Crib ideas

[jziegler]

My wife and I are expecting our first child (a boy) in late July. Originally, we were just going to buy a crib thinking that since it will only be used for a few years, why build a really high quality one. Then we started looking, and don't really like anything affordably priced that's on the market right now. So it is now looking like I will be building a crib.

Now that the drop side cribs are considered a bad idea and the hardware is no longer available, what other options are there? My wife and I are both on the short side, and having to reach all the way down when you lower the bedding does not appeal to her. She's not just worried about lifting the baby in and out, but also about changing the bedding.

So, what other options are there? I've been thinking about a front that slides out and then locks in (possibly with a sliding dovetail) which would work for changing the bedding, but would not work for getting the baby in and out. I'm also thinking about a front that opens from the sides, gate style, but I'm not sure how to securely latch it at the center (still thinking about that one). I've seen the cribs that have the fold down section at the top, but am a little worried about that making it easier to climb out.

Anyone have any other ideas for me to think about?

Thanks,
Jim

[thrytis]

How about a motorized lift under the crib that raises and lowers the mattress.

If you wanted to do one with traditional drop side hardware, you could look for old beat up crib with hardware still in good shape and recycle it.

For your swinging gate idea, are you talking about a gate half the width of the crib rather than the full width? That would make it easy to turn into a toddler bed. I don't have any latching solutions, but it might be easiest to put the hinge in the middle and latch on the end rather than the other way around. Use a piano hinge mounted at 45 degrees so you don't have to worry about pinched fingers.

And from personal experience, don't assume you have until late July to finish. Babies come early and you'll have a lot less time to work on it once the baby is home.

Congratulations!

[atgcpaul]

First off, congratulations! Our first was born in July nearly 2 years ago. Time flies. You'd better get started!

For DIY cribs, the Wood 3-in-1 crib gets built a lot. It's what I went with except I skipped the toddler bed part, and I still need to make the long rails for when it becomes a full sized bed. I followed the plans (except I kept the headboard simpler). I bought all the hardware here:

http://www.productsamerica.com/wood3-in-1.html

I already had the Wood issue, but you can buy a copy of the plans here:

http://www.woodstore.net/november173.html

Here's a link to my daughter's with some more discussion of what I changed vs the Wood plans:

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=51417

You don't need to finish the crib by the time your kid is born. Ours slept in a basinet in our room for nearly 4 months after being born. However, I'm sure your wife would REALLY appreciate that you're in the house helping with the baby than being in the shop finishing the crib. Do AMHIK. That being said, though, do finish it off at least a month before you put the baby in the crib. I finished with shellac followed by spray-on water born lacquer. I could still smell the finish several weeks after spraying. There are a lot of parts and steps to this build. I worked on it solidly for several weeks so keep that in mind.

You lower the height of the mattress (don't worry, all standard crib mattresses fit this crib) as your kid gets more mobile. I'm 6'1" and my wife is 5'4". My wife never really had a problem getting the kid in and out. Also keep in mind that at nearly 2yo with the mattress at the bottom, you just tell the kid to stand up and pick them up; you don't have to scoop them up from way down low--unless of course they don't want to get up.

As far as changing bedding, that is an issue for my wife. On top of the crib sheets, we use this thing called an "Ultimate Crib Sheet". It's soft on one side for sleeping and waterproof on the other side for catching drool, etc. You do have to snap it onto the crib slats. It's a challenge for her to reach the snaps at the far end but it's not something that you have to change out on a daily or even weekly basis.

The mattress is not too difficult to get out. You can reach your hand between the slats to get it worked up if you can't access it from the top.

Feel free to ask any questions. Congratulations again.

Paul

[atgcpaul]

So, what other options are there? I've been thinking about a front that slides out and then locks in (possibly with a sliding dovetail) which would work for changing the bedding, but would not work for getting the baby in and out. I'm also thinking about a front that opens from the sides, gate style, but I'm not sure how to securely latch it at the center (still thinking about that one). I've seen the cribs that have the fold down section at the top, but am a little worried about that making it easier to climb out.

Anyone have any other ideas for me to think about?

