Congratulations on becoming a parent! Now, as a responsible mother or father, it's your duty to ensure that your baby gets the best comfort possible. A pack and play is an excellent purchase towards this end. There are models which perform several functions and are an all in one solution in many regards. Read on to find out what are the best pack and plays that are available.
Price: $114.00 from Amazon.com
Starting off the list is the Ingenuity Smart and Ridgedale Simple Playard. This elegantly designed play yard for babies comes colored in teal. It consists of several pieces such as the mattress, the dream center, and the changing table. Each of them is machine washable and come off easily by unzipping them. The diaper changing table is elevated, making it easier to change your baby's soiled diaper. There are several options for storage in the unit including some for the diaper changer itself.
The fact that you don't need to remove the bassinet to fold the play yard up is great for portability. The included travel bag sweetens the deal and adds to its portability.
Price: $149.99 from Amazon.com
Graco is no new name in the field of baby care products. Their play yards for babies are some of the highest quality ones available. This particular one is imported and has received the best pack and play reviews on Amazon. It might be a little more expensive than other, similar mini playpens for babies but its quality makes it worth every penny. It has numerous features to improve usability.
For example, the rocking seat has portable carrying handles which make it easy to carry around. It has built in vibration in the rocking seat and the bassinet. The materials used in the lining of the napper are very soft and luxurious. These features make it the best pack and play for sleeping since it's very calming and relaxing. The machine washable fabrics it's made from make it convenient to clean. There's also a diaper changer with several cubbies to store items when swapping out your baby's soiled nappies.
Price: $75.00 from Amazon.com
The Baby Trend Nursery Center Playard is a feature packed pack and play which your baby will love. It comes in two color configurations. "Savannah" style for girls and "outback" for boys. The outback version is an excellent pack and play for boys. The version for girls, in contrast, is covered in a pretty mix of pink floral designs on a dark pink background. In a thoughtful addition, there are hanging toys as well on top that can serve as a fun distraction for children. Playing with toys like these from a young age can have a beneficial impact on the development of your child's hand-eye co-ordination. The Savannah skew has toys shaped as pink butterflies and flowers.
Another great feature is the integrated audio player. This electronic music player can play melodies as well as sounds typically heard in nature. Sounds like these are known to be soothing for babies and help them to sleep better. There's a night light in the audio player module as well. It points straight into the bed and isn't too bright. It's perfect for you need to find something quickly in the play yard at night. The best part of all? Despite having so many useful features and a great design, it is available at an affordable price point.
In a thoughtful addition, there are hanging toys as well on top that can serve as a fun distraction for children. Playing with toys like these from a young age can have a beneficial impact on the development of your child's hand-eye co-ordination. The Savannah skew has toys shaped as pink butterflies and flowers. Another great feature is the integrated audio player. This electronic music player can play melodies as well as sounds typically heard in nature. Sounds like these are known to be soothing for babies and help them to sleep better.
There's a night light in the audio player module as well. It points straight into the bed and isn't too bright. It's perfect for you need to find something quickly in the play yard at night. The best part of all? Despite having so many useful features and a great design, it is available at an affordable price point.
Price: $86.82 from Amazon.com
Fisher-Price's play yard focuses primarily on portability. It's half as heavy as other play yards while being just as versatile. It has all the features you'd expect from a play yard. It's a got a diaper changing station and inclined sleeper, in addition to the bassinet. It has several storage pockets too. The Fisher-Price Ultra-Lite Day and Night Play Yard is undoubtedly the best pack and play for travel. It folds up easily without any loose pieces.
Its light weight makes it much more portable than other play yards for babies.
Fisher-Price also includes a specially designed carry bag for the product which only adds to the portability factor. It has the quality and reliability you'd come to expect from a Fisher-Price product. The play mattress is large and comfortable thanks to the excellent padding. As it's so light, it has pads at the bottom which provide grip and keep it in place.
Price: $149.99 from Amazon.com
While Joovy's New Room2 may lack advanced features and utilities, it is one of the biggest play yards you could get for your child. It's 50% larger than traditional playpens for babies and has over 10 square feet of area to play in. This means it'll serve your child for quite some months, from the time he's a newborn till when he's a toddler. The New Room2 has mesh windows on all sides. It's easy to monitor what your child is up to through these and keep a vigilant watch.
It's the ideal pack and play for twins. There's enough room for two babies to play together comfortably, within the safe bounds of the New Room2.It's also the best pack and play for toddlers because of the vast space available. The bottom of the play area is soft and comfortable as it's covered in a sheet filled with cotton.The Joovy New Room2 is easy to move as well because there are two wheels fitted on it.
Joovy includes a travel bag as well in the mix to help you take the playpen with you anywhere. Joovy's 2-year warranty is twice as long as most other manufacturers, including reputed ones. This should make it easier to trust their build quality, especially considering that Joovy is a relatively new brand. They essentially guarantee your satisfaction with the long warranty period.
