Guava Lotus Travel Crib with Lightweight Backpack Design | Certified Baby Safe Portable Crib | Folding Play Yard with Comfy Mattress for Babies & Toddlers | Compact Baby Travel Bed

(2013 and 2016 Updates at end)Really love this Lotus Crib. Here's why:Ease of use & portability:It's lightweight and very portable. Much lighter than our pack 'n' play. Setup takes me less than 1 minute (plus another 1-2 minutes to close all the velcro tabs) and requires no tools. Putting it all back into the case takes me about 2-3 minutes. It will probably go faster when I become accustomed to doing it.When it's set up, the shape and size are longer and narrower than our Chicco Lullaby LX play yard, and it's not as tall. It does not have wheels but it is very lightweight and easy to pick up and place elsewhere. Having it longer but narrower than a regular play yard means that it will fit a taller/longer baby until a later age (especially as there is no weight limit, unlike our play yard which has a 15 pound limit in the bassinet and 30 pound limit in the play yard). The narrower design and light weight also make this easy to move from room to room within the house, as it fits through doorways and is light and easy to carry (obviously take the baby out first). The narrower footprint also means that it's easier to find a place to set it up in a hotel room. (tip: When closing the crib to fold it up, the instructions tell you to press a button on each side of the top rail, that you can feel underneath the gray fabric. I think I was expecting something more round and sticking out, so it took me a minute to figure out what I was supposed to do, and I unzipped the gray fabric from the top rail to take a peak at the structure inside and look for the button I was intended to press. It was shaped more squarish and instead of being pushed in from the outside of the top rail as I had expected, you put your fingers under it and pulled up (towards the sky) on the button. Very simple and easy once you know what to expect.)The travel case is about the size of a roll-aboard carry-on suitcase but both narrower and deeper, less wide (more squared base, less flat). there are straps to tote as a big tote bag, and in the back is a zipper compartment in which are stored backpack straps that turn the case into a backpack. It's rather long for a backpack but that does free up a set of arms for carrying other luggage or baby, or pushing a stroller. My husband (6ft tall) could more comfortably wear it as such than I could (5'5" tall).Safety/practicality:We had planned on using our pack 'n' play (Chicco Lullaby LX) as our normal bassinet and as a travel crib/bassinet. But then our little one came along and he's very big for his age. He quickly outgrew the 15 pound weight limit on the bassinet feature of the Chicco Lullaby before he was 2 even months old, but he was still too young to have him sleep in the pack 'n' play on its lowest setting (play yard instead of bassinet) because he could not yet lift his head up and the lowest setting of the play yard had a fabric border along the bottom of the mesh sides, which would be a suffocation hazard for such a young infant. And the way he can gradually scoot himself around the crib by kicking his legs out, I didn't want to take the risk that he'd wedge his face against the fabric. So using the Chicco play yard as a travel crib wasn't going to work while our baby was still just a few months old. We transitioned him to sleeping in a traditional crib at night at home, but still needed a travel option. We don't want to rely on hotel cribs, as they are often outdated (pre-recall) or may end up being a regular pack 'n' play which is not safe for our baby to sleep in at his current young age and heavy weight. We looked at basically every other travel crib available on Amazon and in the big box stores and found that the Guava Family travel cribs (Go Crib and Lotus Crib) are the only ones that are very high quality and sturdy, ultra portable, and most importantly, do not have any fabric border at what would be nose-level for our infant who does not yet have the ability to lift his head. It's disturbing to me to see how many travel cribs out there don't warn parents of younger infants not to use them. (*see update below on new competitor model)Also a nice safety feature is that the fitted sheet (we have the plain regular sheet not the quilted, since the quilted is not recommended for babies under 1 year old), has slots the edges. The velcro tabs on the mat connect from the mat through the slots on the sheet, and then to the bottom of the crib floor. This secures the