What Crib Mobile to Buy/are They Worth It?

I put one on my first daughters crib and never used it. Then when my second daughter came along I wanted to use the one I already had but my oldest wanted it on her big girl bed....she is 3. So my 1 year old never got one because I didn't want to pay $40 for a new one and coul;dn't find a cute used one. To me they are simply for looks and you have to take them down by about 7 months when they start to grab at them. If you want something to sooth them buy a womb bear to attach to the crib....runs on batteries

We used the Tiny Love Symphony in Motion Mobile when my daughter was born. She loved it and so did my son 2 1/2 yrs later. My son has now outgrown it (he knocks it down). My daughter, 4 yrs, has reclaimed the base unit. She likes to play the music at bedtime. I found the music pleasant and never annoying.

Mobiles are an invention that came along with the idea that infants need to stay staring upward at the ceiling while lying in a crib for the first few months of their lives.
Throughout most of human existence...babies were carried around, by mother or other relatives..for nourishment and safety. They saw and heard a huge variety of people and things. It s hard to see a mobile as holding a candle to that.
That said...I guess it really will not matter so much...as the non-crawling stage is short. safety is probably the first concern

Congratulations on your soon to be new little one. Even though you may be stressed and tired, enjoy the baby days as much as you can...they grow up so fast. I have the Fisher Price Rainforest mobile. My son loves it not so much for the music but he loves to watch the leaves go up and down and animals turn around. It also has a rainforest sound optin (as opposed to music) that is great for white noise. I used it on his crib for sleeping for a while but now have it attached to his crib so it hangs over the changing table so he'll lie still. He's 12.5 months old and it's still over the changing table but he prefers to swat at it more than anything. We about through with it. If you're interested in it, I'll sell it to you for $25. I don't have the remote for it though. Just send me a note if you're interested, otherwise I'll put it on craigslist when I can find the time.

I think babies like some kind of music while they go to sleep. Not necessarily a mobile.

Fisher price makes this awesome fish bowl that my daughter has. It has different modes so it can light up, play music and move.

For her first birthday she got a glow worm. She loves it and so do I. We take it everywhere with her and now the baby who wouldn't sleep anywhere except her bed will sleep anywhere the glow worm is. They make a similar thing for that matches the fish bowl, it is a glowing sea horse.

My daughter didn't really like or use her mobile.

I bought a mobile for my son that is fish and hangs from the ceiling. He's 2.5 and it's still above his bed and he still loves those fish. I went for a ceiling mobile because friends had to scrap the ones that attach the crib quickly when their kids started to pull on them and they became a safety hazard. Our mobile is made by Haba and is called the "Family Bubble Fish" mobile. If you do a google search on 'ceiling mobiles' you'll come up with all kinds of cool stuff.

For music, I got a fisher-price "crib soother" that has birds and plays a variety of music at the push of a button. His soother also projects a picture of the birds on to the ceiling. Between the fish mobile and his "bird-birds" he'll still hang out in his bed and relax and talk to them. He even turns on the soother for music when he playing in his room.

Happy decorating!

You know, my husband really, really wanted the mobile that matches our son's room and I thought it was a total waste of money because it was $35 every place we looked...but then when we found it in the clearance section at babies'r'us for like $10 I let him buy it. I was totally opposed to getting a mobile...but my son LOVES it. So much that I almost put another one above the changing table! I wouldn't worry too much about it matching or about bad reviews...ours has animals (a rooster, bunnies, and lambs) and my son loves to touch them when I take him out of the crib and he likes to watch them move around while the music plays. He gets soooo excited every time I turn it on, like it's some kind of special treat! He's done that since he was probably 3 or 4 months old and now he's 8 months old. Find a cheap one on clearance at Target or Babies'r'us...or baby depot or walmart...wherever. I really wouldn't stress about it matching (but I totally understand, we spent hours and hours searching ebay for our bedding because it was clearance) and I wouldn't worry about the bad reviews...what do they say anyway? I think they're all wind up and so the music stops pretty quickly, with the various shapes of cribs sometimes it takes some clever thinking to get them to go on there, and some babies just aren't interested in them....that's why you get a cheap one! Good luck!!

