A Solution for Hotel Pack n Plays

We do not travel too often where we can't bring our own pack n play along.  Last year, however, Nathan, Celeste and I flew out to California for a few days.

Of course, we could not bring our pack n play so I arranged to use the one from the hotel room.  At the first hotel we stayed in, the lady at the front desk told me upon arrival that they never have any babies so they were going to have to go and find the pack n play in a closet.  I immediately thought, "Oh great.  This is going to be a pretty old one."  Sure enough I was correct.  The hotel gave me one of their twin size bed sheets to put on the pack n play mattress which was obviously way too big.  Not to mention the fact that it is not safe for infants to have blankets in the bed with them.  Luckily, I did have the forethought to bring my pack n play sheet from home.  I told Nathan that I wished there was something that would cover the sides of the pack n play as well.  Celeste had just started to stand up, so she would hold on and put her mouth onto the sides.  I did take a baby wipe and wipe it all down (that was all I had to "disinfect" it with), but I know that it doesn't really do a great job.

After Nathan's photoshoot was over, we traveled to Anaheim to go to Disneyland for the day.

That night, we stayed in a different hotel near Disneyland.  I had arranged for there to be a pack n play for Celeste there as well.  After a long day at the park, we arrived around 11 pm to our hotel.  Upon arrival, they told me they would be sending a pack n play up shortly.  We went to our hotel room and waited.  After an hour, we called and they told us that they had run out of pack n plays so they were borrowing one from the hotel down the road.  We waited some more and finally got a knock on the door.   The guy came in and told us that he did get a pack n play from a different hotel, but it was actually broken.  One of the sides would not stay up.  He told me they were willing to keep looking for one at another hotel or we could have that one right then.  I took a look at the broken pack n play and decided that it would not be smart to put an infant in there.  I have read way too many stories of baby equipment malfunctioning and harming kids.  It didn't seem like it was worth the risk.  So we waited some more.  Finally, a few hours later, the arrived with an old pack n play.  I put my sheet on there and wiped it down with baby wipes and put Celeste to bed.  Again, I wished that I had something that would cover the sides.  (Just as a side note: The hotel apologized many times.  They gave us complimentary breakfast and a discounted rate on our hotel room.)

Later in the year, my friend, Candra, was watching the show Shark Tank and saw something called a Coverplay.  It is a slip cover that goes over most pack n plays that completely covers all of the inside and outside of the pack n play.  This was exactly what I had been wishing for!  Shortly after that, I found out I was pregnant with Gunnar.  I decided to go ahead and purchase a Coverplay.  I also got a matching sheet.  (Just so you know, you can use any pack n play sheet with this or none at all, but I just wanted it to match :)  I decided to go ahead and get the Coverplay out and put it on the pack n play that Gunnar is sleeping in now.  It does exactly what it says.  It covers it completely.

It is a pretty snug fit as you can see at the bottom, but it would do the job very nicely if you are using it for traveling.  It comes in a matching bag to store it in as well, so you could just pack it up and put it in your suitcase.  In this photo, you can see the sheet I also purchased.

I wish I would have known about this product last year, but I am very happy I own it now!  The only down side that I have is due to the double mesh (1 set of mesh is from the side of the pack n play and 1 set is part of the Coverplay), I can not see Gunnar through the mesh on the video monitor.  However, this is not a big deal especially when you are traveling.  I would highly recommend this product to anyone that travels frequently with small children.