BABYBJÖRN Travel Crib Lite

Why do we love the BABYBJÖRN Travel Crib Light? Easy answer:

• It’s lightweight

• It’s both safe and comfortable

• It assembles in a hot second (about 15/20 if we’re completely honest!)

• It’s reliable, robust and well made

Now we’ve covered the basics, let’s look a little closer at this innovative, safe and highly user friendly travel cot.

How lightweight is it? 11lbs. That’s lighter than your average 3 month old baby and when you’re on the go (read: traveling) and you’ve got a tired, squirmy and altogether noisy baby in your arms, the last thing you need is a big fight with your baby’s portable crib.

As I’ve done a lot of traveling with my children I can vouch for how much a tired, worn out baby (or child) can stretch even the calmest of parents. Having something that assembles in the same space of time that it takes to have a good yawn (we’re tired remember?!) is a definite Godsend.

There really is little to none fuss when it comes to getting it out of the bag and into position and beyond that it’s supremely comfortable and entirely safety conscious. It beats the average hotel/motel infant accommodation by a long mile and, if you use it enough, it has the added intangible of being familiar to your baby.

The mattress pad and cover are machine washable and the materials used in its manufacture are in accordance with current safety standards.

There’s no point in buying the Travel Crib Light if you’re not one of the following:

1. A family that travels
2. A family that’s lucky enough to have a great support network – i.e. grandma loves having baby to sleep over!
3. Those that work in the child-care industry

When you’re on the go, the travel cot will also double up as a safe play area for baby. Think along the lines of those horrible delays you get when waiting at airports. Having something that you can quickly and easily assemble will help remove some of the stress that’s associated with travelling with children.

Of course there are always negatives, and as we’re to think we’re honest, we felt it fair to point out the cons that we found when testing it out. Nothing in life is ever perfect and whilst this portable crib is as close as it gets, we did spot a few flaws:

• Whilst it is lightweight, it could do with a better carrying strap

• The sleeping surface does place baby low to the floor. All babies are not equal and some won’t enjoy being laid so low down. That and the fact that it will be bad backs all round if you use it a lot!

• It would be nice if BABYBJÖRN would include a couple of mattress sheets. They don’t, so make sure you take some along

• It’s not cheap. Not in our opinion at least. This is why we think BABYBJÖRN should get a bit more proactive on the cot sheets. Giving a little more will certainly add to its value

Ok so now we’ve offered what we don’t like about the Travel Crib, here’s what we do like:

• Beyond how lightweight (etc) that it is, it’s very mommy friendly in that the mesh sides give you the ability to keep your eye on your baby without having to physically get up and peer over the top

• It has a robust feel to it when it’s fully assembled

• It’s versatile: portable crib/mobile play pen

• We loved the padding around the top of the frame. Built in, safe bumpers. Great for semi-mobile babies

• The sides of the crib will work for most babies. High enough to keep them in, low enough that they can peek over at you if they feel the need for a little mommy reassurance. If they’re not able to stand then they can still see you through the mesh

• Shipping is free, so at least the price isn’t bumped up at the check-out

In all, if you’re someone that enjoys travelling, camping trips or days out, we recommend it as being worth every penny. If you don’t fit into the short list of who the Travel Crib Light will work for, the simple answer is: it’s not for you. Otherwise it does exactly what it says on the box and going on its overall reception, it’s one of the best selling travel cots on the market.