Price Tag: $69.99-80
Age Range: up to 36 months
Official URL: www.totsinmind.com
Rating:

Combine a curious toddler that was starting to climb ahead of schedule, delayed construction on a wall that we had planned on putting up to make our daughter’s room child-safe, and a short-lived rodent infestation (okay, so we had only one mouse which we caught two days after we  saw it, but rodents are one of my phobias.) and we were looking for a solution that would solve all of our woes. As it turned out, this crib tent from Tots in Mind was the perfect solution.

Crib tents are the solution to a variety of infant and toddler-related problems. Curious cat that wants to crawl into bed with the baby? Curious toddler that wants to climb out of the crib to explore? Rail-chewer? Compulsive tosser of pacifiers and toys? Paranoid about insects? Want to keep your child from sticking his arms or legs through the slats of your crib, but afraid of the SIDS risk of bumpers? Crib tent.

SAFETY & CONVENIENCE

The way this tent works can enhance or diminish the safety of your child’s crib depending on whether it fits properly or not. Basically the crib tent is all one piece with a dome roof, four walls, and a “floor”. The dome roof goes over the top of your crib, and the walls drop into the crib, with the the floor along the bottom. You then insert your mattress through the zippered opening and it should sit on top of the floor of the tent and pull the sides taut.

If your crib is not on its lowest setting, the sides will not be taut, and the crib tent will not be safe for use. Similarly, if you cannot fasten the tent to the crib using the long velcro straps around the foot and headboards, and fasten the velcro around the front and back railing of the crib, it will not be safe for use.

When the crib is compatible and the tent is properly in place, the safety benefits are tremendous. The tent can stop items from falling into the crib with your child and will stop pets, insects, or rodents from entering the crib.  Older siblings will be unable to throw things into the crib with the new baby. It also makes it virtually impossible for your child to get out of the crib, which removes the risk of falling, and which keeps your child from exploring your home without proper supervision. It makes sure that outlets, blind cords, and other hazards are not reachable, and it keeps younger infants from becoming tangled in bumper pads. This crib tent also would have protected some of the children injured by certain types of crib equipment failures.

In addition to safety enhancements, you also have the added reassurance of knowing your child’s limbs won’t stick between the slats, any bottles/pacifiers or toys that are in the crib with your child will remain there.

There are some areas in which the crib tent slightly decreases safety and convenience. The crib tent is not fireproof and must be kept away from open flame. The crib tent also means that the mattress must be at its lowest setting, which means that you have to lean in further to pick your child up. The drop side does continue to function, but with less ease.

COMPATIBILITY

The manufacturer says that this tent fits most standard and sleigh style cribs. We found it worked with the two drop-side cribs that we tried it on, and did not work with the fixed-rail crib, although more than a few jury rigged solutions seem to exist on the internet for those that are willing to search and improvise. It’s worth it, since this seems to be one of the few (only?) option on the market. The problem with the fixed rail crib was not the fixed rail, per se. Rather, it was that the rear side of the crib was higher than the front side of the crib, which meant that all four walls of the tent could not easily be pulled taut.

There does seem to be a nice amount of attention to attempting to ensure that the tent is compatible with as many cribs as possible.  The velcro straps for the headboard/footboard allow for both solid and slatted end-panels. All of the velcro fastenings have quite a bit of length to them, which allows for different spacing or thicknesses of crib railings. The only thing that it doesn’t seem to account for is the back wall of the crib being taller than the front. It would be nice if there was an adaptor kit of some sort that would make it possible to use in this scenario.

ASSEMBLY/MANUAL

The “manual” is really a two sided flier that has step by step instructions. They’re fairly easy to follow, as assembly instructions go. Basically you have three rods for each pole: Two with metal sleeves on one side, and one with no metal sleeve. The sleeveless rod goes into the sleeves of the other two rods to form the mid-section of the pole. You then thread this into the buttonhole opening, and through the fabric sleeve of the tent until it fits firmly into the pocket on the other side. The most difficult part of assembly is tucking the tip of the rod in through the buttonhole. I found that pressing the rod up past the button hole and then allowing the tension of the rod to bring it down into the buttonhole worked best for me. Once the two rods are in place, you pull the crib mattress out of the crib, and attach the velcro fastenings before putting the mattress in through the zippered opening and lowering it to the bottom of the crib.

It took about 15 minutes for me to assemble and attach the crib tent. Expect it to take between 10 and 45 minutes to get it into place.

QUALITY & CONSTRUCTION

The fabric part of the crib tent is all one piece, and is made of a combination of mesh and smooth opaque white material. It is held together with two sets of rod assemblies that slide into one another, and that feed through a long sleeve from each front corner to the opposite back corner and that tuck firmly into “buttonhole” pockets on the front sides. The rods are rather short and inflexible which gives them a great deal of strength. I could sit on the top of the tent and it held most of my weight without seeming even close to breaking or coming undone. Obviously this is not a recommended use of the crib tent, but it is nice to know that it should do a great job of keeping kitties or other critters out of the tent!

The only opening is the zipper opening at the front of the tent. The rest of the tent forms walls and a floor, and the mattress sits at the bottom of the tent, resting on the mattress platform of the crib.

The crib tent is held onto the crib with four front and four rear velcro closures, and two long straps that wrap around the footboard and headboard of the crib. The velcro closures are really rather interesting. They’re designed a bit like a buckle, with a long velcro strap that feeds through a buckle-shaped bit of velcro, and that wraps into itself as it fastens. This unique design makes it hold onto the crib very firmly and means that it would take a significant amount of weight and/or force to pull even one of these loose, let alone four on either side of the tent.

As part of our review process, we read other reviews that are available on the internet. We noticed that this crib tent gets predominantly positive but mixed reviews based on several factors: The mesh quality, the zipper quality, the method of attachment, and the security of the tent against the littlest of escape artists.

The problems that other people noted in these areas seem to be non-existent in the tent that we tested. The mesh is a heavy grade mesh similar to that used in portable play-yards or fabric baby gates. It is a soft but strong material that does not rip even with quite a bit of force, and that seems to resist fraying rather well. The zipper was smooth (although slightly on the louder side), and did not catch or pull apart. It is of “medium” size and weight which tends to bode well for the longevity of zippers.

The other issue that people noted, of the child being able to unzip the zipper by sticking their fingers into the opening, is also no longer possible. As you can see from the image to the right, the zipper zips past the inside of the tent, and zips into a pocket that is only accessible from the outside of the tent. It would take a very limber and tenacious toddler to defeat this.

BOTTOM LINE

My child thought that this crib tent  was wonderful, and loved that it made the crib an even cosier and safer place to be. We drape a blanket over the back and sides of the tent at bedtime to make it even more of a quiet and cozy cave, and then remove it once our little one is asleep. If you’re looking for a way to keep hazards out of the crib, and a mobile toddler in the crib, this seems to be the best and safest option on the market. We were very pleased with its features, breathability, and quality.