The Best Mini Cribs for Small Spaces

When a baby is one the way, one of the first shopping priorities is a crib. As most of you know, cribs come in pretty much a standard size, which makes this feature something parents don’t pay a lot of attention to. However, when your nursery or bedroom space is limited and you can’t move stuff around to fit a standard crib in there, do you just give up on the idea of buying a crib? No, you look for a mini crib! And if you’ve never heard of such a thing before, we’re going to give you some shopping tips and ideas for the best mini cribs around.

Best Mini Cribs

Do You Need a Mini Crib?

Standard-size cribs offer more room for movement, but mini cribs are a good viable option when space is limited. They are smaller compared to standard-sized products and a lot of models come with wheels so you can move them around.

Part of the shopping process for buying a new mini crib is determining if you actually need one, so let’s review some of the situations where such a product can actually be a life-saver:

• If you have several babies and they need to share a room/nursery, space can be limited. Fitting multiple standard-sized cribs in the same room can be a true challenge, but mini cribs can make this a whole lot easier. Even if you have a pretty big room, you might still want to consider buying multiple mini cribs so you can avoid the room feeling too crowded and actually have some space to move around without feeling suffocated.
• Needless to say, people who live in small houses/apartments are amongst the first ones that should consider buying a mini crib. Standard-size cribs are awesome, but they can be a real nightmare when it comes to finding enough space to place them.
• If you leave your baby over at their grandparent’s house for the night, buying a mini crib so the baby can sleep inside it during a sleepover is actually a really good idea. There are plenty of mini cribs that can be folded and stored, which is a good feature to have in a crib that isn’t used every night.
• If you take care of multiple children at the same time (like in a daycare type of system), having multiple mini cribs is a viable solution to consider. It’s very important for children to take regular daytime naps, and since you have to fit multiple children in a limited space, mini cribs can help you a lot in such a scenario.

You may want to check out: Best Crib Sheets

Features to Look For

If you’ve never bought a crib before, you might not be sure what features to look out for. Shopping for a mini crib isn’t completely different compared to shopping for a standard-size crib, but there are a few differences that you need to take into account if you want to make sure your baby is safe and you want the certainty that you’ve invested in a good product:

— Size

Most mini cribs are available in a standard size of 24 x 38 inches, but there are some models out there that are narrowed, so always pay attention to the measurements of a mini crib before you buy one. Especially when it comes to the mattresses for it.

Even if babies will fit the length of the mini crib, they might not feel that comfortable in such a narrow space. You will also need to consider some other things before opting for particular mini crib size. What is more important to you: saving up space and buying a narrow crib or having your baby fit into the crib for as long as possible?

— Portability

Portability is one of the features that mini crib designers have in mind when they create these kinds of products. If you look for a lightweight mini crib, you can easily move it closer to your bed during the baby’s very first months. Later on, you can move the crib into the nursery and get a baby monitor to still keep an eye out on the little one even if you no longer share a bedroom.

As mentioned earlier, there are plenty of mini cribs that are designed with wheels to increase their portability. Make sure that the wheels can be locked so that the baby won’t move the crib when they’re old enough to do so. Some mini cribs can actually be collapsed, which is a nice feature to have if, for one reason or another, you want to store the crib away or move it from one house to another.

— Safety

Portability, size, and other such factors may be important, but nothing is more important than the baby’s safety. The best mini cribs that are also safe for your children need to meet the standards approved by the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission). In other words, good mini cribs use high-quality hardware, have good mattress supports, and don’t have any drop-side rails. If you’re looking for a mini crib that can be collapsed, make sure that the locking mechanisms are failsafe.

— Quality

The quality of the materials used to make a certain mini crib is important not just for durability purposes, but also for your child’s safety. Some of the best mini cribs on the market are made from solid wood, with thick and reliable mattress supports. If you’re interested in ever more durability, look for mini cribs that have a metal mattress support.

After going over the most important features to look out for in a mini crib, let’s explore some of the best options out there so that you can get a glimpse of the market’s offer and get a big picture of what you can expect from a product of this kind.

Bottom Line

A mini crib is a wonderful purchase if you’re looking to save space or simply don’t have enough room to place a standard-sized crib. It is also a viable purchase in a lot of different situations, like when you need a secondary bed when the baby sleeps over at their grandparents or when you have multiple babies that share the same room and you can’t put in multiple full-sized cribs in the nursery.

A mini crib has to be, above all, made from quality and solid materials, to be able to support the mattress with no problems at all, and to be made with non-toxic materials and finishes. The rest is pretty much a matter of personal taste.