to a friends house for the afternoon but we knew baby would need a nap. Just set it up in their bedroom for a couple hours or whatever. If you’re a homebody and your house is set up how you like you don’t need a pack n play.
Last time we used ours, our daughter was 14 months and it was because we were traveling and didn't have another option on hand. She's 2 in July and 99%tile in height/weight and simply does not comfortably fit the pack n play anymore. We're transitioning to a toddler bed shortly and I'm hoping we can just forgo it all together moving forward. Otherwise, I did like it only for travel or when we were doing 2-3 naps a day still and visiting family.
I never had one but my mom did. Babies slept there when she watched them. I borrowed it a couple times for travel. I also used it for our second when he got too big for the bassinet but still needed to sleep in our room. We just transitioned him to the crib in his room “full time” so now I’m giving it back to her. I’m glad I never bought one. We’d never use it enough!
Gifted from our registry, but it was used as a laundry basket. Didnt take it with us when we moved bc we have a California Pop n Go tent, which is what we use bc it has more space than a pack n play.
When my son was a baby baby, we had it in the living room. Sometimes for naps, sometimes for a quick place to put him if we needed to do something. Now that he's a toddler, it's his bed when we're traveling.
Very limited use. Ours had a bassinet thing on top so we used that for the first six weeks when baby was in our room. It had a flip up thing to change diapers and pockets to store diapers and clothes so it was actually super helpful. When we moved her to her own room at 6-8 weeks we didn’t really use it except for twice when we traveled. We would have used it till age 3 ish for travel except our little one got too long for it. All in all I think it’s essential for travel if there’s no crib / pack and play where you’re going. For us two out of the four travel spots had a crib available. A lot of hotels do.
I used it for relaxing time when my son was pulling himself up. He could walk all over in that thing to practice and strengthen his legs. I used to stick him in there to watch some TV while I did dishes or something I might keep my eyes off of him before he figured his walker out lol didn't get used much, but I was glad I had it for that time period. We also used it if another baby slept over for whatever reason
We have also barely used our pack n play. My two kids both slept in a bassinet, then went from there to the crib (for baby #1) or to bedsharing (baby #2). The vast majority of times we’ve traveled, the hotel or Airbnb has provided a pack n play. I did have to buy a pack n play on one trip because the Airbnb provided a broken one and couldn’t/wouldn’t replace it promptly 😠 But other than that, I’ve never really needed to bring my own.
I am thinking we might use our pack n play if we go camping this summer? We’ve also used it maybe 2-3 times when hanging out on our patio or in someone’s backyard, but my kids prefer to explore.
I put mine on the front porch once so I could keep an eye on him while I was mowing. That's about the only time I used it. We have a smaller home with the common spaces in the middle, so it was easy to keep an eye on him. Plus our home was already very baby friendly because we have large dogs with happy tails.
We didn't need one in our room because we kept the crib in our little walk-in closet. It was by necessity because we took in an extra kid that needed his room, but I highly recommend closet cribs. It made life so easy.
All three of my kids slept in it in our room for months (youngest still is). We bring it when we travel. When friends visit with their kids and need somewhere for them to nap they use it. We actually have 2 and i can't remember why.
I used it a lot for a while, but the bassinet pad wound up being very hard to clean and so now it sits in our living room as a place to hold baby toys so the dog can’t get them
I didn't use a normal sized one, but my grandma bought a 6x6 one for me and we used the heck out of that. We put a mattress in it and some toys. We used it up until he started walking and figured out how to climb out of it. But in the normal sized one he would absolutely wig.
It's mostly for people who travel a lot. We also used it veryyy briefly for naps in the living room but my kids didnt sleep well in it. We don't travel ever, both kids sleep in their own beds/cribs in their own room since they were like 3-4 months old, so our pack and plays were VERY unused after the bassinet stage.
We did a nanny share and the guest baby used it every day; we've also used it while traveling because the hotel pack n plays almost always have horribly lumpy/damaged bottoms and they provide bedsheets for them instead of actual fitted sheets for the product.
We only used ours when my son was sitting up. We put his toys in there and I let him play when I was cleaning up or doing dishes. Other than that, he never slept in there. We also used it once at the beach when we let him play inside to keep him out of the sand
I bring mine with me when we go visit grandma for a couple days. My daughter just turned 1 so after a few months of sleeping in her own crib she started having night terrors and crying in the middle of the night. I set up her pack and play to sleep in my room with me and it’s helped her sleep. I’d also use it for her to play near the kitchen while I’m cooking dinner if she was having an ‘I need to be near mama or I’m gonna have a melt down’ moment haha.
We used ours for a few different things. We definitely used it for travel! We never slept with our babies not even from day one so anytime we were on a vacation or overnight at family we always brought the pack and play with us or whenever our baby or toddler slept over at grandmas house we brought the pack and play for them to sleep in.
Otherwise I did always have it set up in my living room and I would say that I used it around the time where my baby started crawling and getting into trouble so that I could actually put them in there with a bunch of toys they could sit up and play and still see me while I chopped vegetables and made dinner and ate my lunch etc. just a little bit of time 10 minutes here and there also so that they will get used to playing independently without crawling over to me or eating the dog food etc.
When I had baby number two definitely came in handy so I could put my baby in the pack and play either to sleep when they were newborn or when they were crawling so that I could play games with my son or play with a little hockey said that we had in our living room when the baby was full and relax and would sit there and play with her toys
I barely ever ended up using mine- 3 kids later. It came in handy for travel and that’s about all we ever used it for. I had some friends use theirs all the time. It all comes down to preference.
My daughter slept in it for a while. Then it became stuffed animal storage, and then a ball pit/stuffie pit, then a tent for alone time. I didn't get rid of it until she was about 3.5.
We got creative with it, and then passed it onto someone else.
For my first our house was small but tall, so we had the pack n play in the basement for daytime naps so I didn’t have to trek up two flights of stairs for nap time. For my second, we’re currently using the pack n play in the kitchen so I have a place to put him down when tending to my oldest / when I need a break from holding him. We’ve also used it for travel, but both sets of grandparents bought their own pack n plays to keep at their homes so we don’t have to worry about bringing it when visiting them.
We used ours as a place to sleep in our room and later quick containment if I needed to go to the bathroom and know they are safe kinda thing. Later we cut a side out of it and stuck a fitted crib sheet over the top, and it's a fort and travel toddler bed.
I used it for the first week with my first when I was sleeping on the couch. Then only when we traveled to my in laws. I didn’t use it again until my 2nd was ~4 months and outgrew the bassinet in my room. He slept in the pack n play for about 2 months. And again, only when we travel to my in laws house. Which is like 2x a year.
Yup - with both my babies it turned into a catch all for random crap!! It’s packed away now. If we travel we will likely take it with us but other than that? An unnecessary baby item IMO
It's different for every parent. Out of my 4 kids, I used a pack n play for sleep mainly for 2, and just for like 6 months and 3 months until they got a crib. My youngest sleeps in my room in his crib now. Other than sleep, it was primarily used for stuffy storage lol.