My 6 year old never had a mobile. We bought one (really cheap) and it broke. But he wouldn't go to sleep for a long time without his fishies. Fisher Price makes a toy that attaches to the crib, its shaped like a fish bowl lights up, plays music and lil fishies inside that move a little.

you know.... my babies didn't spend a lot of time in their cribs.... and the mobile has to come down when they are pulling-reaching-grabbing things... so it lasts about 6 months... some babies really like the music to go to sleep to so it is up to you. I recommend one that doesn't wind up because the winding noise often disturbs them and wakes them up when they are settling down. I bought one with my first and used it for a few months with each of them but I think if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't bother. Good luck.

The mobile that matched my daughters crib bedding was a wind up that didn't even last 5 minutes, but she did like it. I think if you get one that is battery operated it would be worth the money, the wind up ones NO. Good luck.

My babies were never left long enough in their cribs to need a distraction like a mobile (someone was always holding or wearing them) so we never bought one.

We hung very geometric black and white drawings on the wall near the crib instead since they are drawn to bold contrast visually anyway.

I think I would get motion sick looking at a mobile (but that is probably just me).

By the way, CONGRATULATIONS and happy pushing!

I have the Fisher Price Rain Forest mobile that my son loves! It says use is up until 5 months, but he is now 16 months and still loves it. It has 4 different classical music choices and the rain forest animals move around. I definitely recommend one and mine does not match our nursery!

I'm not sure what kind of mobile you're looking for (musical or a specific theme) but I used and recommend the Infant Stim Mobile by Manhattan Toy. It has basic shapes and simple pictures that are intended to stimulate early visual and sensory development. You can use it up to 5 months of age and it comes with directions about how far away from the infant's face to hang it and at what point to switch from black/white cards to color ones for optimal stimulation. I used it for both of my sons and they loved it-- especially the picture of the baby face and butterfly. :)

http://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-Toy-201770-Infant-Stim-Mo...

Personally I would recommend a mobile that doesn't require manually winding. Seems those only last for a couple minutes before more winding is required.After getting frustrated, I ended up buying a battery operated one ('Rainforest' with monkey, bird, and frog???), which both my daughter and I were very pleased with. I've seen those at children's resale shops for less than $20.

My little 3 month old loves his Fisher Price Rainforest Mobile. I put the music on when he goes down for a nap. He will watch the mobile and eventually fall asleep. He loves his!

Depending on the bedding you try to look online. Do a search for the bedding name and brand. Or you can try Ebay. I got alot of my baby's stuff on Ebay brand new. I actually got his mobile, the swing, the crib side light(makes music and water noise). My son's theme is Rainforest by Fisher-Price. He is almost 9 months and he likes it more than the crib side light music one. It says you need to take it off when they can go on their knees and reach up(about 6 months), but I lowered his mattress and he loves it. Before I lowered the mattress he would turn it on if it turned off before he was asleep.I recommend that one because it plays 3 different songs, battery operated and comes with a remote so if you are not in the room you can turn it back on.(as long as the sensor is pointed to the doorway you can walk by and hit the remote button and it turns it back on)

I wasn't going to get one either, and then a friend gave us her old one and it was a life saver. My baby could stare at it for hours. It was a jungle themed one by fisher price and it has batteries and leaves that go up and down and classical music or nature sounds. I highly recommend one. I think they have it at babies r us, or I've seen it at Kid to Kid (a gently used kid / baby stuff store). I didn't have any problems with it. Except now that she is 6 mos old I had to take it down, b/c she reached up and tore it down recently. I think it helped to make her more aware and alert.

My daughter NEVER wanted to play or lay in her crib (unless we put her in their already asleep) so the $35 spent was a waste.
I would wait to see you you even think you need it.

I have two mobiles. One is the Tiny Love Symphony Light and Motion and the other is the Clip and Go. Both are battery operated and play classical music. I first got a wind up, and like the other moms have said. Spend the extra money for the battery operated one. My son loves both mobiles. He actually started to kick the animals as they rotated in his crib (about 2-3 months old). He didn't spend a lot of awake time in his crib, but if he would "get me" when I was changing his diaper, I had a place to put him for a few minutes while I cleaned up. The Clip one attaches everywhere, but is a little loud. He is now 6 months old, and I just have the music box from the Symphony in his crib and he still enjoys the music. You should be able to find these on ebay. I did, Congrats and good luck.

