to pack and play or not to pack and play
I can't sleep because of this whole long story with the neighbours and the cops coming, but that story is way too long and complicated and it looks like it's all going to turn out in our favour in a bigger way than i expected (fingers crossed for that) and I don't really feel that I need advice about the situation. But i just keep going through my head and practising conversations to have with these neighbours if they try to get all uppity and in my face. Which I know is not the best way to be passing my time at 2:30 in the morning... especially since after what the cop told me he was planning to say to the neighbours- I don't think they are gonna want to talk to me or get in my face anyway. It's just when i get flustered my catalan doesn't come out as good and it gets all mixed up with spanish and it's really frustrating. But if i practice things i can say i don't get as flustered.
Right, anyway... Something i could use advice about. My mom offered to buy me a pack and play. Which (for anybody who might be out of the loop) is a playpen with a bassinet attatchment and a little changing table that you can set up on it for the early baby months. My sister used one of these instead of a bassinet or crib for her kids to sleep in, and apparantly was very pleased with this setup.
Well it's something that i have taken a look at and was actually considering that if the baby were to sleep alone it might be handy/cool to have one of them. But, I don't think the baby will sleep alone. From what i've read/considered I plan on cosleeping so that (best case scenario) baby can suck on my booby all night long if he so needs and we can both get a little rest without me having to haul my ass out of bed to take care of him. DH says he's cool with sharing the bed- what's best for baby/mommy is in his best interest too.
Right, so, since my mom wants to buy this thing for me should I let her? That way when baby is napping and i don't nap with him he would have a safe place to sleep that he can't roll out of while i could do other things, and that changing table thing could be useful sometimes too. Or would it just be this bulky thing that we would barely ever use and it might be better just to get a regular crib so I could sidecar it (although i don't think we need that much space). And my poor mom would have spent a bunch of money that could have been better spent on buying some bitchin' pul fabric to make high tech cloth diapers.
But on the otherhand, what if motorboy turns out to be one of those freaky babies that actually sleeps better alone (i have a hard time believing it, but some of the chat ladies at other boards swear their kids are like that).
ANybody have any ideas about this?
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We have a pack and play, but have only really used it when we're traveling. We have a cradle and that's worked well for all of the babies for the first couple of months. We co-sleep, but it's nice to lay them down for naps (once they grow out of the wanting to be attached to you every moment of the day). Lily at 4 1/2 months is finally at the stage where we can lay her down in the cradle and she sleeps for a good 6 hours before she wiggles enough that we wake her up and bring her into bed with us. Saves my back a little.
Hope the neighbor issues improve...
GET THE PACKNPLAY!!! i wish i hadn't even bothered getting a crib when DD was first born because she was never in it until she was like 6 months old. she and i shared a bed until then, but i DID use the packnplay thingie when i was at people's houses or travelling and needed a place to put her if she dozed off, and also if i hadn't been an idiot and made FAX's mom get us a changing table i would've just used the packnplay to change her too.
the packnplay really is GREAT. it sets up or breaks down in about 2.5 seconds so it's the ulitmate in portability (whether you're travelling with it or just bringing it to another room in your home). if you're considering, even casually, the idea of bedsharing then don't bother getting a crib or bassinet until you've tried shit out for a few weeks and decided what's going to work for you guys; just get the packnplay and that'll be more than enough to fill all your needs!
ps- isn't figuring this stuff out superfun?! it's so overwhelming but so exciting too! 
Granted, I didn't have her try to sleep in one until she was 6 months old or so. At home she sleeps in her crib (that is side car'ed ...yes, she's 13 months old, whatever works!) for most of the night and then comes into our bed when she wakes up.
We were in Maine where my in-laws have a pack & play that they bought for their other grandkids so we were like, well, we'll do the same thing we do at home but with the pack and play. T was having NONE of it. She would not sleep in there no matter what we did. Who knows why. Maybe it's just too different and if we had done something like that when she was younger she would have been more used to it.
But I know lots of people like them a lot, especially the portability and what not.
In general I'm a wait and see & buy later kind of person when it comes to big ticket baby items. Which usually means we don't get whatever it is (still don't have a stroller, for example). But given its versatility as a changing table, etc. the pack and play seems pretty decent.
Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough. -- Emily Dickinson
You want to do what you think is right and what matters to you, and if other people don't like it, as my father would have said, they can go fuck themselves. -- Amy Bloom
The newer ones have an option to raise the floor so that when the baby is really little (can't roll over) you can put him down to sleep without having to bend all the way over. It really is convenient. Pack n plays to fold up supper small so even if you don't use it much, it won't take up space. We used ours until DS was 2. It was a good investment.
Multifunctional.
It allowed me to shower and cook when my son was a baby- I would drag it around the house so I didn't have to worry about him when he started crawling and I was alone with him- that kid could MOVE. You can have it right next to your bed- I had planned on cosleeping but my son was super kicky and I found that it was much easier to have him right next to me and yet separate, so I could get rest. And they are so easy to move around! Anything that allows you to have an instant bed for nights when you are not at home is wonderful. I really only had my son use it as a playpen when I was cooking or showering- I didn't OVER use it- a tricky thing I did though was to make it a special treat to be allowed to go in the playpen- I put some toys that he loved in there and he could only get to play with them when he was in the pack-in play. I know it's tricky to make being put into what essentially could be seen as a "baby prison" seem like a treat, but boy was it worth it to have my son feel like it was a special treat rather than a prison! He loved it. Hehe....
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I mean, then I'd have just one thing for travel and at home... and it could also later work for older baby nappy time without having to worry about the baby rolling out. WHat do you do with the older babies who are old enough to be too big/ mobile to be trusted in a cradle, but too young to be on an adult bed without worrying about them falling out?
WOuld it be hard on my back with that shallower bassinet thing put in there?
My mom swears it's like 3 for the price of one bassinet/crib/travel crib.