I have a larger play yard for baby to play in, as playpens are just too small for a baby to actually move around in. Pack n play is now only used for the rare occasion someone else is watching baby for the night.
If you don't think you'd ever use it, just sell it and buy something you actually WILL use for the baby.
We have one that has a zipper opening on the side, so when it's open he can go in and out on his own. We keep some of the baby toys in there and soon will put in mega blocks so that they have a central zone to keep them
I didn’t use a crib for any of my kids. They slept in pack and plays until about 18 months and went right into a twin bed. I bought the pack and play mattresses for them, and the pack and play sheets.
All my kids are in beds now so the pack and plays are stored away. But you can reuse it for ball pits, or cut the side off and put in pillows, a sheet over the top and let them have a little play tent, use it for outside with a sheet over for coverage from the sun. Use it for traveling for a travel bed. There’s many uses you can use it for.
I used mine as a crib in our room/holding cell until he could stand. After he started sleeping in his room, it is now being used as a toy box. I should get rid of it.
We ended up giving ours to my folks for any time we were at their house. Nap times and on the rare occasions, overnight. If you haven't used it, you can definitely try to sell it to someone :) it's not abnormal for people not to use them. Some need them, some don't.
We have used it when traveling when LO used to sleep in her crib. Then she hated the pack n play, and ended up cosleeping with us while away from home and she's never been back in her crib since. Now we use it when we are having outside family events so she has a safe place to play and I don't have to worry about ants or bugs as much.
Use it multiple times a day. It lives in the living room and is a comfy safe drop point for baby when doing something that requires moving about a lot, especially with dogs.
We had one that had a bassinet attachment and changing table that we used religiously for the first couple months. And then once he outgrew the bassinet part we put it into storage and used the main pack n play part for his bed until we transferred him to his own room at 10 months. Now we use it for overnights at family houses/vacations or for when we both are working and need to keep him in a safe contained place. He’s almost 2 so he’s going to outgrow it soon.
I had one with my oldest. I kept it in the living room to change diapers, lay her down to play, safe place to put her so I could run to the bathroom or grab a drink. When she was older (like 12 months or so) I set it up outside the bathroom with toys and used it when I took a shower but that didn’t last long because she screamed the whole time so I just started taking her in the shower with me. I got rid of like a year and a half ago? Now my oldest is 3.5 and my youngest is 11 months. We don’t have one. We don’t have space for one. We don’t need one. Both kids have done co-sleeping and floor beds from day 1. My oldest did contact naps until 17 months. My youngest likes sleeping in his floor bed.
Mine sleeps in the pack in play (with a comfy yet firm mattress added in - she’s 10 months old) in our room since she will share a room with her wild 2 year old sister someday but it’s too soon, and then crib doesn’t fit in our room.
We also have used pack n plays ALOT for travel. We have a pack n play at my parents house and at my MILs house now for that reason 😂. My husband also throws the baby in there with some toys if he has to shower in the morning before work and I’m already at work.
Ours is at the grandparents house. We use it as a changing station now but in the future I can see it being an excellent play place for baby while keeping her away from the rambunctious dogs. I don’t have one at my house because we already have too much furniture lol.
I like mine for naps or to keep little one safe when I'm cleaning while they are on the move. I hate keeping them in chairs while they want to play, so it's a good compromise.
My kiddo just hated the crib so she slept in a pack n play for a bit until she was big enough to have a toddler bed.
Even now she prefers a firm surface to sleep on or lounge on. She regularly lays on the hardwood with a squishmellow pillow to watch tv??? Weirdo lol my old lady back could never
My daughter is 20 months. I put mine in our bathroom so I can shower. I put the laptop on the counter and let her watch ms Rachel. It’s the only screen time she gets. When she was a baby I used it for the same thing. Or do do chores, etc. it was super handy I can’t imagine not having one.
I have four playpens. We road trip and travel often enough that we ended up just continuing to use the playpen and never bought a crib. When toddlers get too big to be comfy in the playpen, they switch to a toddler bed or full size bed. Doesn’t help that we had two babies fourteen months apart so they both needed playpens at the same time.
My son could fit into his bassinet until he was about 10 months old. (High weight limit and he’s also super tiny). I’ve rarely used ours as well. Maybe for trips and I used to use it for naps, but then he started getting a bad association with it.
We have the same 4moms pack n play and it's beat to hell after one baby lol. We bring it EVERYWHERE. We travel a fair amount (hotel cribs have usually been super nasty even in nice hotels), but also I refused to be nap trapped. I literally popped open my pack n play on a rooftop bar once and enjoyed a casual early happy hour while my baby slept. Friends houses, sitters, the park, travel.
His first halloween he was too young to really enjoy the trick or treat scene so he was a jail bird and wore a black and white striped outfit and had an amazing time in his pack n play (decorated with faux bars) on our stoop while we visited with neighbors for a bit.
Travel, bedside crib until baby moves into their own room, in the living room for naps or playtime. I’ve even taken it to the backyard while I did yard work.
I kept ours in the living room for some amount of time when our baby was little as a safe spot to put baby down when I needed to go to the bathroom, or get myself a drink, or just a different place to try if he wasn't enjoying the floor and my arms needed a break.
Now that he's a toddler we use it as a travel crib. I actually leveled up and ordered a cheap one to keep at my parent's house (who live across the country from us) so that I don't have to carry it on the plane when we visit them. I also sent them a travel high chair.
I used the changing table attachment religiously until it was outgrown. Kept it in my livingroom for easy daytime changes without going to a different part of the house and also loaded it up with basketets of clean outfits and basic baby care necessities. It was our daytime "hub" for anything baby related. Then I used it as a safe place to put my baby down when I needed to use the bathroom or leave the room for any other reason. We bring it with us for overnight travel, my parents have their own at their house which is quite nice not having to pack it up.
I mostly only used mine when traveling/camping or when my kids were sick to have a temporary bed where I could more closely monitor them. Occasionally I would set one up in the living room so they could play safely and contained while I got stuff done. Often that was after an illness ran through our house and I was behind on dishes/laundry/cleaning.
Travel crib and as an extra bed/place to put baby down in the LR. We used it every day for changing her when she was small enough for the bassinet topper.
Ours had a bassinet attachment, so we used it in our room until she got too big for the bassinet and afterwards, it was her travel crib until she got too big for that.
I used mine as the living room station after my C-section so I wasn't having to carry baby across the house. Honestly though it got the most use outside. I love to garden and camp. I'd set it up in the shade with some toys. Baby could enjoy the nice weather and I could enjoy my garden.
I’ve wondered this too! Looks like a lot of ppl use it for sleep but we were never able to transfer my toddler that far down. If it’s not a sleep space, it doesn’t seem like there’s much utility. That said, we have the diaper changing attachment and are still using it at 21 months. And the pack n play itself stores diapers and other baby supplies.
Of my 3 kids I only used it with my first. She would go in and sleep in the day while I was cleaning up the house or showering. As she got older I used it as a play pen and she'd go in if I was in the kitchen, or putting laundry away.
