BabyBjörn

Baby Crib

[I received this product in exchange for my honest review] This is a beautiful piece of furniture. It is a little pricey but once you put it together (which is very easy to do… in less than 15 minutes) you will see that it is money well spent. I love the size and how it can be used for up to two years. The mesh sides seem very safe, the mattress comfortable, and overall a classic and durable piece.

I should preface this review by saying this is the first product I’ve had to return from Influenster due to what I believe is a manufacturing defect—I just hope it was a one-off in my case and not a widespread issue as it's a rather large one. It also looks like this crib has been available overseas since about 2019 so I would assume they've had time to work out the kinks.

To start, this crib is mesh and almost playpen-like. It might be a good choice if you have limited room and would rather not have a large piece of furniture, though I will say while it’s likely a lot lighter in comparison, it still has a rather large footprint and won't make moving from room to room any easier, if that's a reason you might be looking into this. It was relatively easy putting it together, but that was also where issues arose.

The curved feet attach to the top frame via 4 wooden dowels, and they have a guide to make sure they're on a certain way so there's really little room for error. Despite this however, I encountered a bowing in the legs when everything was put together that resulted in a side-to-side rocking instead of a stable base. That's obviously not ideal for a piece of baby furniture. The top frame basically sort of clenches the whole thing up and in and it's only with a significant amount of weight pressed on it that the bowing flattens out. It's more than what your typical infant to toddler would weigh, hence the return.

Other issues I came across was the zipper mechanism on the mesh insert—it's not easy at all to use, and requires the use of an included key to really get it going. It's made with the assumption that you'll only have to zip it up and unzip it once or twice in your entire ownership of the piece, but the teeth on the zip mechanism that holds the key in place also gets warped by the insertion of the key itself, making it so it's harder to re-insert it going forward since the mechanism is now loose.

Generally, I'm also trying to figure out why this costs more than a piece of solid wood or metal furniture that likely would not have these issues. The bassinet-to-crib transformation is no different from lowering the height of a crib frame, and this isn't like the Nestig or the Babyletto Yuzu that has a smaller footprint and casters for bassinet mode. So what are you paying for here? If you're worried about safe sleep and are anxious about baby getting caught in wooden slats, this could be of interest. It doesn't have anything baby could gnaw on (RIP wooden crib top rails) so that's another plus. It could also work as a secondary crib that you keep out in your living room or at in-laws so baby has another place to sleep and play, but playpens also cost much less than this. So it's unclear what the best use of this crib would be, or who it would be for, manufacturing issues aside. I declined receiving a replacement crib as I genuinely didn't know if it was something I'd want over other products out there, gratis or not.