We've had two- the Gulliver and Sniglar. Really like them both- the Gulliver felt a little more "solid." Love the look- it's safer without the sides lowering which is good- though a little hard on the back- but really not too bad. I like that the wood is actually not as hard as some more pricey cribs, so if she bumps her head while trying to stand or something, it's pretty soft. You can use both later for a toddler bed by just removing one side- seems like a great deal to me- get a lot of life out of a great looking/priced crib.

We have the Gulliver in white and it's been great -- very sturdy doesn't feel unsafe in any way except I do wish bottom was wood and not particleboard of some kind but it didn't have any odor to it (it's sturdy just not so eco-friendly). I also wish the wood finish one had been available at the time I got it since my little one went through a phase of gnawing on the top of the crib and it's less than pristine now.

We have the Gulliver and we love it. It is very sturdy, and was pretty easy to put together. The bottom of ours is wood slats, but from jewelly's post it seems like they might have changed that now. I am very glad I didn't spend more for a crib. I love the way it looks with just the mattress in it, no bumpers or bedskirt. It looks very classic and simple. We got an organic mattress and it fit great. Also, the conversion from the tall height to the low height was very easy. Also, it doesn't have the dangerous drop rail that can cause baby to fall! Good luck!

We have the Hensvik crib, and we love it. The bottom of ours is wood slats as well. We did purchase it a year and a half ago. It is very sturdy, easy to put together and I love the way it looks too. We have now converted it to a toddler bed, and we just love it. We are planning on buying another one for baby number two.

I am also having a baby and researching cribs. I got a subscription to Consumer Reports and their #2 pick for a crib is the Ikea Leksvik. I have not decided on a crib yet but I was pleasantly surprised to find this one ranked so highly.

I haven't purchased an Ikea crib, but I'm not at all surprised by the positive comments.

European standards for product quality and safety tend to be much higher than US standards. If the product is also listed in Ikea's European catalogs (easy to check on their website - just pick another country), it will likely be meet higher safety standards than products manufactured primarily for the US market.

This is not to say there are not excellent, safe products manufactured for the US market. There are great products that vastly exceed US standards. But if you don't know about product quality and safety, the safer bet is generally to go with something that is also sold in Europe.

We just bought a LEKSVIK crib in March for our baby that was born in April. I love it. It's just the right size, not big and hulking like so many cribs, but it still feels really sturdy. It was also no problem to put together. It does have the wood slats as a base. My only worry is whether it'll be strong enough for me or my husband to sit on with our daughter once it turns into a toddler bed. Maybe not all three of us at once!

So far, we've only used it at the high setting, so I can't say how hard it is on the back once you move the mattress down.

We also got the SULTAN DRÖMMA crib mattress and I have no complaints.

We have 2 Gulliver cribs. They are fantastic. Simple. Easy to put together. Changes to a toddler bed without hassle. I too, have had concerns about (me) sitting on this bed - it's low enough that, when converted into a toddler bed, it wouldn't be such a big deal to just sit on the floor when you want to be close to your kid. It was the most cost effective convertible crib out there.

We have the Gulliver and love it. Solid, safe, simple. It was easy to assemble, easy to lower the mattress when the time came, it's easy to clean. We have no complaints!

We have the Gulliver and are very happy with it. It is easy to put together and sturdy. I love its small footprint and when on the baby vs. the infant, quite low to the ground. So many cribs and almost all modern cribs are huge beasts.

We love the clean lines without a bumper. When it was in the infant mode we used a tailored skirt. Now we have it without (too lazy to hem) and I like it even more.

Also, and this is unusual, but it is very easy to comfort/hold hands/pat/ lie next to and most cribs don't make this easy.

The inexpensive price allowed us to afford a natural non-toxic matress for our babe.

And as others have said, the EU standards for any baby product are much much higher than in the US. Almost everything manufactured for both markets are excellent. The exception is things made for the US market only. Sometimes they are great but sometimes they meet the lousy US lack of standards/stupid standards. The crib mattresses use the same nasty chemicals as most US manufactures, something banned in the EU.

We have the Gulliver, and it is very sturdy. Now that we have converted it to a toddler bed, I often lie in it while trying to get my son to fall asleep. I'm petite, but so far it seems sturdy!

We have the Gulliver too! We find it very sturdy, ours has seen two kids who both like to bounce up and down a lot! The low cost of IKEA products does not mean poor quality. Mass production methods, flat pack shipping, self service stores...thats where they cut the costs, not on the design. My son went from a cot to a bed very easily because all we had to do was remove the side, the change for him was not such a big mental leap and I think this played a big part in our smooth transition. Still to test this theory on baby two but we are quietly confident!