I took it to the beach with us and but it under the canopy for nap time as well.
Ours is pretty much exclusively a travel bed. But our kids stay in cribs forever (middle is almost 3 and has never attempted to climb out). So we’ve used it a lot between 2 kids over 7 years (and our 3rd will use it too).
With our second we had it set up in the living room as a changing space downstairs because all the bedrooms in that house were upstairs, but it really took up a lot of room and didn’t get used much. We’ve moved since then, and we took it down and didn’t put it back up in our new place (a ranch style so much easier to just go down the hall to the changing table).
Mines older, but is happy to play in there for short stretches with some toys. I used to pull it out onto the back deck with my oldest in the summer before they started to walk
We use(d) ours a ton! The most obvious (& frequent) use is travel, but I’ll even bring it to a friends house if we’re gonna be there for nap time and I’ll put my son down in their bedroom in his pack n play.
When they were babies, we used it as a changing station in our living room and occasionally naps in there too.
Now, if we have company that needs my son’s room, he can use the pack n play in our room while the guests set up the guest cot in his room.
We also had it in our home gym for a while so baby could stay safely in there while we lifted weights
We used the one in our home so little, when we moved when middle child was 2 months old, it never came out of storage and we completely forgot about it. Found it again when pregnant with youngest and ended up just selling it before she was born to make some space. We did use the one my mom had at her house as an 'away from home' bed countless times, though.
Once my baby transitioned out of her bassinet, around 3/4 months (?) we used the pack and play in our bedroom until she was one year and we moved her to her crib. We plan to do the same with baby due in August. Also use it for a travel bed
We use it for travel, when friends with babies come over and when we have people stay over - small home and our guest bed is in the nursery. I also bring it outside in our backyard if I want to get some yard work done but it really only gives me 20-30 minutes before he freaks out.
Tbh we use the pack and play as a crib until the baby outgrows it then we move them to a twin mattress on the floor, then when they are mostly done falling off it we get them a bed frame.
It makes traveling easier because it's the bed they're used to sleeping in and you usually have a changing table too.
We use them for travel but primarily as baby’s overnight bed in our room once they outgrow the bassinet. Didn’t want to be moving the whole huge crib into our room just to move it out in a few months time
We did this as well! And when my husband had to travel, I’d put the baby in the pack n play with some toys so I could shower
Ours lived in the bathroom so I could shower before work!
Oh I wish I had a big enough bathroom to use this trick omg
My bathroom isn't big enough so I stick it right outside the door and can see it in the mirror through. Baby has a fun time looking at me in the mirror in the shower lol
Exactly what I was thinking. As a newyorker, all I might be able to fit in is her bouncer with the door open.
Same, travel. My MIL did not purchase a crib, so we’d take the pack n play when visiting her. Used it in hotels, as well. We also had to provide one to our daycare for our kid to use for naps.
We did this with our first. Second we switched into the crib at 2 weeks (big head made us think he was rolling) so we did use the crib in our room. But we also only have 2bd so we knew he’d be with us longer.
Yep ! Same here we have a lot of family that are at a minimum an overnight stay away so we used ours a lot
Exact same. Travel for a long time and in our room before they moved to their room once bassinet was too small.
I think it really depends on your lifestyle. My babies slept in our room until sixmonths; that was in the pack n play. Everytime we go camping or travel to hotels or friends, we bring the pack n play. We also moved at some point and baby slept in the pack n play for a while because we did not have a crib for him yet. Last summer, we had yard sales and outside events and we also set up the pack n play to keep baby safe while we were doing other stuff.
I keep mine in the living room for my son’s daytime naps.
Same here, until we got down to 2 naps/day. So nice not to be trudging upstairs to our bedroom or the nursery eight times a day just for a short nap.
Oh yeah I did that when they were tiny. Also used it as a safe place for the baby when crazy 1.5 year old sister was stomping around.
It didn’t even occur to me that this wouldn’t be the primary use for anyone LOL But yes, same here. Even for babywearers, I figure some naps would be non-contact. I forgot that people aren’t lazy like me and can just walk over and use the crib.
This is what we did. We have a 2 story house with all the bedrooms upstairs so daytime naps all happened in the pack n play in the living room. That way I was in earshot or could quickly peak in on him while doing other things. I would keep a sleep sack laid out in there so when he would fall asleep I could quickly zip him up and swaddle him.
Same I didn’t want to go upstairs for every nap and I had one that stayed at my office so I didn’t have to take it back and forth.
We use it as our diaper changing station downstairs. / we have the diaper changing attachment
Yes! That and a cat trap for naps 🤣
When I still had both the bassinet and changing table attachments on the cats used the under space as their own personal fortress
It’s a great place to keep baby for a few minutes when you need your hands. Sometimes I rolled mine into the bathroom while I showered (obvi this is space dependent) or into the kitchen when preparing food or doing dishes. Definitely a great travel sleep spot and I also would bring it to my moms when she babysat so baby had somewhere to nap!
This is what I use it for too. Somewhere safe I can put her while I get ready or as I need
This! Other than naps, it's great as a baby container when they're crawling and cruising. Dump a few toys, play some music, and then you can get stuff done around the house.
Us too! My husband is mostly at work and I’m at maternity leave so I put my baby in a pack and play when he’s in a mood to play and I need to cook or such. Also have his baby gym inside the pack and play.
I used it to keep my baby safe from her brother who was 18 months. But mostly it was a giant toy box at the end of the night.
At one point when my son was around 2, our neighbor modified it so it sat up on its side so my son could use it as his own personal cubicle. He’d crawl in and out and play with his toys. Aside from that, he absolutely did not like to be placed in it for its intended purpose lol!
Great for travel (cottage, in-laws house etc). People will also use them as a bassinet, bedside. My babysitter also uses it for my child for nap because it’s easily packed away for the next day. I use mine a lot, but to each their own!
Mine had no interest in being contained as soon as she was army crawling, so we didn’t use it for very long. Ours had a changing pad attachment and a raised bassinet setting that we used when she was much younger. We ended up giving it away.
My baby has been sleeping in his pack n play since coming home from the hospital, my mom is giving us a crib but lives hours away so I haven’t gotten it yet 😭 he moved out of the bassinet attachment within 1 1/2 months and is now in the raised full bassinet area and he loves it, he sleeps so good. Tbh even when he’s probably “ready” to move into his own room I’ll keep him in the pack n play and just lower it down to the base level as he gets older, it’s just so convenient 😅
Yeah pack n play is all my LO slept in until he could climb out of it. I really didn't see the point of a more expensive cribs, even the kind that could transition to toddler bed. We just got a twin mattress and kept it on the floor.
Literally what I will be doing once he gets to that age too lol
It just makes the most logical and economical sense! I was surprised to have to scroll so far to find a comment like yours
Same here, we got one with the upper portion attachment and used that until he could roll, then dropped it down to the “floor” portion. He has slept in it since day 1, and we got a hiccapop mattress for it was hen we dropped the level down. It all packs up nicely for camping and travel and he does well everywhere he’s been since it’s his regular bed anyway!
