Do not use the play yard once your baby has outgrown it: Stop using the play yard right from the day your baby outgrows the recommended age. You may be tempted to use it for some more days or weeks but this can be very dangerous since play yards are designed to meet the specific height and weight requirements of babies of certain age. The build materials may not be able to sustain the increased weight of a baby who has outgrown the recommended age of the playard thus posing a risk of injury.
^{The Babybjorn Travel Crib Light is another great playpen for travel, weighing in at just 13 pounds! It comes with a soft and comfortable mattress and has breathable mesh sides, making it safe for baby to play and sleep. The crib material is removable and washable, which is a nice feature to have. This playpen is simple to set up and fold. It is one of the more expensive playpens on this list, but its super modern style and small footprint might just make it worth it for you. Some parents think the playpen is a bit too tall, making it difficult to get a sleeping child onto the mattress. The play area itself is not as roomy as some other options. Finally, the Babybjorn fitted sheets that are recommended for use with the mattress are on the expensive side as well.}
This large playpen is PERFECT! Just what I was looking for. I wanted one large enough so my 10 month old son could play in it with toys while we went camping, but I didn't want to deal with traveling with gates. This one was super easy & light to transport. Wipes clean very easy. We set it up while camping on the cabin deck and would bring it to the pool during the day and I received complements over and over, worked out perfect with the water table set up inside too ♥️. Even the big kids would climb in to play with the baby.
The word, on the face of it, is rather contradictory, combining play—a word with inherent jouissance—with a suffix that suggests confinement. Given that even pens for livestock have fallen under scrutiny—battery cages for chickens, for example, are critiqued because in them, hens “endure high levels of stress and frustration”—it’s not surprising to find parental discomfort with a product that seems so, well, penitential. Of course, the word yard itself has prison overtones, and when examining a product like the “North States Superyard XT Gate Play Yard” it’s not hard to get some serious Gitmo vibes. (Such misgivings about the playpen are exemplified in sculptor Robert Gober’s X Playpen, a bifurcated enclosure that, as one critic put it, “emphasizes this domestic space’s claustrotraumatic quality.”)

Many play yards, such as the Graco Silhouette discussed in Types, offer a bassinet that covers the entire length and width of the play yard. That is a good feature because it reduces the likelihood that your baby will fall into the play yard. But a baby could still fall outside of the play yard so stop using any bassinet attachment once your baby can push up on his hands and knees. The Safety 1st Travel Ease Elite Play Yard (about $112) also comes with this type of bassinet, and a changing table and removable toy bar. It measures 30 x 46 1/4 inches and has lockable wheels.

To avoid potentially fatal entrapment between the station and the yard's top rail, never put your baby in a play yard that has the changing table in place. Removing the table also eliminates the possibility of entrapment by any loop from the changing-table restraint strap, although no loops should be present in a play yard that is said to meet safety standards set by ASTM International.
^{Pretty good. Fits into lots of our gear - glider, pack and play, rock and play. (I found a portable mobile to be better for the glider bc the span is a bit wide for this but I could have made do with this.) think that adds a little more life to these things. The rings allow you to add other toys. I do this a lot when I put on the pack and play bc mine is a cheaper model that doesn’t have the bassinet feature so little man is just all the way down in there. The hanging toys that come with it are ok. Baby doesn’t seem too interested but they are cute. The middle piece keeps falling which is annoying. Price is fair.}
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As Ann Hulbert documents in Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice About Children, this sort of confused and conflicted debate has long been a touchstone of the parental advice genre. In Anxious Parents, Peter Stearns notes that where parents once put children in playpens to safeguard them from dangerous household equipment, as that household equipment was made more accident-proof, the playpen itself soon began to be seen as the source of danger—both literally, as in a series of high-profile recalls of poorly designed playpens and playards, and figuratively, as a symbol of damaging neglect.
I love this pen. It's bright, bulky enough so it's sturdy, but not extremely heavy so it's not hard to handle. Easy to put together and take apart. I bought 2 sets to make this pen twice as large. There is so much space to play and I still have so much room for more toys. I actually need more toys for it! I also love the handle on each gate. It allows me to hang crib toys and dangly toys from it. No toxic odors. Only thing I wasn't happy about was that 2 of the plastic feet to hold up the gate, came damaged. It wasn't packaged right, these 2 feet were cracked right down the middle so I took off a star. Also, the activity panel is pretty boring for my 1 and 2 year old. They found it interesting the first couple if days But it doesn't do much and they quickly lost interest. But my babies do love their baby jail.

The Cosco Funsport Play Yard is a very affordable playpen option for babies that is simple to set up; the instructions say it takes less than a minute. This playpen comes equipped with wheels on one side to easily move it from room to room, and it also folds up easily and comes with a bag for transport. This playpen doesn’t come with a mattress; instead it has a lightly padded bottom piece for baby to play on. Some consumers have reported issues with the platform not resting flat on the bottom of the playpen. There are a few reports of confusion over how to fold the playpen up. (See the video below for a quick tutorial and some tips to make it easier!) Finally, make sure you order this playpen with plenty of lead time, as it is not eligible for Prime shipping and takes one to two months to ship out.

The Graco Pack N’ Play Playard Totbloc with Carry Bag is another large-size playpen that provides ample room for baby to roam around and explore her world. It has a clean, modern design with neutral colors to match just about any decor. This playpen is certified frustration-free and sets up in under a minute. It weighs in at around 25 pounds and comes with an easy-to-use carrying bag for travel and storage convenience. At $80, this playpen is right smack in the middle of the cost spectrum, and it comes with no extras such as a bassinet or changing station. Consumers report that the bottom of the playpen tends to slope inward, which can cause toys to pool in the middle; because of this, it is not ideal for baby napping. This product is not free of PVC and phthalates.
For Dr. Marcie, you can't start practicing too early. While your baby's in the womb, you can begin building habits that will work not only when things are fine and lovely, but also when you're facing an epic potty-training crisis. Building a solid foundation for interacting with your kids can make life a lot more fun, because you know what to expect — and so do they.

Absolutely beautiful playard baby is due next month and this has all the essentials I need to make it an easier time. At $118 I really couldn't turn this down I haven't used the electronic parts yet as I need batteries (D battery for bouncer and AA for the one on the rail) all in all I would buy this again if I ever need a new one 😍 The may for this is super soft and comfortable for any baby