Thanks,
Jim

IMHO, don't get too creative with this. Go to a baby store and see what they've done. Their designs should all comply with the latest regulations. For you, the best may be a crib where the front is split in half width-wise--the top folds down towards you. There should be a strong, spring loaded latch on the left and right side of that top. It must be on both sides because it makes it (nearly) impossible for the kid to open both at once because they don't have the wing span to reach both sides at once.

I don't know what to tell you about the climbing out part. I think our kid would attempt it if she had the opportunity.

Paul

[jziegler]

Paul,

Thanks for the reply! I do plan to get started soon. A basinet in our room will be used for the first few months, I think that we might be getting a side sleeper from on of her friends that had a baby this past September. So while that gives me a little extra time, I'd like to get started in the next few weeks.

I had that issue of Wood, and was looking at the plan yesterday. I'll get some ideas from it, but I never build exactly according to a plan. We also have no interest in making it convertible, the room will have a twin size bed, not full. I also prefer wooden slats to support the mattress, not a metal frame, but that's an easy change.

Looking at your thread, I like some of the changes that you made. I was also thinking of using all solid wood (although I'm probably going to use poplar and paint the crib, I'm thinking with milk paint and then a clear coat of some type over that).

Thanks,
Jim

First off, congratulations! Our first was born in July nearly 2 years ago. Time flies. You'd better get started!

For DIY cribs, the Wood 3-in-1 crib gets built a lot. It's what I went with except I skipped the toddler bed part, and I still need to make the long rails for when it becomes a full sized bed. I followed the plans (except I kept the headboard simpler). I bought all the hardware here:

http://www.productsamerica.com/wood3-in-1.html

I already had the Wood issue, but you can buy a copy of the plans here:

http://www.woodstore.net/november173.html

Here's a link to my daughter's with some more discussion of what I changed vs the Wood plans:

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=51417

You don't need to finish the crib by the time your kid is born. Ours slept in a basinet in our room for nearly 4 months after being born. However, I'm sure your wife would REALLY appreciate that you're in the house helping with the baby than being in the shop finishing the crib. Do AMHIK. That being said, though, do finish it off at least a month before you put the baby in the crib. I finished with shellac followed by spray-on water born lacquer. I could still smell the finish several weeks after spraying. There are a lot of parts and steps to this build. I worked on it solidly for several weeks so keep that in mind.

You lower the height of the mattress (don't worry, all standard crib mattresses fit this crib) as your kid gets more mobile. I'm 6'1" and my wife is 5'4". My wife never really had a problem getting the kid in and out. Also keep in mind that at nearly 2yo with the mattress at the bottom, you just tell the kid to stand up and pick them up; you don't have to scoop them up from way down low--unless of course they don't want to get up.

As far as changing bedding, that is an issue for my wife. On top of the crib sheets, we use this thing called an "Ultimate Crib Sheet". It's soft on one side for sleeping and waterproof on the other side for catching drool, etc. You do have to snap it onto the crib slats. It's a challenge for her to reach the snaps at the far end but it's not something that you have to change out on a daily or even weekly basis.

The mattress is not too difficult to get out. You can reach your hand between the slats to get it worked up if you can't access it from the top.

Feel free to ask any questions. Congratulations again.

Paul

[jziegler]

My wife saw that motorized on the net yesterday... Way overpriced, and over complicated, IMO.

I was thinking about a half width gate. Or possible two half width gates that latch in the center, although that makes the latching more complicated. I'm still thinking this through and looking for ideas. Hinging in the center sounds like it could work, thanks for the thought.

Thanks!
Jim

How about a motorized lift under the crib that raises and lowers the mattress.

If you wanted to do one with traditional drop side hardware, you could look for old beat up crib with hardware still in good shape and recycle it.

For your swinging gate idea, are you talking about a gate half the width of the crib rather than the full width? That would make it easy to turn into a toddler bed. I don't have any latching solutions, but it might be easiest to put the hinge in the middle and latch on the end rather than the other way around. Use a piano hinge mounted at 45 degrees so you don't have to worry about pinched fingers.