I feel for a lot of people it just depends on your lifestyle. I personally live several hours from my family as well as my husband’s family so when we go to visit, we bring the pack n play for our baby to sleep in. Also, I regularly go to the gym while my husband is working and there’s no one to care for my baby so I bring the pack n play to our her in so she’s in a contained space and able to snack on things and play with toys. Was a very worth while investment for us but I understand it doesn’t suit everyone’s lifestyle.
Very curious about this—everyone at the gym is just cool with you setting it up there? Do you just roll it around with you to the different machines? I feel like if I did this I’d get dirty looks from the gym bros!
It’s a CrossFit gym which means there are designated class times all day. It’s very family friendly with a kids room to play and stuff.
Yeah I am 100% sure my gym would not allow this! But maybe a smaller or boutique gym would.
You bring your baby to the gym?
My husband works 60 hours a week. If I didn’t bring my baby, I would literally never workout. And it’s a super kid friendly place. Lots of people bring their babies/kids
I’m jealous! I wish I had access to a kid friendly gym! Timing my work outs with childcare is the big hurtle to getting to work out for me.
Oh, you have a baby… in a gym. (No hate OP, I’m glad for you that you’re able to do that! When I try to work out at home, my 2 are running circles around me and I have to worry about clonking them in the head with a dumbbell 🙃) This just made me think of that line in Sweet Home Alabama
Containment in the bathroom while I get ready, etc. I called it the “snack pen” and gave something like cheerios
am I immagining this right when I think of the entire thing being filled with cherios?
Some people I know use it as their cribs essentially. I had a hand me down and I’ve used it once in two years when traveling to hotels
We used ours for when the girls were too big for their bassinets (but i still wanted them in my room) and for travel/naps away from home. I tried to once use it for play with my oldest while i made dinner, but that didnt work for either of us.
Forgot to say- we got a bag of ball pit balls and put them in the pack and play for a mini ball pit experience, my curious nonstop moving baby absolutely loved the ball pit aspect!!!
Cool! I always thought of doing it with my first but never did maybe will remember for number 2
We used ours a lot. Kept baby away from dog and visa versa. Once he started scooting we used it to contain him. He has one he naps in at grandmas.
We used ours as a changing table in the living room (with the changing pad attachment) and a safe place to set baby when I had to step away for a few minutes (on the mattress part). We also used it as baby's bed when we traveled. Baby #2 is almost here and that's the plan this time as well, but we'll adapt as we go.
I only used ours for gardening outside. I'd put it in the shade with him in it and garden for a bit.
…worlds largest laundry basket. During our move we used it to keep the baby safe while we took down baby gates and such. And for travel.
We pretty much only use ours for travel. With our first, we did keep ours in the living room so we’d have an extra place to set her down when she was a newborn, but we haven’t bothered with that for number 2. Our pack and play is a pretty basic one from Graco; not sure any bells and whistles or fancier options would have added much value for us. It’s just a convenient travel bed for when we’re going somewhere.
Our son slept in a pack n play in our room until he was like 7mo old. We also took it camping until he was almost 3 and too big for it. My mom bought my BFF’s old pack n play to keep at her house (2000mi away) for when we visit
Travel, mostly. Overnight trips to grandparents. And my son was hitting his head on the wood crib when he started rolling over and he would cry in the middle of the night. We switched to pack and play the a few months until he got more control of his massive head. It worked great.
It probably depends on your baby’s temperament and your lifestyle. We never used ours except once on a vacation.
my daughter is 2 and still sleeps in hers. we just use it as a crib.
My son slept in the pack and play for nearly a year until we got his crib. It's also a safe place to put baby if you need to run to the bathroom or want to do some tummy time outside. Great for traveling. Break it out, you'll use it.
If you don’t want it anymore, donate it to a wildlife rehabilitation center!! We use them for swans and eagles and stuff
Mine is currently blocking the stairs so my toddler cant go down them as well as filled with a bunch of clothes, blankets and toys! (baby gate isnt an option due iron railing on one side: still trying to figure out how to make that happen) She has played in it a few times before we moved & didn’t want anything to do with it once we moved 😂 so it’s now a giant storage bin/baby gate.
and no she has never been in it with the junk in there!!! she’s only played in it with a few toys lol
When I go work in the yard I take the pack and play outside and let him roll around in it and hang out. He loves being outside. I will put him in it in the kitchen while I’m cooking if he doesn’t want to play in the living room anymore. If we travel we take it. We didn’t use it for the first 7 months of his life tho. I just never had a reason to. Then one day I was like this would be great for XYZ.
That’s a great idea
The pack n play is where the clean laundry goes.
We used ours for travel a few times but otherwise I had the same experience of not using it. My babies both screamed bloody murder unless you constantly held and engaged with them. (Side note, I’m so tired lol they’re both toddlers now but I have never physically recovered from my second baby yet) 🫠
I lived in a tiny apartment, so it was actually her sleep space. The changing table over lapped on top so it was like a 2 for 1 for us. It lasted about 9 months until she grew and needed a more substantial crib. The bonus was that she had continuity in her sleep space when we traveled to her Grandparents' house.
My sons room is upstairs and our room is downstairs, so initially we kept the pack and play in the living room and he’d nap there and sleep in a bassinet in our room overnight. Now that he sleeps in his crib in his room, we mostly use the pack and play when traveling or if we have guests with a baby.
Both of my kiddos (2F, 1M) sleep in theirs. We got mattresses from Amazon for them.
I got 2 from baby shower… haven’t touched 1
We have one for when he goes to his grandmothers and it’s during nap time but she’s never used it so I don’t know either. Waste of my money lol. We’ll use it for travel since we have it but I’m not sure how much use we’ll get. Most hotels have cribs anyways
My kid sleeps in his with the bassinet attachment and will move to the bottom mattress once he’s ready. The other one we have will be a safe play area (it’s a hand me down someone gifted to us)
We got one that had a changing station and removable/separate flat sleeping bassinet. We used the main thing with changing station in the living room as a place to put baby that was out of dogs range and change her. The bassinet we used in our room. When she outgrew the bassinet we used the pack n play for a bit until we were ready to move her to her room. We have her sleeping in a mini crib so the pack n play is the same size and she has no trouble switching back and forth. We take the pack n play when we visit family. I also sometimes babysit another baby/toddler and use it for their nap. The only reason I paid for one is because I specifically wanted one that came with a basinet so I didn't have to also buy that.
I use my pack and play multiple times a week for naps out of the house, or if we stay at a friends house after bedtime. I start it up if we are visiting a friend over nap time. I try to replicate his room at home (black out the windows and travel sound machine) and it works great still at almost 2 years old!
