Mini cribs offer a cozy, compact, and safe place for your baby to sleep. As with most products, there are lots of choices. We’ve done the research to find and review the best mini cribs to help you find one that’s right for your baby.
Contents:
Benefits of Mini Cribs
Mini Crib Reviews
Mini Crib Mattress Reviews
5 Benefits of Mini Cribs
Many parents invest in a mini crib in place of or in addition to a standard crib. These aren’t the little bassinets that you saw at the foot of the parents’ bed in black and white movies. These are full-featured cribs with solid construction and stunning designs, but slightly more compact than a standard crib. They’re still quite roomy; even a 2-year-old would be comfortable in most of them. Here are five great benefits that mini cribs offer:
1 | Saving space in an apartment or small house. Mini cribs have a footprint that’s 25% smaller than a standard crib. That saves you a lot of space if you have a small nursery, apartment, or house. Surprisingly, though, babies are usually content in mini cribs even when they’re 2 years old and 25 pounds. A mini crib is sturdier than a portable bassinet. And most mini cribs let you install musical baby mobiles and other accessories. |
2 | Overnights with grandma & grandpa. If your baby spends any nights or weekends with the grandparents, a mini crib or bassinet is a comfortable, safe place for them to sleep without taking over the house. And your baby is more likely to sleep in a crib there if he or she has one at home. These are cheaper than full-size cribs, too. |
3 | Lightweight portability. All of the mini cribs that we review below weigh less than 40 pounds; most of them are 25 or 30 pounds. Some even have wheels. This makes them ultra-portable for moving from room to room without breaking your back, but you can lock them into place so that they’re stable while your baby is in them. |
4 | Room sharing with the parents. Sharing a room with your baby has lots of benefits – it lets you monitor your baby while he or she sleeps, and offers parents some peace of mind. In fact, room sharing (but not bed sharing) is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It’s also convenient for handling late-night feedings in the first couple of months. |
5 | To keep in the cabin, lake house, or vacation home. If you have a little place at the lake or vacation home, mini cribs are a compact and relatively inexpensive option to ensure that your baby always has a comfortable, safe place to sleep while you’re there. No more toting around the pack-N-play or swing just to give your little one a spot to nap in! And as I said above, if your baby is accustomed to sleeping in a crib, a mini crib’s not that much different (just a bit smaller). |
Mini Crib Reviews
DaVinci Emily Mini Crib | ||
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Size: | 39.5 x 28 x 38 inches ; 36.5 pounds | |
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Mini Crib Review:The DaVinci Emily Mini Crib is currently the bestselling mini crib on Amazon. Constructed of sustainable New Zealand pine, this mini offers all of the features of a full-size crib, but in a smaller package. It has four mattress adjustments (usually you start at the top setting and lower it as your baby grows). It has a lead-safe and phthalate-safe non-toxic finish. You can even convert this mini crib to a twin bed when your baby gets older. One of my favorite features of DaVinci mini cribs is that they’re made of solid wood – pine from New Zealand’s sustainable forests. I can’t say enough about buying real wood furniture. This stuff lasts and can be passed down generations. Particle board furniture from China can’t do that. Pine construction makes this minicrib sturdy but lightweight. You can let a 25-pound 2-year-old sleep in it, and still move it easily around the room. That’s according to one of the reviews. The mattress pad is pretty thin (1″) so you’ll undoubtedly want to purchase a mini crib mattress. You have a few different color options for this mini crib, including (from darkest to lightest) ebony black, expresso, and honey oak. |
Bloom Alma Urban Crib | ||
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Size: | 19.2 x 37 x 33 inches ; 50.6 pounds | |
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Mini Crib Review:The Bloom Alma Mini Crib is designed for three things: style, mobility, and storage. The construction is solid wood with stainless-steel detailing. The design is urban-inspired, and lets you wheel (on 4 casters) your napping baby from room to room. Even through narrow hallways. It folds up when not in use for storage or travel. The setup takes less than 5 minutes, and requires absolutely no tools. This co-sleeper/bassinet has two mattress level settings to accommodate your baby as he or she grows. Overall, a simple, elegant, well-made crib for small living spaces. Note: The cappuccino, grey, and orange colors are sold by Amazon.com and get free shipping. |
DaVinci Alpha Mini Rocking Crib | ||
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Size: | 38.8 x 26.1 x 35.4 inches ; 26 pounds | |
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Mini Crib Review:The DaVinci Alpha Rocking Mini Crib is a safe, compact crib with one outstanding feature: the ability to rock your baby in the crib. This makes it an excellent choice for keeping next to the parents’ bed, because if the baby wakes, a gentle touch to rock the crib back and forth will often soothe him or her back to sleep. Another nice feature is the rollers, which lets you move the crib easily from room to room. This mini crib doesn’t take up much space, but surprisingly, lots of parents are using it until the babies are 12 months old or older. This is also a lead-free mini crib and safety certified by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA). You can get this crib in dark cherry, pure white, or natural pine colors. White seems the most popular choice, as it makes cute bedding sets really pop. |
Delta Children’s Products Riley Mini Crib | ||
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Size: | 40.4 x 27.4 x 5.5 inches ; 40 pounds | |
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Mini Crib Review:The Delta Children’s Products Riley Mini Crib is the perfect space-saver for apartments or small houses, grandma and grandpa’s house, the cabin, or other places where space is at a premium. It has two mattress settings and converts quickly to a toddler bed, day bed, or even a twin. The 3″ waterproof mattress pad is enough to keep most babies comfortable; though you might want to add a 50-spring mini crib mattress. The design and finish of this mini crib are both very well done. It has a solid construction of real wood. A single person can assemble it in 30-45 minutes, and the mini crib (when assembled) moves easily from room to room. This crib comes in dark cherry, chocolate, or white, so there are lots of options to match any bedroom. |
Mini Crib Mattress Reviews
If you buy a mini crib, don’t forget to buy a mattress for it! Choosing a mattress for mini cribs is rather straighforward, since they’re mostly all a standard size (about 24 inches wide and 37 inches long). Thickness varies between mattresses, but you probably don’t need something more than 6″ thick. The most important feature is that the mattress fit snugly inside the mini crib, allowing no gaps where your baby might get stuck.
DaVinci Mini Crib Mattress | ||
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Size: | 37.1 x 23.8 x 5.8 inches ; 7.5 pounds | |
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Mattress Review:This mini crib mattress is a 50-coil mattress, durable with a tempered steel spring unit for added firmness. It has a triple-laminated wet-free cover and hypo-allergenic construction to keep your baby comfortable overnight. The 25-year limited manufacturer warranty is kind of amusing – it’s unlikely you’re going to need a warranty that lasts more than a few years, right? Still, it’s a sign that the manufacturer stands behind this product, and I do like that. With 50 heavy-gauge coils, this mattress gives same healthy serenity, just in a smaller package. |