Opinion on Graco Cribs

Have you tried Burlington Coat Factory? The only BAD thing about them is once you buy it no getting your money back-they only will give you store credit. So make sure that you are happy with your decision before you purchase it from there. I don't know which brands they carry but that is where I bought by twins strollers from. They have a location in Marietta by the Big Chicken and another located in Kennesaw by the Garden Ridge.

I have one and have been happy with it. We have two kids, and it's been in continuous use for over four years now and we haven't had any problems. It's sturdy, easy to keep clean (not a lot of fussy details on it) and I like the look of it. There have been recalls of some Graco cribs, which I'm sure you'll find out, but the big recall they had on Graco cribs involved the instructions-- apparently some instruction manuals had been printed wrong, so if you tried to follow them, you'd put the drop-side of the crib on backwards, which could obviously be a problem. Having helped put ours together, I don't know how you could do it backwards-- it was pretty obvious how it was supposed to go together, and we did it correctly and had no problems. That said, we've had no problems with our crib and really like it-- and it's probably the same one you're looking at-- the Simplicity model, which was around $100 at Walmart. Hope this helps!!

Personal opinion; for both of my girls, I did a graco pack and play for awhile. Space saver, and good investment. After we set up a crib, I still used the pack and play to keep her secured when she started crawling. As far as crib; we found a really nice one at babies r us, that was on sale, and it has gone through 3 kids! I don't remember the brand, but I will check it tonight. I remember it was only around $100.00. I started to do consignments shops lately as well. I find great things in excellent condition at much lower prices.

I don't know if you have looked at Target yet, but they sometimes have a full size crib on display along with models of the others. When i say models, the back and front sides of the crib are correct, but the sides are shortened just so that you get the look of the finished product without wasting a lot of space. We bought the Graco Lauren Convertable Crib for our son. It has been a great bed and looked just like the scaled down floor model. The price was also attractive. For my daughter her lifestyle crib cost us $450+ but we got smart for our son and the lifestyle crib was only $150. Good luck and happy shopping.

I thought I might offer an alternative many people choose. I chose not to have a crib nor a playpen. We had our family bed on the floor. Some people choose to create sleep areas on the floor for their babies in the same room, some in different rooms. All allowing safe independence. Montessori From the Start book talks about another way of looking at it all.
We had a home-water-birth, she nursed longer than most, we made our own organic baby food, we used the Ergo carrier and before that the New Native. Elimination Communication is an alternative to cloth/disposible diapers.
We created our own system to suite our family. Of course, you will find what works best for you and your family! Feel free to contact me for other ideas. Happy Mommying! I have found it is the best, and most challenging, work in the world! Congratulations!
S.