Stokke Sleepi

A kit to extend a bassinet to 3 bigger sizes. Bought Dec'2006 for Number Three

http://www.stokkeusa.com/sleepi.htm

FlickR:StokkeSleepi

Product Quality notes:

Key advice on assembling: they really mean it when they say "don't tighten the screws until you are done". I thought this was just the generic advice of tightening groups of screws in a cycle to keep from skewing your fit. But with this product, some of the pieces completely change their angle of attachment under different configurations - so they're really not flush in some cases. So if you screw them anywhere near tight, you won't be able to even get close to attaching certain other pieces.

The mattresses seem ridiculously thin considering the photos. Was there another piece I was supposed to order? Answer from the maker:

• if you fluff them out, in ~3 days each mattress should be roughly 2" thick.

• but the pictures make the mattress look more like 4" deep! "Yes, we're aware of that." Wow!!!!

• I went down to Canal Rubber and bought some foam. I washed out a test piece and it survived and seems not to smell anymore (and it will be below the "official" pad, so I'm not too concerned). See FlickR:StokkeSleepi for photo showing relative thickness of the 2 foams. (Does their piece look 2" thick?)

  • have to figure out good way to cut it. This idea would be cool if I had a meat-locker!

    • went back to Canal Rubber and they did it fast and for free, following our magic marker outline.

    • like with the previous link, had to wash out foam, then it took forever to dry (even ran it through giant clothes dryer, but not enough air pressure to dry out the inside)

There are only holes drilled for 2 different levels of the sleeping platform. A new mother does not want to bend over that far, and a newborn isn't climbing or even rolling. Ridiculous! See FlickR:StokkeSleepi for photos showing original holes and then the 2 sets I added.

The fitted sheets seem to only cover some cases:

• 3 sheets 27"x46"

• 1 "protection sheet" 28"x47"

• I guess I was just rushed. I tracked down some other sheets and ordered them.

Jan/Feb'2007

• the quilted mattress cover isn't supposed to be machine-dried! Like that's practical for something that a baby lies on (regardless of having a sheet on top of it). Jihi discovered that after washing/drying it, when it shrank too much to fit back on! I spent an hour wetting/stretching it (and we all know how much spare time parents have), and it's still a problem.

• I called to complain, and they're sending me a new one.

• In the future, I'm supposed to "wash lukewarm, line dry". I passed along the feedback that that's rather ridiculous for this kind of product.

• They sent me the totally wrong thing, so I had to call again.

• They sent me 2 of the correct cover (as I'd requested). I washed one in cold water: there's a new FlickR:StokkeSleepi photo showing the shrinkage before it even did any drying!

• Will try some more washing/stretching this weekend, but there's a chance we'll end up taking a larger-sized cover and having my mother-in-law cut it down and custom-fit it.

This thing is a kit for building a crib. Expect to spend time and money getting it into a Whole Product.

Sept'2008 update:

• we had moved the crib all the way up to the max-crib/bed size, even though she was only 18mo old, because she's a "roller", and wakes up when she hits the barrier (even with soft bumpers)

• lately we had just fashioned a wide mat on the floor next to the bed, which kinda works

• so today (she's 21mo now) I bought a full-size futon to put on the floor!

Apr'2009 update: since she hasn't used the "crib" in months, I've finally dis-assembled it and stored it. Now looking for a cheap double-width Foam Sofa Bed.