My parents bought a mini crib for when my son slept at their place. It worked wonderful for 2 years, but my little guy is pretty small for his age. He's 2 1/2 now and I know we'll need an alternate solution from him when he hads to the grandparents.
I think, like so many other kid-related decisions, it comes down to what your own kid is like. If space is an issue then start with a mini crib and see how it goes.

We bought a mini crib for my parents place. My daughter is 18 months right now and she fits in it quite comfortably. The best part is that it is very portable, so we can move it from room to room at their house depending on how many people are visiting. It could also easily go into the trunk of a car and we could travel with it.

At $200 (including mattress and sheets), it was a good, affordable option as compared to a regular crib. I'm hopeful that she can continue to use it until she is ready for a "big girl bed."

I think small cribs are good for secondary use, like at grandparents' houses. But I don't think they last long enough for regular home use. We had a bassinet for the first five months or so--I hated the idea of my tiny daughter lost in a giant crib, and the bassinet rocked, which was a wonderful extra. It was in our room, and sometimes I'd put her to sleep, or keep her sleeping, by rocking the bassinet with my foot while I sat on the bed and read a book or magazine (which was pretty much the only time I had to read!) When she became a bit more mobile we moved her to the regular sized crib. Now she's a very tall for her age 20 months and she needs the entire crib, but there's no way she's ready for a big girl bed, or even a toddler bed. We're not ready for a big girl bed either!

My niece (who is a little over 2 now), did great in the mini crib. She has recently moved into a big girl bed, but didn't ever try to get out of her crib. It never looked small in the room, until she was in it. She would sleep with 4 baby dolls though. And they all fit too!

We bought a mini crib (Annabelle by DaVinci) and we have been very happy with it. Initially we planned to keep the nursery and computer room a shared space, and our second bedroom is only 9’ x 9’.

My daughter slept in the mini crib from birth until well past her second birthday (she will be three in July). She has always been tall for her age, and never ran out of room (kids don’t exactly sleep stretched out like boards). We would have continued to use the crib, but my daughter began to tell us that she wanted to get in and out of bed by herself, and we followed her lead and converted her mini crib to a twin size bed last fall (DaVinci sells matching rails for this purpose). The idea that a crib with a small footprint could be modified to get used throughout her childhood was another major benefit for us when we researched this model.

Some things to consider:

Since the mini cribs are non-standard, it limits your choices when it comes to bedding (unless you can sew). We bought fitted crib sheets designed for pack-n-plays in solid colors, which had the benefit of being quite inexpensive. We also bought two crib bumper sets designed for mini cribs (also solids) because they were on clearance for $18. Though we bought ours in a large, regional baby store, mini-crib mattresses are not sold at the Major Retailers, but can easily be found online.

Also, my mini-crib only converts to a twin. There is no toddler bed option. This meant moving from a very small footprint bed to a MUCH larger footprint bed, and required the purchasing of rails, boxspring, and mattress (versus continuing to use the crib mattress in a toddler-size bed). Depending on your child, this may not be an issue. For us, it meant a few weeks of my daughter sleeping on a mattress on the floor while she transitioned from sleeping in a crib to a bed.

I just bought two mini-cribs in preparation for our twins. We got the white Dream On Me foldable 3 in 1 ones. They are adorable and the space saving aspect of the smaller footprint is great. They come with lockable caster wheels too, which is convenient for flexibility on layout. I plan on sewing all the bedding, which I am very excited to get started on - crib sheets are so simple and I like bright custom colors and patterns that are hard to find anyways. So, although we have not used them yet I think the size looks fine. My son was always big and tall for his age and he used a pak n play while traveling, up to 2.5 no problem, and they are similar sizes. Hope to see others comment on their experiences...

We used one for about 8 months, when our second child outgrew his bassinet. I had planned on putting both kids in the same room, but I started to get nervous about the idea, so we had a mini-crib in our living room for a few months until the little one seemed big enough not to potentially be squished by his curious older brother. Not ideal, but it basically worked.

My husband and I are sharing our tiny NYC one-bedroom with our baby, so we went with the Annabelle minicrib, I think it measures 36 or 37 inches in length. Our son just turned one and is 3 inches tall, and he still fits great in the crib. Like the poster above, he tends to curl up on his side or belly and never really "stretches out", so I think the crib will probably fit him for another 6 months. Our plan is to switch to a futon pad on the floor for his next bed, so a minicrib worked well for our budget and floor plan.

I have never heard of mini-cribs until now! We did use a co-sleeper for the first few months. I had c-sections with both my kids and it was nice to have them close by and not actually get out of bed to nurse them. I didn't have to worry about the large footprint of a regular crib since both of their rooms are good size, and as they get older the crib hardly seems big at all. But it looks like a good option for smaller spaces. I think a child would just adapt to whatever size and think that was "normal" and comfortable, unless they were very big for their age or particularly active sleepers who rolled around a lot!