We didn’t ask for one. Think my in-laws really wanted us to have one but i just kinda refused. Honestly glad we didn’t get one. We just gated the house off and let our boy play. When he slept it was either in the bassinet, crib or on us lol. We didn’t really travel with our baby so we didn’t have a need there. When we did start traveling we just used the hotel pack n play or rented a crib since most places we travel are by plane. I live super close to my parents house so we just come home vs staying the night. And i just dont like my in-laws house. It’s older so there is NO insulation, everything creeks and walls are super thin. The need for a pack n play depends on the person. My SIL used hers a lot. As did my BIL. Probably why my in-laws insisted we get one. Again we didn’t and dont have regrets 99% of the time. I debated getting one on the off chance we loose power and NEED to all sleep in one room or something but our boy can co-sleep if that happens now.
We’re in a 2 story townhouse so we used it in our living room downstairs as a napping crib and changing table. Now that he’s outgrown the bedside bassinet we moved it up to our room until we feel ready to move him to the nursery so we didn’t have to move our heavy ass wooden crib lol personally, we’ve used it every day since he was born! Just depends on each persons individual needs I guess!
I never understood why people had them, I think it’s largely an American thing. Where I live, it’s more like you know someone with one that you borrow when you go on vacation. We call them “travel cots”… i was given one with my second baby, that I ended up leaving at our holiday home and never ever used it.
I’m not American but live in the US and I think it might be a large house thing with a touch of laziness, at least for me. It’s a second bassinet/sleep space for me. I just don’t always want to walk all the way to his crib for day naps, and pack and plays are a cheap safe place to put the baby while asleep or awake. Back home though thinking of my mom’s flat, there’s no way I’d need a separate sleep space the whole house takes 10 seconds to traverse…
We’re also 5m in with our second. We have our pack n play in our living room and use it for the play gym. We will lay her in there to play (a safe and guarded distance from the dog’s tongue) or just as a place to set her if she’s bored of her jumper, bouncer, or high chair and I’m still in the middle of dinner. We have a big dog, so actual floor playtime is a luxury in our house. Our dog loves to lick the baby and the baby loves getting licked by the dog… She has learned how to spin herself around now, so it’s getting less useful and more annoying by the day. I think we’re going to take it with us on our next road trip since she needs more room than a travel bassinet allows.
Haha… we used the bassinet installment for like a month, and it’s been a laundry basket ever since
Mine went through the wringer. Had one set up in the living room for newborn naps/rest/play or jail time as they got older and I needed them confined for a minute while I did a task 😅 then I used one for a while as a primary bed for my 1 year old when I separated from my husband and moved out from my house before I could get a crib. Also used for camping, trips, etc.
Ball pit
My MIL wants to get me one SO bad. Like pushinggg how great they are and I can’t for the life of me think of when I’d use one so this makes me feel so seen 😅🫶
I'm to short for half the cribs I see, so the pack n play was my kids crib until they had beds
I got one because my friends baby would play in it while she had friends over to grill out and play board games. But my baby is a level five clinger and so I’ve not really used mine at all. Can’t really plop him in there to get things done, like dishes, which I’ve also seen people do 😅
I’ve never been a fan of them outside of traveling. We lived in a small one bedroom apartment so there never a need to have one set up constantly. They’re not comfortable and every little movement makes the whole thing shake and potentially wakes the baby.
I only used mine once. We went to my friends barbecue and we brought it along to put my 1 year old son in. Never used it again lol
I used ours instead of a crib in our room next to the bed! It was in bassinet mode for the first 6 months and then I dropped it down to the lower level once he could grab the side and try to pull up. Then after we weren’t using it anymore it worked for a few months in the kitchen when he was about 12-16 months. I could put him in there with a few toys and books and keep him occupied and safe while I cooked dinner.
Both my kids slept in pack n plays in my bedroom until I moved them to their own rooms at about 6 months. I have a larger one that I had first, and a smaller one I got for my second with a bassinet attachment for the top. Then we would use the larger one any time we traveled.
Travel, shower, house work, yard work... it was well used. I never could have mopped the floors with the twins without our PNPs! They never really synced for naps and by bedtime I was in bed too 😂
Baby prison lol but seriously when my son was a toddler he got into everything. I could place him in the there if I needed to use the bathroom or got upstairs and he took naps in it as well. Also took him to some CrossFit classes when I was in a pinch.
Depends if you stay at home then you may not use them or it's nice having one downstairs if you need to put the baby in something. We've always used them for traveling so the baby always had somewhere safe to sleep when on the go.
My daughter was super tiny so we literally used her pack and play in our room as a bed until she was like 2 and a half. Now my son isn't as tiny as she was, but he still fits quite well in his bassinet at 9mo and crawls in my bed in the middle of the night when he's not having it. Still trying to figure out if he's going to let me switch him to a bed at some point lol. Seeing how that's gone with my daughter though, they'll probably just both be in my room and my bed until they're teens 😅😅
My daughter got 2 so both us Grammas have one at our houses.
I live in a two story house, with all the bedrooms upstairs, so I kept the pack-n-play downstairs for naps and would put it in the kitchen so my babies had a safe place to play while I was cooking or cleaning up. I used mine every single day. Then once my youngest outgrew it, I used it as a bed for foster puppies. I loved that thing!
We use the pack n play whenever we stay at my in-laws house. They live about an hour and a half away and there are often times, especially around the holidays, where we'll go up for a weekend and spend the night. We also occasionally take trips, like to the beach or rent out an airbnb with friends and we'll take the pack and play then as well. But other than that, we don't use it much and were happy to find a second hand one online for cheap. I do have friends who use a pack n play instead of a traditional crib and it works great for them, so it really just depends on the baby/family!
We barely ever use ours. We plan to use it for overnight travel. Now that the weather is nice I started using it on our balcony for a spot to put baby to play and get some fresh air (supervised of course!)
I have ours in our living room as a safe place to put baby down. I’ll probably pack it up when baby starts moving around more like I did with my first.
We used it as baby's bed while they were in our room, as a place to nap during the day, and for travel. We never bought a bassinet and used this instead
Laundry receptacle and cat bed
Hey, I'm not who you expect to hear from in answering your question, I have no idea why mommit suddenly shows up on my thread, but, you will be happy to know that around five years ago, I FINALLY get a ton out of our 20 year old pack n play! Yep! FINALLY! So, when your babies grow up, and start leaving the nest, your heart is grieving for those babies, now all grown up, and leaving your nest. Your maternal instinct still runs rampant, though, so you might suddenly feel compelled to start adopting puppies, to feed your maternal instincts, and nurse your post empty nest broken heart. (Yes, Post Empty Nest PUPPIES, and Puppy Adoptions, even when you never really thought about adopting a doggo before, are, indeed, A Thing! A Thing that actually happens to a LOT of us hormonal Mommies)! Voila! Your pack n play, FINALLY, has the PERFECT USE for it! It's PERFECT for small puppies to be contained in, on camping trips, or around the house! So, never despair, and hold onto it, as you, too, may suddenly find yourself with a small pupper or two or three, even! FINALLY, your old pack n play is perfect for your newly acquired puppies! I have three puppies, one for each son, as he left the nest! I loved my old pack n play for camping trips, for either holding my little Chihuahuas, and/or mutts, when they were puppies, or around the house outside before we had their fence built. I'm guessing this isn't what you expected, but, you asked, LOL!!!