One more vote for the Gulliver. My one-year old daughter has been in hers since two weeks after birth. My one criticism as a tall person is how far I have to bend over to pick her up now that the crib is lowered. For a couple of weeks my back was pretty sore until it toughened up.

I've purchased two in the last 7 years. The second one is being used by my third baby for the second time. It is in very good condition. I am very pleased with IKEA cribs. I think they are well made and I also love the fact that there is no concern for a "drop side" failing because there isn't a drop side design. It makes for a bit of a bad back, but nothing Pilates didn't cure. Good luck in your decision.

Yet another vote for the Gulliver. My 6-month old is juuuust fine in there. I'm SO glad I didn't splurge on the crib.

Yet another owner of a Gulliver who gives it extremely high marks. We had the crib at the high position until our daughter was about 8 months and now she's 11 months and we've dropped the mattress. She's a petite baby, but I haven't experienced any back problems from lowering her onto the mattress - and my back has been a wreck since pregnancy and delivery. I'm short at 5'2" so I just have to make sure that the top of the crib is at or above my hip bones and I basically fold over and lay her gently on the mattress.

Hi! We have the Hensvik crib for our almost two-year-old son, and we really like it. We feel the crib is very safe and sturdy. We like the fact that there is no drop side - we're pretty sure that if we had a crib with one of those, our kid would've busted out of the crib long ago. : ) I am 5'2" and my husband is 6'7", but we were both fine moving baby in and out of the crib. The only thing I would recommend, especially for anyone who's on the short side, is to lift out the entire mattress when changing the sheets and then drop it back in - it's a lot easier than trying to lean in and change the sheets. Also, we went ahead and purchased the best quality crib mattress Ikea had - it seemed a lot sturdier than the cheaper one but still didn't break the bank. : )

All Ikea children's products (regardless of country they're made for) go through product safety checks 3 times before a prototype is even made. Then they go through 2 more at each stage of moving the prototype to market. Remember the new laws about independant product testing for lead that went into effect earlier this year? Ikea had no change to their production...they'd been doing these tests on their own for years. Same with BPA and phylates. Ikea banned 'em a decade ago!

New product alert for teethers...grab a plastic Noga rail liner and let the kiddies chew to their hearts content!
PS-crib mattresses aren't treated with chemical flame retartants unless the state laws require it...and then even the most organic mattress has the flame retartdants too! Ikea uses a phosphate salt to satisfy these laws, not the nasty brominaded chemical.

Just to add yet another vote of confidence:

We have a Gulliver crib in white. We love it. It's sturdy, and we haven't had any safety concerns crop up in the 15 months that we've been using it.

I love the simple, clean lines. It looks great in my daughter's room.

The book 'Baby Bargains' has some good advice about IKEA cribs. They recommend Gulliver as the best/safest because it has the least room between the slats and the mattress.

Hi, we have the Diktad crib and have absolutely no complaints whatsoever.

http://www.produkte24.com/images/catalogs/77/110/ct/normal_ikea_0129.jpg

We have since converted it into a toddler bed for our 2 year old.

It's no longer available at IKEA but I've seen many for sale secondhand.

The Leksvik is very similar http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60108663

"crib mattresses aren't treated with chemical flame retartants unless the state laws require it...and then even the most organic mattress has the flame retartdants too! Ikea uses a phosphate salt to satisfy these laws, not the nasty brominaded chemical."

This is not true. Federal law requires that all mattresses be flame retardant. "Organic" means that the materials are certified organic. It has nothing to do with how the flame retardant standard is met.

It is *not* necessary to use chemicals. Wool meets the standard as well which is 1) more expensive and 2) natural.

Many of the organic matresses do use wool. Ikea doesn't because it is too expensive. And plenty of "organic" matresses use the regular chemicals (found in breast milk, umbilical cord blood, etc.), especially those made by the major manufacturers. It is a terrible case of green-washing.

The issue with matresses is not whether they are organic. Organic is a nice luxury. It is whether they off-gas and leach chemicals, which most Western countries admit are a major component of SIDS.

We have a Leksvik for our 8 month old son and we are very happy with it. We just lowered it about a month ago, it was very easy. Its great looking and we've had no issues at all with it.

