Sleeping in Pack 'n Play

[zhannushka]

I know there's a similar thread here already, but my question is a bit different - my 2 month old son is currently sleeping in the bassinet portion of our Chicco Pack 'n Play, which we have set up right next to our bed in the bedroom.

He weighs around 14 lbs now and will soon be too heavy for the bassinet, which only goes up to 15 lbs. There's a crib in his nursery, which he takes naps in during the day and I'm pretty sure he'd be OK with sleeping there overnight. Problem is - I don't think I'm ready to have him sleep outside of our bedroom overnight... :o

So, my question is - once he is over 15 lbs, is it safe to have him sleep in the bottom part of the Pack 'n Play for another 1-2 months? Or, should I just get over it and start putting him down in his crib? Also, we are going away for the weekend in the beginning of May and were planning to have him sleep in the bottom part of the Pack 'n Play for the two nights...

[Jenyfer9]

If you aren't ready to move him out of your room, I'm sure that he could continue to sleep in the bottom portion of the PnP, but what I'm not sure of is how comfortable he'll be. While I don't personally have experience w/this, a friend of mine commented on how differently her ds slept in the regular portion of the PnP than in the bassinet... and she ended up having him sleep in his crib earlier than anticipated because he had just started sleeping better there. I guess that the regular part of the PnP isn't as soft as the bassinet portion, so her ds couldn't get as comfortable there as he could be in his crib.

[Kate&Joey]

DS slept in his crib at night (in our room) the first night home from the hospital. However, we were in temporary housing when DS was 6 - 9 months old. He slept in the Pack-n-Play the whole time. Then he slept in a different Pack-n-Play at my parents' house for the next 6 weeks before we could move into our house. We moved him back to his crib when he was about 10 months old. It didn't seem to affect him at all. :)

[girlygirl_7]

I had a kind of similar situation. I had the PNP in my room and my DD slept there until she was almost 7 months old. My reason was that my DS who is 12 months older was sharing a room with her. Since she was not yet STTN, I couldn't move her because she would wake him. I finally sucked it up and dealt with it and after a few weeks they were fine and she was STTN.

Your baby's weight is fine for the bottom portion of the PNP, but I agree with others that it may not be comfortable. The crib mattress has so much more cusion, and as he gets bigger I am sure that he would sleep better in a bigger space and on a thicker mattress. I think a big part of why my daughter didn't STTN in my room is because she was not comfortable. So, I would try it. If your baby seems to sleep okay then keep doing it until you feel ready to move him.

[Chimichanga]

I think it's fine to have your DS sleep in the bottom portion of the PnP. At daycare DD will nap in the PnP even though she doesn't at home.

I'll third (fourth?) the agreement that your DC might sleep differently in the bottom portion. Normally DD sleeps in her crib (has since 3 months and she's 7.5 months now) but when we visit my parents she sleeps in a PnP they have for her. She sleeps okay, but she's much quicker to wake up and often doesn't STTN (which she does normally).

[PinkMartini]

We don't have a crib (no room) so my DS has slept exclusively in his PnP since he was born... He fit in the bassinet part up until about a month ago, now he's on the bottom part. He seems to be fine in it.

[BusyBee]

I guess it depends on what you are comfortable with, but our DD slept in the PNP bassinet until almost 19 lbs. I think it's more of a developmental concern than the actual weight. Once she started to roll over or push up, then it was no longer safe to have such low walls around her.

At that point we moved her to the crib, but she still naps in the bottom of the PNP. If you're not ready fro the crib, the bottom of the PNP is ok.

We made a tight fitting sheets and a mattress pad for the PNP mattress to make it more comfortable - basically a big pillowcase with a zipper so it's not loose.

[Winter Biscuit]

Hi Zhanna :)

I agree that it's fine to have Joseph sleep on the bottom part of the PnP. My older DD always slept on the botton part of our PnP anytime we traveled overnight, up until she was about 18 months old (at that point, she started climbing out so we had to come up with Plan B). She did sleep differently down there, but I personally didn't really notice a difference until she was older and rolling around. I guess every baby is different :)

I also agree with BusyBee that if you're comfortable leaving Joseph in the bassinet part even if he's over the weight limit, it should be OK for him to stay there for a little while longer because he's still pretty immobile, in the sense that he's not rolling over, pulling himself up, etc. I know that my DD#1 slept in her bassinet part when she was a little over the weight limit.

[zhannushka]

Thanks for your input everyone! We tried having DS sleep in the bottom part last night and it went very well - I didn't notice any difference in his sleep and I doubt that he noticed the difference either... :p We are going to get a mattress that fits the bottom part of the PnP just right - that way he'll be just a little higher and probably more comfortable in there.