And from personal experience, don't assume you have until late July to finish. Babies come early and you'll have a lot less time to work on it once the baby is home.

Congratulations!

[jking]

I'm pretty much in agreement with the comments on not making this complicated. We purchased our crib & it has multiple height locations for the mattress. At the beginning, you start with the mattress at the top position & adjust the mattress down at your kid gets bigger. I think there were three mattress locations. Basically, you'd want to move the mattress down when the baby can sit, again when the baby can stand. My opinion is once the kid can climb out of the crib, it's time to go to a toddler bed of some kind.

As the mattress moves down, what we did was grab it as best we could between the slats to lift the ends/sides up enough to change the sheet. It's kind of awkward at first, but, you get used to it.

On a crib, the fewer bells & whistles the better. Murphy's rule applies to kids & their stuff. If their is a way to break/misuse something, leave your kid alone with it for 5 minutes.

[chopnhack]

Congrats! I would recommend thinking about making the crib convertible so that you can save the back and front and add rails in the future for a full sized bed. I had purchased a crib that was convertible and ended up making the rails. Definitely keep it simple and allow enough time for the finish to out gas. Best of luck!

[LCHIEN]

my 2 cents:
watch carefully the laws and regulations. Perfectly good cribs from a few years back are having to be discarded by nurseries and church schools MDO programs as being unsafe and liabilities. Consider if you build your own it might not be donate-able to church or school when you are done with it because it doesn't meet safety regulations.

As for a convertible crib (convertible to a day bed) our kids hated them with a passion because "it was their baby bed" and no one wants to grow up with that stigma.

[JoeyGee]

Congrats. Enjoy every minute of them being small, because it goes FAST. I know everyone says that and no one believes it at the time (especially during colic at 3 a.m...) but it's very true. My oldest is 10, and I don't know where the time went.

Just buy a crib and spend your time now making something for yourself. You are going to spend the rest of your life doing things for your kid .

[jziegler]

Congrats! I would recommend thinking about making the crib convertible so that you can save the back and front and add rails in the future for a full sized bed. I had purchased a crib that was convertible and ended up making the rails. Definitely keep it simple and allow enough time for the finish to out gas. Best of luck!

Since we already have beds in every bedroom in the house, convertible really isn't needed. There's already a twin size bed in the nursery.

my 2 cents:
watch carefully the laws and regulations. Perfectly good cribs from a few years back are having to be discarded by nurseries and church schools MDO programs as being unsafe and liabilities. Consider if you build your own it might not be donate-able to church or school when you are done with it because it doesn't meet safety regulations.

As for a convertible crib (convertible to a day bed) our kids hated them with a passion because "it was their baby bed" and no one wants to grow up with that stigma.

I certainly am trying to pay attention to the regulations, but finding them (at least clearly stated) has not been easy do far. I had not thought about the donation angle, but I'm also unsure of any places to make such a donation in our area. There probably is someplace, but I don't know where. I'm actually thinking that gifting it to a friend after we're done with it might be more likely.

I also had not thought about the "baby bed" aspect, but I'll add that to the list of reasons that I'd prefer non-convertible.

Congrats. Enjoy every minute of them being small, because it goes FAST. I know everyone says that and no one believes it at the time (especially during colic at 3 a.m...) but it's very true. My oldest is 10, and I don't know where the time went.

Just buy a crib and spend your time now making something for yourself. You are going to spend the rest of your life doing things for your kid .

The original plan was to just buy one, but we haven't seen anything that we like for less than about $600-700. The inexpensive ones just look so cheaply made with poor quality materials. Maybe we're being picky, but I don't like buying cheap crap if I can make something better for the same money. Maybe we haven't looked at the right place yet, but we've been to several different places so far (Babies-R-Us, Target, Ikea, Burlington Coat Factory, a local unfinished furniture store, and have looked online on Amazon.com). Please let me know if there's somewhere else that I should look, I'm just about out of ideas.

Everyone, thanks for the suggestions. I will try to keep it simple and come up with a good plan. I often start complex, and then simplify as I think about it more, and that appears to be the direction that I'm heading.

Thanks,
Jim