I have the Diktad crib (discontinued sadly) but it looks a lot like the Leksvik. We love it. Safe, nice looking and a reasonable price ... what's not to love. We were especially glad to get the crib, the changing table (with add on shelf), and the wardrobe for what a crib cost elsewhere. We are using it for our second child now. Because it matches the
Leksvik series, we were able to add a bookshelf and the
Leksvik extension bed, and have our two daughters share a room. It looks great!

We have the Gulliver crib and are pretty happy with it for the price. We liked its simple design, and feel comfortable with its construction. The only thing that bugs me about it is how the mattress sits on a rim that is raised about an inch higher than the slats. This causes the mattress to sink in the middle (we purchased the nicest Ikea mattress available).

The other thing you're giving up with an inexpensive crib is a side rail that will slide up and down to make it easier to get the baby out. However, the other nice thing about this model is that it can convert to a toddler bed, or you can use the toddler bed version as a sidecar/co-sleeper which is another nice option for new parents.

We have 11-month-old twins and two white Gulliver cribs. Couldn't be happier with them. The quality is excellent and the boys really seem happy and comfortable in them. I bought the Moonlight Slumber mattresses and they fit just fine.

Another nod for Gulliver here! The go-to book "Baby Bargains" gives Ikea cribs an "A" grade for value.

I'm glad we went bargain-y on the crib. It made spending $1k on the Monte "Luca" glider a bit easier to swallow.

hello. looking at crib options for our first baby. really like the design and the simplicity of the gulliver, but have 2 concerns if anyone can help...
1. when we saw the gulliver in ikea, not sure it's because it was a display floor model, it didn't seem sturdy, it was shaky and wobbly....is it sturdy enough to use it till baby is 2 or 3 years old?

2. from the picture above and when we saw it, I think the mattress is positioned at the highest level, but it still seems very high, with all railing only couple of inches above the mattress level, is this safe? friends say babies grow up quick to stand and grab the railing and try to get out of it, this seems really high...is the height of this crib standard?

thanks in advance.

I purchased the Leksvik crib and Sultan Sussa mattress a few months ago for my now 17-month old son. I did quite a bit of research before taking the plunge, and I am completely happy with my purchase. I actually love the simplicity of the crib, and I find it very sturdy (more on that later). My little guy loves it too, sleeps in it like a log! Only minor complaint is that at 7 months pregnant, it's not exactly comfortable to bend over to put my son in it with the mattress at the lowest level, but that's just my belly getting in the way. :-)

I think the assembly process may pose a challenge to anyone not familiar with furniture assembly. I'd recommend the novice to go ahead and pay to have Ikea assemble it for you. My hubby, who is exceptionally handy, put our Leksvik together in no time at all, and it is extremely sturdy. He made no mention of having difficulty securing the bottom support slats to the crib frame (I didn't actually witness the crib assembly, though). I haven't noticed the "gap" some folks have referred to; perhaps he pounded in the supportive slats so well that there is no noticeable space around the crib mattress? Again, we are using the Ikea Sultan Sussa mattress, and I think it fits just fine, although it isn't completely flush against the slatted sides of the crib. I don't think this would be a safety concern for a smaller infant using the crib (IMO), but others may feel differently - depending, perhaps, on the assembly of the crib.

We plan to use this for baby #2, but she'll be in a bassinet for a few months prior to graduating to the crib. We may get a bit of use out of it as a toddler bed, but my son isn't quite ready for that stage yet. Even if that's not the case, I am very happy with this purchase and the safety/quality of this crib. BTW, the Ikea crib sheets are nice as well...inexpensive, but nice in quality.

My sister purchased this crib 18 months ago in Florida, and when she went to put it together, ALL of the screws and construction parts were missing. She and her husband spent a week sorting it out with the store there.

My husband and I purchased this crib yesterday at a store in Maryland. We made sure to get a box that had not been opened before. Lo and behold, we get home and ALL of the construction parts are missing.

IKEA informed us that it will take 2 weeks to send us the items. It is impossible to get through to a customer service rep there, but once we did, we were informed that it was the "supplier's" problem, not the store's. Clearly, this company does not have sufficient quality control. It is outrageous for them to keep on marketing a product that regularly ships without ANY parts for assembly. I made sure to formally complain, but has anyone else purchased a Gulliver crib with all of the construction parts missing?

I have a question about Ikea's cribs -- from the photos on their website, the part where you place the mattress on appears to be solid wood/particle board. This is very different from the fancier cribs I've seen at department stores that have a sort of spring/wire frame under the mattress.

Does anyone know if it is better to have the springy base versus the hard wood/particle board base? Are any of the Ikea cribs equiped with the spring base (maybe I just can't see from the photos on their website)?