Solid Crib for the Money

Author's Rating:

Pros: Solid, easy to assemble, reasonable cost.

Cons: Bedding choices limited, might not be worth it if your kid's big.

The Bottom Line: 
If space and money is limited, but you demand a solid crib, buy the Emily Mini Crib and you and your baby will sleep well.

Author's Review
My girlfriend and I had yet to decide on a crib for our boy until after he was born. This was fine as he was still in bassinet size and slept with us at night. So we headed to Babies R Us to check out the crib assortment and found that cribs can range from solid/expensive, to cheap/scary. Although we both liked the nicer, sturdier cribs, the cheaper, flimsier ones were more in line with our budget. Morso considering cost of mattress and bedding. We ended up doing some more research on line and ordered a Da Vinci Emily Mini crib based on reviews. Kind of a gamble doing it unseen, but it seems to have payed off... sort of.

The box arrived and my girlfriend had to leave it downstairs as it was too heavy for her to lift. That's a good sign, I thought. Upon opening the box, one of the first pieces I removed was the mattress platform. I was not impressed. It was basically a framed piece of flimsy particle board. I gave it the benefit of the doubt, however, considering it was for a lightweight baby and not me, and continued to assemble.

Assembly was very IKEA-like -- no muss no fuss. In fact, the hardware and drillings were better quality than your average IKEA piece of furniture. After assembling the crib and giving it a once over, I was won over. It was every bit as sturdy as the $600 cribs at Babies R Us, but cost us less than a third that. The wood is finished with smooth angles that look kid-friendly and most of the hardware seems to be facing away from curious fingers.

After assembly is where I noticed the only real problem. We bought the accompanying 5.5" mattress yet on the mattress platform was a warning sticker that stated no mattress over 5" thick can be used with this crib. That didn't make sense and it turns out the sticker was a misprint that should warn against using anything over 6" thick. Well, our bedding's fitted sheet didn't fit over the 5" mattress anyway so we ended up ordering the 3".

To set the mattress height, you need to unscrew the four platform supports and raise or lower the height. The hardware is easy to use and solid. We have it at the highest setting and at six feet tall, yeah, I have to bend over a bit to pick up my kid, but it's not that bad. I'm used to bending over to pick things up. The bedding bumpers fit fine and we have a temporary mobile setup stolen from the kid's pack and play. Our boy is still sleeps on his back and doesn't roll over fully just yet so overall use is pretty simple.

Besides the misprint on the crib and ensuing confusion, the other bad thing I'd have say is that the crib is truly 'mini'. It was a trade off for us; small apartment needed a small crib, but it's really not a whole lot bigger than a bassinet. We are hoping he can sleep in the converted toddler bed version of this crib before we have to buy a larger crib. If we have to, however, I wouldn't hesitate to buy the full-size Emily. Another negative is selection of bedding. Not nearly as much as with a normal-size crib. Not a big deal, but worth mentioning if everything in the nursery has to match.

Overall, I give the Emily Mini Crib high marks. There's a few little nits I had to pick, but for the solid piece of mind at a reasonable price, I will live with those issues.