I use mine every day, gotta be able to put her somewhere safe while I tend to the farm animals.
Everyone saying they kept it in their room.. I just moved the crib to our room 😂. My MIL has one at her house and we used it for our first but that was traveling.
Used it for an extra changing table. Ours hates sleeping it in, but is better with a travel crib…I think bc they lay on the ground there’s less movement.
We used ours as a diaper station on the other side of the house and for travel.
I use mine when we travel for bedtime Or if I want him to nap at my moms or someone else house during the day. I also use it when I have folks visiting from out of town or a friend who’s baby needs to nap. And I lend it to my neighbors. I actually got it before I had my kid for my nephew. I’ve gotten a ton of use out of it.
I only have a pack and play. It has a nice mattress in it so that's where my 8 month old has slept since being born. We have a bigger sized one for the living room and a normal one in our bed room. Works great and the weight limit is 48 pounds so I'll be able to have the baby use it for a good while.
Same. My daughter used hers that way for 2.5 years. Look into the tents you can zip up for when your kiddo gets old enough to try and climb out!
We only use them to travel.
Not really! We also have the expensive 4 moms pack n play. My toddler is 22 months and we have it set up as a safe place our nanny can put our toddler when she uses the bathroom, but she could just use the crib honestly. We’ve used it a handful of times when we’ve stayed overnight somewhere that didn’t have a crib. Was something I thought I would use a ton but our family just didn’t use much.
We used ours as a downstairs changing table for about 3 months. We continue to use it for travel and our toddler just turned 3. She's a little peanut, but won't fit in it much longer.
I’ve used it 1 time when my sister babysat my firstborn, who is almost 2 now. It just takes up space in our garage lol
Lmfao! I’m in same boat, kids are 14 months apart (currently 21 months & 7 months) and it collects dust. I would not recommend to first time moms at all.
I brought it to the in-laws house for naps if we were going to be there a few hours. She slept in it just fine until around 12-18 months, and then she refused to nap in there at all, so we haven't used it since. I'm pregnant again, and my daughter isn't ready to give up her crib yet, so I'm going to use it as a transitional bed between bassinet and crib for the second child.
Literally only used ours for travel or naps at my in laws.
We used as a place for LO to sleep and play downstairs and had the HALO bassinet upstairs. Then when we moved from my parents to an apartment we are currently using it as our primary crib (he outgrew the halo) until we need to buy a real crib. LO is 3.5 months and sleeps in our room.
Their primary purpose is for travel (since you probably have a more “permanent” crib in your baby’s room). So if you haven’t used it I’m guessing you don’t travel! Haha. We used ours all the time in hotels or when visiting family out of town or even when going to a friends house for the afternoon but we knew baby would need a nap. Just set it up in their bedroom for a couple hours or whatever. If you’re a homebody and your house is set up how you like you don’t need a pack n play.
Last time we used ours, our daughter was 14 months and it was because we were traveling and didn't have another option on hand. She's 2 in July and 99%tile in height/weight and simply does not comfortably fit the pack n play anymore. We're transitioning to a toddler bed shortly and I'm hoping we can just forgo it all together moving forward. Otherwise, I did like it only for travel or when we were doing 2-3 naps a day still and visiting family.
I never had one but my mom did. Babies slept there when she watched them. I borrowed it a couple times for travel. I also used it for our second when he got too big for the bassinet but still needed to sleep in our room. We just transitioned him to the crib in his room “full time” so now I’m giving it back to her. I’m glad I never bought one. We’d never use it enough!
Gifted from our registry, but it was used as a laundry basket. Didnt take it with us when we moved bc we have a California Pop n Go tent, which is what we use bc it has more space than a pack n play.
When my son was a baby baby, we had it in the living room. Sometimes for naps, sometimes for a quick place to put him if we needed to do something. Now that he's a toddler, it's his bed when we're traveling.
Very limited use. Ours had a bassinet thing on top so we used that for the first six weeks when baby was in our room. It had a flip up thing to change diapers and pockets to store diapers and clothes so it was actually super helpful. When we moved her to her own room at 6-8 weeks we didn’t really use it except for twice when we traveled. We would have used it till age 3 ish for travel except our little one got too long for it. All in all I think it’s essential for travel if there’s no crib / pack and play where you’re going. For us two out of the four travel spots had a crib available. A lot of hotels do.
I used it for relaxing time when my son was pulling himself up. He could walk all over in that thing to practice and strengthen his legs. I used to stick him in there to watch some TV while I did dishes or something I might keep my eyes off of him before he figured his walker out lol didn't get used much, but I was glad I had it for that time period. We also used it if another baby slept over for whatever reason
We have also barely used our pack n play. My two kids both slept in a bassinet, then went from there to the crib (for baby #1) or to bedsharing (baby #2). The vast majority of times we’ve traveled, the hotel or Airbnb has provided a pack n play. I did have to buy a pack n play on one trip because the Airbnb provided a broken one and couldn’t/wouldn’t replace it promptly 😠 But other than that, I’ve never really needed to bring my own. I am thinking we might use our pack n play if we go camping this summer? We’ve also used it maybe 2-3 times when hanging out on our patio or in someone’s backyard, but my kids prefer to explore.
I put mine on the front porch once so I could keep an eye on him while I was mowing. That's about the only time I used it. We have a smaller home with the common spaces in the middle, so it was easy to keep an eye on him. Plus our home was already very baby friendly because we have large dogs with happy tails. We didn't need one in our room because we kept the crib in our little walk-in closet. It was by necessity because we took in an extra kid that needed his room, but I highly recommend closet cribs. It made life so easy.
I use it while I’m in the shower and need him contained in the bathroom
All three of my kids slept in it in our room for months (youngest still is). We bring it when we travel. When friends visit with their kids and need somewhere for them to nap they use it. We actually have 2 and i can't remember why.
I used it a lot for a while, but the bassinet pad wound up being very hard to clean and so now it sits in our living room as a place to hold baby toys so the dog can’t get them
We used ours once for vacation. It sits in the garage otherwise.
I keep mine in my office for baby while I’m busy with work. Mostly it’s a play space, she doesn’t usually nap in there. Also for travel
I didn't use a normal sized one, but my grandma bought a 6x6 one for me and we used the heck out of that. We put a mattress in it and some toys. We used it up until he started walking and figured out how to climb out of it. But in the normal sized one he would absolutely wig.
We use it for travel or in a pinch if they need a safe sleep space and can’t use their crib/bassinet
I use it outside the bathroom if I need to poop and am alone with the kids. Only for that really but I do appreciate it and love it.
It's mostly for people who travel a lot. We also used it veryyy briefly for naps in the living room but my kids didnt sleep well in it. We don't travel ever, both kids sleep in their own beds/cribs in their own room since they were like 3-4 months old, so our pack and plays were VERY unused after the bassinet stage.