We used a mini-crib that I purchased second hand because we were in a temporary housing situation for about 11 months and I had a baby on the way. Ours was similar to the one pictured in the post. We used it comfortably for my son for the first 7 months or so and I think we could have used it for much longer except that we were moving and decided to go with a full-sized crib. I should also add that he was a tall baby and he fit great in it. I think we could have gotten away with it for the first 12-14 months. I was so sad to have to get rid of it because it was the perfect solution for the tiny Adobe house we lived in Santa Fe (tight doorways and narrow halls) but the mini-crib fit beautifully in our room and it was adorable.

In case you are wondering what sheets fit the mini-crib mattress, it is the same size sheets you would get for a pack-n-play. Just FYI, because I didn't know that until I did a little research.

Our 11-month old daughter uses a folding mini-crib at her grandparents' home. She fits in it comfortably (she is 50th percentile in height), but since it's a rather inexpensive, rickity thing, I'm a little worried about having her in it now that she is standing up in the crib and shaking the rails. Before she uses it next time, we're going to test it a bit more.

It's been a wonderful option. My parent's home is not big enough for a standard crib, or even the larger pack-and-play options. Plus, our daughter is much more comfortable in the familiar-feeling wood crib, which is similar to her crib at home. She wouldn't sleep at ALL in mesh-sided pack-and-plays. I agree that sheets are hard to get - we had to sew our own, which was cheaper anyway. Our biggest trouble has been getting a standard thickness mattress. (I have seen them online, but not in brick-and-mortar stores in our region).

We hadn't heard of permenant (non-folding) mini-cribs before she was born, otherwise we probably would have gotten one to save space in her small-ish room. We are strongly considering getting one for our next child. We would keep her standard crib, in case we needed a larger option as baby #2 grew up.

We love our minicrib! Our oldest used it until he 2 when we moved him to a twin bed. We moved the nursery to a bigger room with our youngest. Even though we have enough space for a regular crib now, we are using the minicrib again.

Mini cribs are the best! In Europe they call them "cribs."

Seriously though, just go straight from them to a bed because a 2 year old is fine in a bed, there's no real need to keep a kid in a crib for years.

With my son, we used a mini crib and it was great. He just turned two in April and we switched him over to a toddler bed this month. He never ran out of room even though he's always been a tall guy. We have the exact one pictured in the post (I think) and I love it. The stationary sides are awesome and moving the base up and down according to your needs is super easy. When my son was first born until about 6 months, we just moved the mini crib to our bedroom with us instead of having a separate bassinet or co-sleeper or any other fan-dangled thing that's out there.
We're now expecting our second in September and plan on using the mini crib again, probably for just as long as the first time.
We've also moved a few times since my son was born (4 times in 2 years and again in a couple months) and having a smaller crib makes it easier all around and I don't find myself worrying about having enough room in the bedroom in our new place.

So glad this was posted. I've been considering buying one. The mattress looks so think, though. Was this an issue for anyone?

My son slept in a Portacrib. I loved it; he was happy. I put him into a twin bed when he was about 15 months old. No problems.

@ksg

I forgot that we bought an upgraded mattress for the mini-crib. Davinci offers this version: http://www.amazon.com/MDB-Crescent-Mini-Crib-Mattress/dp/B000U0R5D0/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1274373175&sr=1-16

It is the exact one we bought. It looks like there are now plenty of organic mini crib mattress options, too. I just did a quick search.

I prefer a portable crib to a pack n' play which neither kid will sleep in. Hotels that have actual cribs get repeat visits. But I wouldn't choose one for home use. We like the mini co-sleeper and small footprint Gulliver. Much longer life span with both.

I can confirm that in France, all cribs are 'mini' (unless you buy an 'extended' crib which you would call normal-sized). Everyone just keeps their kid in the crib til between 2 and 3 years of age, they move to a regular twin bed. Sure, it might get a bit cozy towards the end but I've never seen a kid under 2 who was actually longer than the bed.

we bought a wooden travel crib, which is a mini size crib, on craigslist for 20 bucks when our third child grew out of the (mini) cosleeper. He's eight months now and still fits fine, but I don't think it will last until he's two. I love it. The regular sized cribs are just so huge. This one folds down to nothing.

our son is two and a half. he has a full size crib. he still sleeps in it as a crib (we have not converted it yet ). he suggles up in the corner or at least makes sure his head is touching the end of the bed. i think he would love to be snuggled up in a small crib.

my daughter is four months and scoots all around in her crib. she seems to enjoy her space!