mat and the sheet so baby can't grab it and pull it over his face.I also like that this travel crib will still be suitable for our baby as he grows into a toddler. Once he's older (over a year is the recommendation, but it depends on when he can lift his head), we'll use the quilted sheet to add a little more softness, and maybe insert one of our waterproof pads (from another company) under the sheet (the mat is already water resistant, but this would be just to add another layer).Sturdiness:The top rail of the crib (looks like gray fabric border around the top edge) is completely rigid and sturdy when set up. The legs are metal and fold upon themselves where you see the round joint in the leg. The mat and bottom of the crib rest on the floor, so there is no weight limit. This is a plus if you are like us and need a travel crib safe enough for a newborn but able to support a very heavy young infant who weighs over 20 pounds at just 3 months (or if you have an older tot who needs a travel play yard but will outgrow the 30 pound weight limit on the traditional play yard. The sides of the Lotus Crib are black mesh fabric. The floor seems to be a black nylon or other synthetic. The mattress is also a synthetic that seems easy to clean by wiping it off, in case of any accidents or diaper blow-outs. The mattress does not have a wood support under it like our Chicco, but that's not necessary here since the mattress is laying on the crib floor which is directly flat on the floor of the room. The Lotus Crib mattress has velcro tabs to hold it down onto the crib floor. The ends of the mattress turn up a bit even so, but the baby's weight pushes it flat.We pushed on the top rail ourselves to simulate an older tot pushing on it and found it remained stable. The top rail is rigid and the legs are also rigid and are set at a slight angle so the tops of the legs lean in towards the crib, so the base on the floor is wider and very stable.Other aspects:The mattress is thin, as noted by other reviewers. This is a legal requirement to prevent a suffocation hazard for infants in case they turn over and end up face down on the mattress.The shape seems a bit longer and narrower than our Chicco play yard, but in theory we could use a regular fitted play yard sheet on the Lotus Crib, but I wouldn't. I think it's safer to use the sheets sold by Guava Family specifically for this crib, because they have slots in them as noted above, for the velcro tabs to hold them down. This is not necessary for a regular play yard as the wooden subfloor of the crib or bassinet would hold the mattress down and the mattress edges would hold the fitted sheet edges down. With the Lotus Crib, the velcro serves this purpose, so you really need the open slots in the sheets to put the velcro tabs through.Also, the company is super responsive and excellent to deal with. I wouldn't hesitate to order from them again. You really get the friendly and attentive service of a small company.UPDATE May 2013: Since the time of my original review, phil&teds Traveller Crib has had a re-design and the new version looks similar to the Lotus crib, with mesh all the way down to the mat. I haven't tried it since I'm happily still using the Lotus but just wanted to mention in all fairness there's another all mesh-sided travel crib to consider in your due diligence.UPDATE May 2016: I noticed that Baby Bjorn has had a redesign and now the mesh goes all the way to the mat, similarly to Lotus Crib, if you're looking for a comparison. BB seems a little easier to get the sheet on due to the location of the straps. However, if I had to choose again I would still choose the Lotus Crib, because it's easier for traveling, in my opinion, and traveling is our primary use of it. The size and shape of the Lotus Crib carrying case mean that we can take it as a carry-on and not have to check it as a separate piece of luggage. (It also fits perfectly within a large suitcase leaving room for other things in there too). The Baby Bjorn travel case seems nice and a little sturdier but could be a problem if you try to use it as a carry-on luggage item, due to airline size restrictions. Overall they're both good choices but it depends on what your specific needs are. I would also like to note that the Lotus Crib is going strong for baby #2 now as a travel crib and an extra playpen around the house, and is also useful when we have visiting babies. Instead of buying the plush quilted sheet, when we are traveling if it will go on a wood floor I put a folded bath towel or blanket under it (wouldn't do that with an infant under 1 year old though).