I am not sure almost anything new is worth it these days. Everything is made of breakable, cheap plastic. The mobile we have is fine safety-wise, but only has grayish teddy bears on it. I recommend mobiles that angle down to the baby's point of view and that have primary colors on it.(My grandson's favorite color is red). As far as safety goes, I would look at the Consumer Reports web site, as well as the Better Business Bureau.
Congrats to you and your new family!

Hi J.,

Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your first child. It is an exciting time.
I have 4 children and I only used a mobile for my first 2. Mostly because we started co-sleeping/bed sharing more with our last 2 and found a mobile really wasn't necessary for us. Overall, they really aren't necessary in the first place, so don't think that you MUST get a mobile at all. Or that a mobile has to match the bedding....your baby doesn't care:) I know you do, you want your babies room to be adorable and comforting. But the mobile doesn't need to match perfectly. Mobiles are used primarily to provide some stimulation for our babies when they are awake in the crib for any length of time. Some parents let babies soothe themselves to sleep, other parents get their wee ones to sleep before laying them down. If your baby happens to be very content upon waking and likes to hang out and look around then a mobile would be something fun to look at. Or your baby could care less about a mobile and will cry the second he/she wakes up until picked up! :)
If you decide you want a mobile, I recommend getting one of the very colorful or basic black, white, and red ones with big graphics. Babies vision is not fully developed for quite a few weeks and these bold colors and graphics will be more intersting and fun to look at. There was some research years ago about black, white, and red bold graphics stimulating the neurons in their brain better. You can probably find things that attach securely to the side of the crib to encourage looking to the side. If you are crafty enlarge some photos (close face shots) of you, daddy, grandma, whoever and adhere them to a bright background color and attach securly to the side of the crib. Or adhere the photos to the mobile:) Babies LOVE LOVE LOVE to see faces...especially yours! Also babies NEED to be rotated from back lying to side lying (both sides), to encourage their tender growing heads to shape more evenly.
I dont' know what your thoughts are on baby sleeping in same room with you. But having your baby for at least the first few months in the same room, whether in your bed, or a side car sleeper, or cradle, or crib is really beneficial to your baby in so many ways. I encourage you to do some research on co-sleeping/bedsharing to find what will work best for you, your partner/husband and your baby.
Much good energy to you in your last few months of pregnancy and as you head into the wonderous unknown of birth and parenting this new little soul.

In peace,
A.
mom of 4. Birth and Parenting Mentor
www.birthingfromwithin.com

We found that our kids never cared for theirs. What they liked more were the crib "activity centers" that play music when the baby presses/kicks a button.

I used a battery mobile, and I really liked it. First, the one I had had a remote with it so that if baby was still fussing you could start it from outside the room and baby would not see you. Plus, on some of them you can take the stem off with the hanging toys and leave the base attached to the crib. The base alone just plays music, nature sounds, or even white noise.

Both of my children used the same bedding (clearance at Pottery Barn) included was a matching mobile (one you just wind up and it spins)...both kids liked it as newborns but by 4 months it was outta there! My in-laws bought the rain forest mobile for their house...my son is 2 and still loves it...it plays soothing music (he pushes the different buttons to make it play) and it lights up and the leaves go up and down...I would recommend that one :)

The best mobil for the money and functionality are Tiny Love mobils. They move in multiple directions, pleay several songs, and are bright primary colors which babies can see (newborns cannot see pastels). I had the matching mobil at first and it was "cute" but boring. It didn't play long enough. The Tiny Love mobils are AWESOME!!! My daughter was completely taken and it played her to sleep. At Babies R Us...totally worth the money

The last 2 cribs ( 3 way beds)I had did not accomodate a mobile, so make sure that whatever you get will actually fit on your crib. My babies all enjoyed looking at a ceiling fan spinning just as much as their mobiles. Good Luck!