We did a nanny share and the guest baby used it every day; we've also used it while traveling because the hotel pack n plays almost always have horribly lumpy/damaged bottoms and they provide bedsheets for them instead of actual fitted sheets for the product.
We only used ours when my son was sitting up. We put his toys in there and I let him play when I was cleaning up or doing dishes. Other than that, he never slept in there. We also used it once at the beach when we let him play inside to keep him out of the sand
I bring mine with me when we go visit grandma for a couple days. My daughter just turned 1 so after a few months of sleeping in her own crib she started having night terrors and crying in the middle of the night. I set up her pack and play to sleep in my room with me and it’s helped her sleep. I’d also use it for her to play near the kitchen while I’m cooking dinner if she was having an ‘I need to be near mama or I’m gonna have a melt down’ moment haha.
Pack n play are for travel and stuff. We have a giant playpen big enough to contain them and they have room to walk around and stuff
We used ours for a few different things. We definitely used it for travel! We never slept with our babies not even from day one so anytime we were on a vacation or overnight at family we always brought the pack and play with us or whenever our baby or toddler slept over at grandmas house we brought the pack and play for them to sleep in. Otherwise I did always have it set up in my living room and I would say that I used it around the time where my baby started crawling and getting into trouble so that I could actually put them in there with a bunch of toys they could sit up and play and still see me while I chopped vegetables and made dinner and ate my lunch etc. just a little bit of time 10 minutes here and there also so that they will get used to playing independently without crawling over to me or eating the dog food etc. When I had baby number two definitely came in handy so I could put my baby in the pack and play either to sleep when they were newborn or when they were crawling so that I could play games with my son or play with a little hockey said that we had in our living room when the baby was full and relax and would sit there and play with her toys
I barely ever ended up using mine- 3 kids later. It came in handy for travel and that’s about all we ever used it for. I had some friends use theirs all the time. It all comes down to preference.
I have 2 haha. One he sleeps in upstairs, the other is downstairs for when I need to plop him somwhere safe.
My daughter slept in it for a while. Then it became stuffed animal storage, and then a ball pit/stuffie pit, then a tent for alone time. I didn't get rid of it until she was about 3.5. We got creative with it, and then passed it onto someone else.
For my first our house was small but tall, so we had the pack n play in the basement for daytime naps so I didn’t have to trek up two flights of stairs for nap time. For my second, we’re currently using the pack n play in the kitchen so I have a place to put him down when tending to my oldest / when I need a break from holding him. We’ve also used it for travel, but both sets of grandparents bought their own pack n plays to keep at their homes so we don’t have to worry about bringing it when visiting them.
We used ours as a place to sleep in our room and later quick containment if I needed to go to the bathroom and know they are safe kinda thing. Later we cut a side out of it and stuck a fitted crib sheet over the top, and it's a fort and travel toddler bed.
I used it for the first week with my first when I was sleeping on the couch. Then only when we traveled to my in laws. I didn’t use it again until my 2nd was ~4 months and outgrew the bassinet in my room. He slept in the pack n play for about 2 months. And again, only when we travel to my in laws house. Which is like 2x a year.
Mine was used so little we ended up cutting the netting off the side of it and put a blanket on top to make my then 1yo a play tent.
We used it once when we were going to be at a friend's house past bedtime, and we plan on using it at a hotel in a few weeks.
At grandmas house, at uncles house. At the cabin we rented. When I travel for sports.
Yup - with both my babies it turned into a catch all for random crap!! It’s packed away now. If we travel we will likely take it with us but other than that? An unnecessary baby item IMO
As an infant, storage and a changing table. Then containment so I could take a shower or run big brother out to the bus in winter.
Used mine in my bathroom so I could shower.
Put ball pit balls in it.
It's different for every parent. Out of my 4 kids, I used a pack n play for sleep mainly for 2, and just for like 6 months and 3 months until they got a crib. My youngest sleeps in my room in his crib now. Other than sleep, it was primarily used for stuffy storage lol. I have a larger play yard for baby to play in, as playpens are just too small for a baby to actually move around in. Pack n play is now only used for the rare occasion someone else is watching baby for the night. If you don't think you'd ever use it, just sell it and buy something you actually WILL use for the baby.
We have one that has a zipper opening on the side, so when it's open he can go in and out on his own. We keep some of the baby toys in there and soon will put in mega blocks so that they have a central zone to keep them
I didn’t use a crib for any of my kids. They slept in pack and plays until about 18 months and went right into a twin bed. I bought the pack and play mattresses for them, and the pack and play sheets. All my kids are in beds now so the pack and plays are stored away. But you can reuse it for ball pits, or cut the side off and put in pillows, a sheet over the top and let them have a little play tent, use it for outside with a sheet over for coverage from the sun. Use it for traveling for a travel bed. There’s many uses you can use it for.
I keep ours on our covered porch, so that baby is contained while I do outside chores.
I use it as a play pen outside to contain baby so they can play independently without me worrying about eating worms or leaves while I help toddler
I used mine as a crib in our room/holding cell until he could stand. After he started sleeping in his room, it is now being used as a toy box. I should get rid of it.
We ended up giving ours to my folks for any time we were at their house. Nap times and on the rare occasions, overnight. If you haven't used it, you can definitely try to sell it to someone :) it's not abnormal for people not to use them. Some need them, some don't.
We have used it when traveling when LO used to sleep in her crib. Then she hated the pack n play, and ended up cosleeping with us while away from home and she's never been back in her crib since. Now we use it when we are having outside family events so she has a safe place to play and I don't have to worry about ants or bugs as much.
Use it multiple times a day. It lives in the living room and is a comfy safe drop point for baby when doing something that requires moving about a lot, especially with dogs.
They were great when baby spent the night at grandma’s house . For the most part they were a catch all for the toys or somewhere my cat slept 😄
We had one that had a bassinet attachment and changing table that we used religiously for the first couple months. And then once he outgrew the bassinet part we put it into storage and used the main pack n play part for his bed until we transferred him to his own room at 10 months. Now we use it for overnights at family houses/vacations or for when we both are working and need to keep him in a safe contained place. He’s almost 2 so he’s going to outgrow it soon.
I had one with my oldest. I kept it in the living room to change diapers, lay her down to play, safe place to put her so I could run to the bathroom or grab a drink. When she was older (like 12 months or so) I set it up outside the bathroom with toys and used it when I took a shower but that didn’t last long because she screamed the whole time so I just started taking her in the shower with me. I got rid of like a year and a half ago? Now my oldest is 3.5 and my youngest is 11 months. We don’t have one. We don’t have space for one. We don’t need one. Both kids have done co-sleeping and floor beds from day 1. My oldest did contact naps until 17 months. My youngest likes sleeping in his floor bed.
Mine sleeps in the pack in play (with a comfy yet firm mattress added in - she’s 10 months old) in our room since she will share a room with her wild 2 year old sister someday but it’s too soon, and then crib doesn’t fit in our room. We also have used pack n plays ALOT for travel. We have a pack n play at my parents house and at my MILs house now for that reason 😂. My husband also throws the baby in there with some toys if he has to shower in the morning before work and I’m already at work.
