Discount The First Years 5-in-1 Carry Me Near Sleep System

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List Price: $159.99
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I just got my 5-in-1 bassinet today. I was a little nervous about it, having read all of the bad reviews on here. While my husband was putting it together, I brought up each critique I read and he pointed out all of the so-called problem areas. I've listed the ones I can think of below:

*DIFFICULT TO ASSEMBLE/CAN'T FIND INSTRUCTIONS*

While it's true that the instructions weren't loose in the box, they were pretty easy to find. The bassinet folds in half for portability and that's the way it's packaged in the box. The instructions were sandwiched in-between the two halves. He found them right away and didn't have to look it up online or assemble anything extra. He said the instructions were very straight forward and put it together quickly. Being a teacher, I can't help but think that the people who complained about how hard it was to assemble didn't read the instructions.

*BASSINET DOESN'T ATTACH TO THE BASE*

There's a short little strap with a snap style buckle on each side of the base. It's a little hidden by the ruffles, but there's a slit in the fabric where you can pull them through. Once he snapped it into place, it was very secure. He was able to lift the entire unit from the handle of the bassinet.

*IT'S TOO TALL FOR A BED*

When he first put it together, it was very tall. I mentioned how people had said it was too tall to fit comfortably next to a bed. It turns out that the legs are adjustable and have 6 different height settings. We put it on the lowest and it's below my bed leveland I have a pretty average bed.

*THE HANDLE WON'T FOLD DOWN*

I read a couple of reviews that said how they wished the handle would go down because it's hard to get the baby in and out. He found little buttons you press at the base of each handle. You have to look for them because they're kind of under the cloth, but they're there. This allows the handle to go all the way down.

*IT WON'T FIT THROUGH A DOORWAY*

When we were wheeling it into my bedroom, it went right through my doorway with no problems. Maybe my doors are wider than an average door. I really don't know, but I had no problem with that.

* IT DOESN'T ATTACH TO THE BED*

I think I only saw one review that mentioned this. There's a little padded strap thing that was left over after he put it together. When he looked at the directions, it showed that this strap thing attaches to the base, and then slides between the mattresses to hold it in place next to the bed.

* IT'S TOO HARD & UNCOMFORTABLE*

With SIDS being such a concern now-a-days, I can completely understand why manufacturers don't want to have something too padded. I was expecting something really hard, but it has a foam padded cushion. With the cushion, it's actually a lot more comfortable than I thought it would be.

It may be possible that I have a newer model than the ones people have complained about, and that this new model fixed every problem area. However, I think the problem is that people don't look around for obvious solutions or read the instructions. Our baby is due any day now and I couldn't be happier with our purchase. I only wish I had gotten one with my daughter 3 years agoit's perfect!

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I've used this strictly as a bassinet next to our bed, and it has been fantastic. The best feature is the night light, which enables me to check on my baby in the middle of the night and nurse her without waking up her or my husband. It goes out on it's own in case you fall asleep without turning it off, which is very convenient and saves the batteries. I also love the versatility of folding up the wheels so it can rock like a cradle if I want. I haven't used the changing table portion at all. Though we did carry her in the removeable carrier once or twice, it was too large and cumbersome to be very convenient, so now I just use a Pack'n Play in the other room instead.

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Our baby is almost outgrowing this bassinetsomething that makes me sad, as I've enjoyed using it.

Here's what I liked and didn't like:

* Carrying the bassinet around was a bit of a nuisance (if the baby is in it, it's kinda heavyif not, you gotta put down the baby, relocate the bassinet, get the baby again...).

* I never used the changing tableyou have to take the bassinet off the unit. Who wants to deal with that in the middle of the night? Easier to use a real changing table.

* The rocking feature is nice, but I didn't use it that often. It was a bit of a hassle popping the wheels in and out.

* An extra fitted sheet for the mattress would have been nice.

* This may be just a problem with our particular unit, but the vibrating control sometimes works and sometimes doesn't despite fresh batteries. Not a big deal since the sounds work fine.

* Ability to adjust height. If you have a tall bed, low bed, don't worry: there are lots of height options here.

* Cute toys hanging off tall hood. If you don't want them there, you can easily remove them. The toys are in sight, but beyond reach.

* The Number One reason I like this bassinet a lot is because of the mesh siding. It lets air circulatesomething that is very good if your baby, like ours, moves around and ends up with the head turned facing the side. I always move my baby toward the middle again, but it was reassuring to know that the mesh was letting fresh air injust lift the outside ruffles out of the way.

All in all this bassinet has a whole bunch of extra features we really didn't feel were necessary. We might have been happier with a plain and traditional bassinet, except that we loved the breathable mesh siding. You can use this bassinet until your baby can roll over or push up or when your baby is 17.5 lbswhichever happens first.

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This is a great purchase, easy to assemble, I did it by myself in about a .5 hour with just a phillips screw driver. It's easy to move from room to room.

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My husband and I spent hours and hours looking for the perfect bassinet. We finally decided on this one. Boy were we disappointed. We are very aware of safty concerning cribs and bassinets. Our first child passed away because of SIDS. One of the major safty points with SIDS is that the mattress must be firm. The mattress in this bassinet sagged in the middle, right where the baby would lay. When we were putting it together the bassinet part came as one piece folded together, the "support board" being in two pieces instead of one piece. How is this supposed to properly support a baby? After we finished putting it together and saw this unsafe feature, we returned the bassinet the next day and bought something better.

If you buy is bassinet make sure the mattress is properly supported, as it is very very unsafe for it to sag in the middle.