Astoria Baby

Sunday Pops and I decided to head out to Schneider’s Baby Store to check out the Romina cribs. The problem? The store isn’t opened on Sundays. So! We’ll have to make another attempt sometime this week.

We weren’t completely deterred from our mission however – and wrote out a game plan of five area baby store we wanted to visit based on their varieties of cribs. It made sense, we thought, to actually see as many cribs in person as possible to get an idea of what matters to us most. So, on our agenda were the following stores in the following order:

1. Room and Board on Wooster Street in SoHo;
2. Giggle, also on Wooster Street in Soho;
3. Babesta on Warren Street by City Hall;
4. BuyBuy Baby on 7th Avenue in Midtown;
5. Babies R Us at Union Square.

Room and Board had a decent children’s section, but it only contained the Moda Crib. We decided it wasn’t really of interest to us, because not only were the ends completely Medium-Density Fiberboard (“MDF”) and heavily lacquered, but the mattress support was also comprised of MDF and nothing more – and as our Exploring Crib options post from last week illustrates, not excellent features in our minds. Not to mention the $999.00 price tag.

Across the street we came to Giggle – a smaller baby store filled to the brim with everything an urban baby could dream of – right down to smaller sized cribs. We were most intrigued by a crib company that we were unfamiliar with called Q Collection Jr. The Luna Crib sported an adorable Elephant head and footboard and featured many of the key features we were interested in – mostly that it was manufactured in the USA, uses formaldehyde- free glue, VOC-free water based finishes, was mostly comprised of hardwood (the exception was the head and footboards, which were comprised of formaldehyde-free MDF). The mattress support was also encouraging – while the crib did use a plywood base, the base was further supported by hardwood slats across the bottom. Of course, it was at this point we also realized we had expensive tastes – the crib costs $1,580.00! But, as an added bonus, it does convert to a toddler bed as well.

Also to be found at Giggle was another crib manufactured by Q Collection Jr named Cieo. All the same wonderful environmentally (and baby) friendly features, except without the MDF foot and headboards. Instead, the entire crib is comprised of hardwood – with the exception of the mattress support, which again was plywood with hardwood slats like the Luna. Far simpler in design, this crib costs $1,180.00, but does not convert to a toddler bed.

Lastly at Giggle we looked at the Stokke Sleepi Crib. The crib is, as advertised, highly convertible and comprised of sustainable hardwood. We were told by staff that the varnish is water based and the crib uses no glues in construction, removing that concern. Mattress support was wooden slats – which is always a plus. So – more on this option when they get back to us about the glue. But for now, the retail cost is $800.00.

The next stop on our list was the somewhat far-flung Babesta – where several cribs were on display. It was at this point we sat down and tried to review what was most important to us in a crib – and one of the criteria we decided on was to avoid a crib made in China, if possible. There have just too many recalls in recent years to sit with our new parent stomachs. This also obviously eliminates 99% of the cribs available. One company that is not manufactured in China is DucDuc – and Babesta had the Austin Crib on display. In general, this crib is great in the sense that it is made of mostly hardwood…but I wasn’t sold on the MDF ends and Mattress support. It just seemed for the price ($1,295) we could get a lot more environmentally friendly features. We did learn that there is a DucDuc showroom we can visit by appointment to view all of the cribs, and may go this route if we decide we’d like to see the rest of the line.

As I’m sure you can tell by the length of this post, by the time we reached BuyBuy Baby Pops and I were pretty tired of cribs! But we pressed on, and thankfully we did, because we found a new line by Natart called Tulip that is manufactured completed in Canada from Bamboo, and features formaldehyde- free glue, VOC-free water based finishes, and formaldehyde-free MDF. On display they had the Piccolo – a simple two tone crib that can can convert to a toddler bed without added costs. The tops of the crib were veneer – and it was hard to tell about the rest of the crib, but the bottom mattress support was made using the typical MDF. So, I feel this brand warrants further exploration to see just how much hardwood is present – because with a price tag of $999.00 we’d like more rather than less.

Babies R Us had many cribs on display, but none were rated highly in our book aside from cribs like the Stokke Sleepi which we already were familiar with. So, we did not spend much time there and left for dinner.

So! What did we learn from a days worth of adventures?

• A preliminary Internet search showed us that most Lancaster, PA Amish stores do not sell cribs (I assume because of the heavy restrictions);
• Pops and I want a crib made in the USA, Canada, or the EU for the heavier quality assurance restrictions;
• A crib mostly made from hardwood is a priority;
• The more environmentally-friendly features possible, the better – like water based, no-VOC finishes and formaldehyde -free glues;
• We are willing to pay a bit more if we can be confident this crib will last longer than just one child.