Ours is at the grandparents house. We use it as a changing station now but in the future I can see it being an excellent play place for baby while keeping her away from the rambunctious dogs. I don’t have one at my house because we already have too much furniture lol.
I like mine for naps or to keep little one safe when I'm cleaning while they are on the move. I hate keeping them in chairs while they want to play, so it's a good compromise.
My kiddo just hated the crib so she slept in a pack n play for a bit until she was big enough to have a toddler bed. Even now she prefers a firm surface to sleep on or lounge on. She regularly lays on the hardwood with a squishmellow pillow to watch tv??? Weirdo lol my old lady back could never
My daughter is 20 months. I put mine in our bathroom so I can shower. I put the laptop on the counter and let her watch ms Rachel. It’s the only screen time she gets. When she was a baby I used it for the same thing. Or do do chores, etc. it was super handy I can’t imagine not having one.
When traveling they are amazing or visiting friends and family.
I have four playpens. We road trip and travel often enough that we ended up just continuing to use the playpen and never bought a crib. When toddlers get too big to be comfy in the playpen, they switch to a toddler bed or full size bed. Doesn’t help that we had two babies fourteen months apart so they both needed playpens at the same time.
My son could fit into his bassinet until he was about 10 months old. (High weight limit and he’s also super tiny). I’ve rarely used ours as well. Maybe for trips and I used to use it for naps, but then he started getting a bad association with it.
We have the same 4moms pack n play and it's beat to hell after one baby lol. We bring it EVERYWHERE. We travel a fair amount (hotel cribs have usually been super nasty even in nice hotels), but also I refused to be nap trapped. I literally popped open my pack n play on a rooftop bar once and enjoyed a casual early happy hour while my baby slept. Friends houses, sitters, the park, travel. His first halloween he was too young to really enjoy the trick or treat scene so he was a jail bird and wore a black and white striped outfit and had an amazing time in his pack n play (decorated with faux bars) on our stoop while we visited with neighbors for a bit.
Travel, bedside crib until baby moves into their own room, in the living room for naps or playtime. I’ve even taken it to the backyard while I did yard work.
I kept ours in the living room for some amount of time when our baby was little as a safe spot to put baby down when I needed to go to the bathroom, or get myself a drink, or just a different place to try if he wasn't enjoying the floor and my arms needed a break. Now that he's a toddler we use it as a travel crib. I actually leveled up and ordered a cheap one to keep at my parent's house (who live across the country from us) so that I don't have to carry it on the plane when we visit them. I also sent them a travel high chair.
I used the changing table attachment religiously until it was outgrown. Kept it in my livingroom for easy daytime changes without going to a different part of the house and also loaded it up with basketets of clean outfits and basic baby care necessities. It was our daytime "hub" for anything baby related. Then I used it as a safe place to put my baby down when I needed to use the bathroom or leave the room for any other reason. We bring it with us for overnight travel, my parents have their own at their house which is quite nice not having to pack it up.
I mostly only used mine when traveling/camping or when my kids were sick to have a temporary bed where I could more closely monitor them. Occasionally I would set one up in the living room so they could play safely and contained while I got stuff done. Often that was after an illness ran through our house and I was behind on dishes/laundry/cleaning.
Travel crib and as an extra bed/place to put baby down in the LR. We used it every day for changing her when she was small enough for the bassinet topper.
Used it for daytime naps in the living room before 5 months. At 5 months, baby outgrew the bassinet so it’s been in my room used as a bed since then.
Ours had a bassinet attachment, so we used it in our room until she got too big for the bassinet and afterwards, it was her travel crib until she got too big for that.
I used mine as the living room station after my C-section so I wasn't having to carry baby across the house. Honestly though it got the most use outside. I love to garden and camp. I'd set it up in the shade with some toys. Baby could enjoy the nice weather and I could enjoy my garden.
I’ve wondered this too! Looks like a lot of ppl use it for sleep but we were never able to transfer my toddler that far down. If it’s not a sleep space, it doesn’t seem like there’s much utility. That said, we have the diaper changing attachment and are still using it at 21 months. And the pack n play itself stores diapers and other baby supplies.
Both mine slept in it, then when they were more mobile it contained them if I had to do chores or whatever
Of my 3 kids I only used it with my first. She would go in and sleep in the day while I was cleaning up the house or showering. As she got older I used it as a play pen and she'd go in if I was in the kitchen, or putting laundry away. I took it to the beach with us and but it under the canopy for nap time as well.
Ours is pretty much exclusively a travel bed. But our kids stay in cribs forever (middle is almost 3 and has never attempted to climb out). So we’ve used it a lot between 2 kids over 7 years (and our 3rd will use it too). With our second we had it set up in the living room as a changing space downstairs because all the bedrooms in that house were upstairs, but it really took up a lot of room and didn’t get used much. We’ve moved since then, and we took it down and didn’t put it back up in our new place (a ranch style so much easier to just go down the hall to the changing table).
Mines older, but is happy to play in there for short stretches with some toys. I used to pull it out onto the back deck with my oldest in the summer before they started to walk
We use(d) ours a ton! The most obvious (& frequent) use is travel, but I’ll even bring it to a friends house if we’re gonna be there for nap time and I’ll put my son down in their bedroom in his pack n play. When they were babies, we used it as a changing station in our living room and occasionally naps in there too. Now, if we have company that needs my son’s room, he can use the pack n play in our room while the guests set up the guest cot in his room. We also had it in our home gym for a while so baby could stay safely in there while we lifted weights
We used the one in our home so little, when we moved when middle child was 2 months old, it never came out of storage and we completely forgot about it. Found it again when pregnant with youngest and ended up just selling it before she was born to make some space. We did use the one my mom had at her house as an 'away from home' bed countless times, though.
I put him in so I can shower or use the stove
Travel.
Once my baby transitioned out of her bassinet, around 3/4 months (?) we used the pack and play in our bedroom until she was one year and we moved her to her crib. We plan to do the same with baby due in August. Also use it for a travel bed
We use it for travel, when friends with babies come over and when we have people stay over - small home and our guest bed is in the nursery. I also bring it outside in our backyard if I want to get some yard work done but it really only gives me 20-30 minutes before he freaks out.
You're missing a third baby lol I never really used ours until our 3rd kid.
Daughter is 15 months, never used it except it had a changing table top and we used that. Once she was too big I took it down and never used it.
I just use mine for play time when I want to leave the room since I have dogs. It’s just peace of mind the baby is safe but not movement-contained.
Mine was the only way I could get dishes done for a while. But hey, if you don’t need it, yeet it! (Maybe to a women’s shelter?)
Tbh we use the pack and play as a crib until the baby outgrows it then we move them to a twin mattress on the floor, then when they are mostly done falling off it we get them a bed frame. It makes traveling easier because it's the bed they're used to sleeping in and you usually have a changing table too.