PeaPod By KidCo -- Thoughts? Opinions?

Updated on August 22, 2010
S.G. asks from Pottstown, PA
4 answers

So I had been on the hunt for a travel bed for my 3 month old son for a little while now. I was going to settle on a Moses basket or those travel beds that look like a square box (minus the lid of course) that you just lay baby in...that is, until I came across the PeaPod. It was love at first sight! I researched and researched everywhere online, checking out reviews (about 99% of which were extremely positive!) and even asked a friend who had one. Almost everyone says it is the best thing ever and totally worth the money! This only made me want one more. ;)

So yesterday, I finally bit the bullet and purchased one. I opted for the Lime Green one that is recommended for ages newborn thru 3 yrs. So last night I was setting it up and I must admit, I'm a little disappointed. I thought I would be overjoyed, but I guess I hyped this thing up in my mind too much. It seems a little unstable, the framing isn't "bent" per se, but it is a little uneven, making it wobble from side to side...just seems like nothing more than a glorified tent of sorts. And the more I look at the box/packaging, the more I wonder if it wasn't actually a return to the store (Babies R Us). Is mine defective? Or is this really how they all are? Do any of you mamas have an opinion on them?

Thanks in advance!

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Y.C.

answers from New York on

Hi,
I had one when we move to a different state and my furniture was going to arrive 3 days later so we needed a place to put our 1 year old to sleep.
I have the blue and red one, I don't know if the difference is just the color.
I like mine but it wasn't amazing, she wouldn't want to go there and sleep, so I would have to wait for her to sleep and then put her there. She would roll to much to a corner and get in a gap between the inflatable "mattress" and the tent. But she always have move A LOT while she sleeps and even turn on her own crib, so I can understand that. I fix that problem by putting her sweater in that corner.
I thought about re-sell it but even if it is not as amazing as I wish, still do the job, is very light, easy to carry around and she now plays with it sometimes as a play tent and it has hold very well.
If you don't mind to co-sleep with your baby then you should bring this back, I am not sure it will really fit a 3 year old comfortable. But if you are looking for a travel bed this does the job and you can even a sun shade for the beach, you could keep it and use it later as a play tent.

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A.H.

answers from Philadelphia on

Our version is the blue and red "deluxe" one which is supposedly able to work for kids up to 6 years. We do love it, mainly because it's a heck of a lot easier to cart around than a pack and play, and we have family in England that we've visited with our daughter 4 times over the past 3 years. After toting the pack and play twice overseas, this thing was SO much easier. It took a little while for our daughter to get used to it, but now she really loves it and it's an adventure for her to sleep in there. Ours feels fairly stable, and yeah, it is just a pop-up tent with an inflatable mattress inside. But what makes it great is it packs up so compactly so it's easy to travel with. Our frame is also a tad uneven, but it is stable. I think the frame gets that way from being collapsed over and over, but ours has held up over a couple years no problem.

One tip I've heard other parents do -- you can slide the air mattress inside the sleeve so that it's built into the floor of the tent (making the tent fabric the bottom of the floor), or if your little one is too small to use the included sleeping bag (ours still doesn't really understand that concept) lay the mattress inside the main tent and cover it with a crib sheet, so it's more familiar-feeling.

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J.S.

answers from Philadelphia on

We've got the blue/red peapod plus, too. It's a bit bigger than the regular pea pod, so hopefully we'll be able to use it for awhile longer. Also, the dark blur color helps to block out a bit more light, making it a little darker inside, and hopefully easier to sleep in.

Once I put the mattress in it, it flatten out. Does your stay crooked even with the mattress inside?

We use our tent on all our trips over the last year and a half, its very convenient. We love it!

As your little one gets older and more aware of their surroundings you may need to train them to get used to it. In the beginning we'd have our daughter sleep in the tent at home for a few days, so she wouldn't be afraid of it on our vacation.

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J.M.

answers from Boston on

I also have the red and blue one and I loved it! Our son outgrew the pack n play before he was ready for a bed, and it was so easy for traveling. Our one complaint was that the air mattress did get a couple of tiny pin holes, so it deflated and was hard to patch, but we just put a couple folded towels underneath. Our son loved sleeping in his (he was older - almost 2 years). Still, if we have more kids, I won't get a pack n' play, I'll just use the peapod.

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