Baby Play Mats

[Anonymous]

ISO recs for baby play mats. DD is 4 months old and I'd like to have a larger foam/padded surface to put her down on for play time. We've mainly been using the mat that comes with the Lovevery play gym for tummy time, but we'd also like to have something larger and thicker as she begins to get ready to crawl.

We have a lot of hardwood floors in our house, so we're looking for something that will be comfortable when placed on a hard surface and that won't slip. We also live in a narrow row house, so I think the interlocking tile type of mat could work well for us since we could use different configurations in different rooms. The Wander & Roam mats look really nice but maybe not the most practical for us given the layout of our home. I've been looking at House of Noa and SkipHop mats. Thoughts on either of those options or recs for something similar?

[Anonymous]

Gross, full of hormone disruptive chemicals.

[Anonymous]

Interlocking foam tiles, the kind that are like puzzle pieces, annoying because soon your baby will start chewing on them/taking them apart.

I liked the quality/feel of the parklon mats. Padded and soft and smooth, but did not slip around on wood floors.

[Anonymous]

We have the Yay! Mats in the mudcloth print and are happy with it. When our son was little we laid his Lovevery mat over it. We've had it over a year and half and it sill looks great.

[Anonymous]

We tried the interlocking foam pieces - cats clawed them right up, and they’re not usually destructive. So if you’ve got cats, that’s a no.

So, we replaced with a little rug that has like roads on it so kids can play with cars on it, and stuck a pad under it. Just for the corner of the room that has the toys. But here’s the thing. Once your baby starts to crawl, unless you literally cover your whole house, they’re going to zip right off those. If you have a playroom or other space dedicated to the kids, okay, line that room with protective flooring. But if you’re thinking, like we were, of a 6x6 ft protected area in the living room where they’ll spend most of their time, they won’t. And it’s not worth it.

There’s a bit of a dicey stage if they learn to crawl before they’re super super steady independent sitters (happened with one of mine - the other was a rock solid sitter before he started crawling) where they’ll crawl to a new place, push to sitting, and then eventually wobble over and bang their head. We just kinda chased her around with the Boppy (excellent for insecure sitters!) for a bit there, but it was only a couple weeks. And a padded mat would not have helped. Beyond that, they fall, they bump, they learn. Really. There’s a reason they’re only two feet off the ground. A few learning-to-crawl face plants are unavoidable and really not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Baby Care play mats are great. We got a couple of the largest size and they held up very well.

[Anonymous]

I love ours from House of Noa because the colors are neutral and it looks more like a rug.

[Anonymous]

We had 2 sets of skiphop that we used for almost 4 years. Worked great. Neutral colors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Baby Care play mats are great. We got a couple of the largest size and they held up very well.

+1 Love this mat. Like a large, thick yoga mat. Easy to wipe clean. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DS449CY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have the Yay! Mats in the mudcloth print and are happy with it. When our son was little we laid his Lovevery mat over it. We've had it over a year and half and it sill looks great.

We have these and have been using for 5+ yrs. Great for baby stage and now we use it for painting and other messy things - easy to wipe up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gross, full of hormone disruptive chemicals.

This is true. Most are PVC or other plastics. But Cremehaus and Toki Mats make totally nontoxic ones.

[Anonymous]

House of Noa mats start to peel after a few months and they do not stand behind their products. After ours peeled it was literally one day over their 1 year warranty and they wouldn’t do anything. I looked at their site and saw many comments saying the same.

[Anonymous]

I’m a minimalist and a mom of two so listen up…a crawling baby will not stay on any mat, and a non crawling baby is fine on a blanket on the floor. Said baby will crawl and walk and stumble on everything and anything, no matter the floor type, and you cannot contain them. You’re welcome!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gross, full of hormone disruptive chemicals.

This is true. Most are PVC or other plastics. But Cremehaus and Toki Mats make totally nontoxic ones.

Says who, Cremehaus and Toki? Let’s not get carried away.

The play mat is really for the parent imo. We had a memory foam one that was great for my old butt. Agree with PP that once they’re mobile it’s not as important but so much baby gear is like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a minimalist and a mom of two so listen up…a crawling baby will not stay on any mat, and a non crawling baby is fine on a blanket on the floor. Said baby will crawl and walk and stumble on everything and anything, no matter the floor type, and you cannot contain them. You’re welcome!

I've actually found a play mat to be extremely useful. We tried blankets on the floor, but they didn't work well for us. Maybe my kid is exceptionally messy, but as soon as he could roll he was spitting up everywhere. We were going through multiple blankets a day, and our washing machine was always going. Getting a wipeable play mat has saved me so much time doing laundry. We've had it for several months, and it has been useful as he learns to crawl. Sure, he probably won't stay on the mat for long, but I think I can repurpose it; looks like it will make a good exercise mat for me when he's done with it. If you are really committed to a minimalist lifestyle, then sure, it's not "essential," but then few baby items are. For me, it is definitely a "nice to have" that I would recommend to new parents.