Price: $170.97 from Amazon.com
The fact that a second product from Joovy gets to be on this list speaks of the company's quality. The Room Playard has many more features than the Room2 which gear it towards being an all-in-one solution for all your baby's needs. This is a pack and play with changing table that is covered in vinyl and is waterproof. The table is easy to clean and can support babies that weigh up to 25 pounds.
The sheet for the play yard is waterproof as well and is just as easy to clean. It also comes with a bassinet that can support infants less than 15 pounds in weight.
Storage options reign numerous. On one side, there's what Joovy markets as the "diaper station." The diaper station has a series of compartments to store items you'd typically require when tending to your baby. On the other side, there's a large pocket to store items which require a lot of space and wouldn't fit in the diaper station. The Joovy Room Playard and Nursery Center has a friendly looking design with several curves. You have the option of buying it either of three colors, with the colors being understated like black and charcoal to being lively like turquoise.
Price: $239.99 from Amazon.com
Though all the previously mentioned pack and plays were easy to set up, they still required a modicum of effort and time to get up and running. The Breeze play yard, in comparison, only takes one simple step to install. Simply push down into the play yard to open it and pull it back up to close it. It's that simple. It's one the best play yards you could get if you value ease of use or simply don't have the time to spend to set up a play yard when traveling or at home. 4moms has really set the bar high for the easiest to use play yard with this one.
Aside from the convenience factor, the play yard is notable for its solid build quality. The materials feel strong and durable. The mesh walls are quite resistant to tearing. The industrial design is sturdy and modern looking. The play yard is spacious and the padding at the bottom can be removed for easy cleaning and washing. Color options are limited to blue and grey for the pad.
4moms also sell additional sheets for the play area for added comfort. The bassinet comes as an additional piece with its own pad. Like other quality pack and play products, this one comes with a travel bag included as well.
Price: $239.99 from Amazon.com
The Lullaby Dream Play Yard by Chicco is a cut above the rest in terms of the features and utilities it offers. There are several innovations here that justify its slightly higher price. The napper is comfortable and luxuriously quilted. It can be used in the bassinet or set independently on the floor. It has a comfortable, stuffed headrest and can even be folded for storage or travel purposes.
The changing table is large and spacious and can support babies weighing up to 30 pounds. It can be detached from the play yard itself and has a variety of storage options and space to keep necessary supplies. The cover of the table zips off easily and can be put in a washing machine for hassle-free cleaning. The mattress at the bottom of the play yard is quilted and can be zipped off as well.
The play yard is quite larger than competitors' and ensures that this pack and play will stay useful for longer as even toddlers will have enough space to play in it.
Its bassinet is easy to fix in place and the deluxe quilted mattress is luxurious. There's a toy bar above with hanging soft toys for your baby to play with. What's really amazing is the push-button console that can let you dynamically alter your child's sleeping environment. It can play music and nature sounds and has a nightlight feature as well.
Price: $198.21 from Amazon.com
Babybjorn is a family-owned company based out of Sweden that produces high-quality products for babies which are renowned for their ease of use and robustness. Babybjorn's Travel Crib Light is a simple, light travel-friendly play yard for children between the ages of 0 and 3 years. It's optimized for light weight and easy setup. The entire play yard can be laid down or folded away in one simple motion and can easily fit into a bag or suitcase to be stored. There aren't any parts to attach or detach and the legs fold automatically.
The mattress is soft and thick, making it joy for kids to take a nap on. It's insulated to keep your baby warm. It has a base plate integrated within it to ensure that the playpen remains stable and stands upright. The mattress cover is waterproof and breathable. The fabrics are free from any harmful or toxic substances that may trigger allergies. They are safe for your baby to sleep on, as well as chew on. The mesh fabric side panels are easy to see through to keep a watch on your child.
Price: $198.00 from Amazon.com
Similar to the previously mentioned Babybjorn Travel Crib Light, the Lotus Travel Crib from the Guava Family group is a sturdy pack and play that prioritizes portability and has an astonishingly low weight. It's quick to set up, taking only 15 seconds. It's often compared to the one made by Babybjorn. It does have a few extra features that distinguish it and make it worth your consideration.
Guava Family didn't use any extra, added chemicals in the manufacturing of the Lotus Travel Crib. It lacks many chemicals which could potentially harm your kid and cause allergies. It has no PVC, no lead or other heavy metals and no Phthalates. This playpen is completely safe for your baby to breathe through when sleeping. In fact, it's the only travel crib in the world that's received a gold certification from the Greenguard Environmental Institute. Greenguard thoroughly tested the crib for chemical emissions and found nothing.
Like other playpens, the Lotus Travel Crib too features breathable mesh walls that allow you to easily monitor your child when he's playing in the play yard. What differentiates this one is that there's a side door on one of the walls. It can be zipped open to give your child the freedom of crawling in and out of the playpen. This will make him feel that the playpen is his own world and playground and not some prison that he's confined to. Of course, it can be zipped up for when you need the security gained from limiting his movement. The zip is solid and won't allow your child to move out from the playpen when it's closed.
All the options that I've gone over on this list are great, well-made options from reputable brands. However, there is no clear best pack and play among them. Which one you should choose will depend on your requirements and personal preferences in style.