Our Favorite Pack and Play

Those first weeks with a newborn are a blur of two-in-the-morning feedings, and by our latest baby, Mom’s back had opinions about bending down to a low bassinet in the dark. We also needed a safe little home base we could move around the house—somewhere the baby could sleep near us during the day and, later, sit and play safely while six other kids thundered past on their way to somewhere important.

The playard we use is the Graco Pack ’n Play Close2Baby, and the bassinet height was the feature that sold us on the spot. It sits up at a back-saving level, which genuinely saved Mom’s back during those newborn nights when you are lifting the baby a dozen times before dawn. It folds down to travel to Grandma’s, and as the baby grows it doubles as a contained, safe spot to play in the middle of the household commotion.

We considered a few standalone bassinets and some other playards, but the standalone ones were a single-purpose item we would outgrow in months, and a couple of the competing playards sat the bassinet lower or felt flimsier at the folds. The Graco won on doing several jobs well—newborn sleep, travel crib, and daytime playpen—all in one folding frame that has already survived being hauled between rooms and houses. For a family that reuses gear across kid after kid, one sturdy playard that carries a baby from the first night to the toddling stage was exactly the kind of value we look for.