We bought the Delta Fold Away Portable Crib
(found here: http://www.babyage.com/products/44651_delta_delta_fold_away_portable_crib.htm?cp=goog50141&utm_source=goog&utm_medium=Default&utm_campaign=50141) for my MIL's house where my Daughter stays often. It has definitely worked out nicely as a second crib though I don't think she will sleep in it much longer. She is 20 months now and definitely getting too long for the petite size of this crib. We also ordered the 3" mattress instead of using the 1" one that is provided with it. Since it was just overnights here and there we didn't order anything too fancy for the bedding. A white minky portable crib bedding set can be found on ebay for around $60 and I ordered a cute mini crib bed skirt found here: http://www.babybedding.com/portable-crib-bedding. We got everything for under $300, definitely worth it for her to have a good comfy space to sleep!

We bought the Stokke Sleepi and I can highly recommend it. It might not be that small but it has wheels so you can roll it from room to room. My son used the small version up until he was six/seven months old and only then we needed to extend it.
And even the larger version has wheels so every night I let him fall asleep in the bedroom and then wheel him out into the hallway so I get to sleep more soundly. (We live in a 2 1/2 room place at the moment...)
A great buy!
http://www.stokke-nursery.com/en-us/stokke-sleepi-crib.aspx

The mini crib is the perfect size for our apartment. We purchased the da vinci alpha rocking mini crib. My main problem now is finding nice mini crib bedding! Can anyone give me any suggestions on where to find nice quality or organic mini crib bedding? Thanks so much.

We love our mini crib - the same as in the pic (Emily by Da Vinci). There are sites with mini crib bedding but we had ours custom made (Pixie Dust Decor: http://www.pixiedustdecor.com/). Our son just turned a year and no issues with the crib size thus far. Hoping to make it to 2 and then move him to a twin (this crib converts to a twin).

We bought a mini crib due to lack of space, and we're now using it on a third child! We've moved the older two into a toddler bed (again, space issues--they'll probably be in those toddler beds until about 5, unless we move to a much bigger place) around 18-20 months, and they still fit comfortably with room to grow at that point.

Keep in mind that the Alma minicrib is much smaller than a regular minicrib. My daughter is 14 mo old and is quite happy in the used Anabelle crib by Da Vinci. We had to get it because our beautiful Alma crib was just two small. She would fling her arms out and hit the sides and couldn't roll over from back to stomach if we placed her in the middle. So sad.

We have a Cosco mini crib ( http://www.amazon.com/Cosco-10-T58-WHO-Portable-Crib-White/dp/B000056HND ) which I got on Craigslist for $20 new in the box. The mattress that came with it left gaps in the sides so I bought one that fit perfectly at our local Babies'R'Us. I also bought solid-colored mini-crib sheets (which are actually not quite the same size as pack'n'play sheets but pack'n'play ones would probably fit fine too) at Babies'R'Us - Koala brand. And I took a simple, solid crib skirt and altered it to fit the mini crib, which was super easy on my sewing machine. I basically just folded it over on two sides and sewed a straight stitch. Doesn't look that pretty all alone, but you can't tell when the mattress is on.

My daughter slept in there until she turned 2 and moved to a twin bed. My son slept in a pack'n'play until age 2 and moved to a twin as well. Both options worked for us since we had limited space--the mini crib was a little bit cuter than the pack'n'play though. And narrower. Only downside was that my daughter's pacifier always fell through the slats--nothing we had to worry about with the mesh pack'n'play.

Question regarding mini cribs, please. Am having difficulty finding fitted sheets that are for a mini crib. The mattress on our mini-crib is about 2". The ones I have found are for a normal size crib. Thanks.

When we had our second child, our first was not yet out of his crib and yet to transition into a toddler bed. So in our small apartment we went for a mini-crib. We weren't sure about is, because our first born was born big and stayed big. But the space issue won out and we got a mini-crib. Luckily our daughter was smaller and stayed in it for about a year, which was long enough to transition her from our bedroom to the closet in her brother's bedroom (which he called her room), and then into their space, the bedroom proper. By then they both loved living in the same room and my son was ready for a big boy bed and my daughter for a standard crib.

Based on our experience and the many questions I get asked by friends, I created Big Baby Small Space, dedicated to small space living for growing families.

As space in a small 1 bedroom apartment is an issue, we purchased the Da Vinci Kalani Mini Crib and matching 3 Drawer Changing Table (for storage) for my grand daughter to be. You can also buy an inexpensive conversion kit to change this beautiful crib into a twin bed.

We also purchased the upgraded, recommended Da Vinci 50 Coil Mini Crib Mattress, as the thin mattress that comes with the crib will not do. It fits nice and tight in the crib as designed for safety.

Mini crib sheets, mattress protectors, and crib sets are available at Amazon. Amercan Baby Company has a color selection of min crib sheets for $5.99 ea.

We expect our grand daughter to be able to use it until age 2.

is it unsafe to purchase fitted crib sheets that are a bit bigger then your mattress size? I would assume this could be a suffocation hazard? I'm having trouble finding sheets that I like in the right size. I'm looking for the Alma Papa.