I bought as a gift for my son and his wife and they really like it. They said they liked that you could put the child in from the sides. They also like that it is also a backpack, useful for travel. As a grandmother who has seen several versions of this, I suggest you also purchase the optional cover to keep out light.

As a travel crib this has been great for us! Easy to set up and collapse. I love that it’s on the ground and not propped up.

I love it! It is also carry-on sized and weight for flying and has comfy backpack straps. I travel internationally a lot so this is amazing. Easy to fold and set up and pack back up.

Perfect. Lightweight. Easy fold and unfold. & still Heavy duty enough. I was worried about it being too light and easily topping over if my child was moving too much lol. Not at all they definitely tested it. Pricey sure but value was worth it!

I was a bit skeptical about it. Also because it is so expensive compared to the other brands. And I have tried it all. And ended up with this one anyway 😂. We took it all the way to Thailand with us. Put it in our large luggage and it was perfectly fine. I also convinced our cousin how much we love the convenience of this travel crib and let them borrow it for their own trip. They also love it so much and decided to buy one too 😅

I was torn between the Guava Family (GF) lotus crib and the Baby Bjorn (BB) travel crib. I decided to order both so that I could compare them side by side! Please bear with me as being succinct was never my forte.The carrying cases for both are stylish and subdued.For the BB crib, you can only carry it via two handles on top - much like a brief case. For the GF crib, you have two options: like a brief case or as a backpack. I like how the GF's carrying case gives you two options; however, the quality of the BB carrying case is better. The fabric is noticeably thicker and I suspect may be more durable in the long run if you're rough with your baby gear.The set up design of both cribs is instinctive.I was able to set both up without reading the owner's manual. For the GF crib, the mattress pad is secured via velcro tabs located underneath the pad. You pull the tabs through slots on the bottom of the crib and secure it to velcro tabs there. I was able to do all four velcro tabs just by touch. There's a bit of fumbling but I don't think that necessarily detracts from the ease of set up. I noticed that the mattress pad did pull up at four corners initially, but after a few days it now lays relatively flat.The BB mattress pad is secured via red tabs pulled through corner slots of the crib. They're anchored with a hook-loop mechanism instead of velcro. It was admittedly easier and faster to anchor the BB mattress than it was the GF mattress because I could see what I was doing. The BB mattress pad also initially pulled up at all four corners and is now settling down and laying flat. Neither crib had any discernible odor upon set up.As for the mattress pad, I'd say the BB mattress is double the thickness of the GF mattress. You can order a plush quilted sheet to make the GF mattress softer. I personally prefer the more plush mattress as my child is 15 months; however, I could also see why others would prefer the thinness of the GF mattress. I'd say it's akin to any typical Graco pack'n'play mattress. We have the American Baby Company 100% organic cotton interlock fitted pack'n'play sheet and it fit fine on both mattress pads.I feel that overall, the quality of material is noticeably different. The fabric at the top of the GF crib is not as smooth and luxe to the touch as the BB one is. One review noted that they felt like the former fabric could potentially snag more and I can see that happening. The top fabric parts of both cribs can be zippered off and washed. The mesh material of both feel exactly the same.To take down the GF crib, there are two handles on the top part of the frame that you simply squeeze. The location of the handles is indicated by white circles with upward arrows. For the BB crib, you tug the legs down and fold.Because the GF crib is shaped like a box, its footprint is larger than that of the BB crib. The legs of the GF also stick out further than the BB crib's legs. They're both roughly the same height. In terms of aesthetic appeal, I'd go with the BB crib. It's sleeker and I prefer the all black look versus the grey, white, and black of the GF crib.What I really enjoyed about the GF crib was the side zipper. My toddler had a blast running in and out of it and I felt like it just made the crib more fun and accessible to her. I even thew a blanket over the top of the GF crib and it became a wonderful little fort. I think it'd also be great for families who are into the Montessori method of floor beds. My child's a light sleeper so the side zipper wouldn't be useful in terms of nursing before a nap because the zipping the flap would just wake her up.I didn't feel like the side zipper was beneficial in placing the child in the crib. I like to put her down for a nap when she's nearly out and again, zipping the flap would snap her awake. The distance of putting her down from the top of the crib felt like how it would if I were to put her down in her Jenny Lind crib, which is on its lowest level; however, I am also in my late twenties without any back problems so I could see how the side zipper might appeal to consumers that are perhaps older or do have back issues.Ultimately, I feel like you can't go wrong with either crib. They both have their pros and cons. If I could, I'd engineer a travel crib that had the sleek, luxe look of the BB crib with the side zipper, carrying case, and folded dimensions of the GF crib. In the long run, I decided to go for the BB crib because I felt like it suited my family's needs more. If you're really set on the GF crib, I'd suggest ordering directly from the company's website. It's currently on sale (06.20.14) with free shipping and free returns. Plus I believe there's a code for a free travel crib sheet floating around the interwebs if you order from them directly.Happy traveling!