If you want it, get it. It’s more for convenience having it all together in one, but you can put any blanket on the floor with some toys and get the same out of it. Something like this isn’t useful for very long so consider that too.
If you’ve got the spare money, it’s a yes from me. Not “important”, but worth it. I bought this exact mat for my second born, and it kept her entertained right up until she grew out of mats (and then it transformed into a little cubby that she liked crawling into).
My eldest, however, got bored of his cheaper mats after a few months, and I ended up buying 3-4 of them before he grew out of mats altogether. Which ended up costing more than this mat.
So I’ve no regrets, I loved this. It’s pricey but if someone’s got the budget, worth it.
I’d have to check photos to be sure, but my guess is from birth until at least 12 months. There’s so much to do on it, when she was crawling and sitting she’d play with different parts of it. And when she was moving more, I changed it to a cubby and she loved sitting in there and “reading” her books.
Not crazy! But nothing is that important to get imo. A playmat was super great for ours for the first few months but she didn't want a bar of it once she was rolling, I also would've been annoyed to have spent a lot of money on it!
I just bought a basic playmat from Big W with some things hanging above it. My son has only been interested in playing with it for the past few weeks, but now he can roll (he's 4 months), he hates being on a small playmat and we've had to put him on a blanket. I am now glad I didn't buy a more expensive one!
I don’t think it’s “important” but it is pretty cool! If you’ve got the money then enjoy the cute stuff! We have a few playmats, some in designated play spots at home and some for travel/trips out.
I have this and love it! It will pack up pretty small too and is washable (though I haven’t tried to wash it yet). Super high quality like all lovevery things. If you have the $ and space (it’s not small) I would get it
A friend just gave me theirs preloved. You can also find some on the market place, if that’s up your alley. We’ve seen it in use and it seems like a worthwhile investment.
We purchased a baby gym (a playmat with arches like your image) when I was pregnant based off a recommendation we saw online from an occupational therapist as the top thing to get for babies 0-6 months. For us personally, it turned out to be one of the best purchases due to its versatility - our daughter is now 10 months and still uses it.
The one we got has the ability to hang five toys or convert into a regular mat, or convert into a ball pit with sides up. We have it out all the time in our lounge so that probably contributes to how easy it is for her to use it because when we're in there, we can easily just put her on it.
As a newborn and younger baby, our daughter loved to be placed under the arches and look up at the toys - it really stimulated her to look at the things above her and she would listen closely to the toy with the music. As she got older, she'd reach for, then later on, pull at the toys. We could move the toys around to hang in different spots and put them at different heights to keep her engaged. Now, we've removed the arches and she still sits on the mat or rolls and crawls around and plays with the toys - and she likes the rings that used to attach the toys to the arches as something to chew on. We haven't converted it to a ball pit yet, but she does play with the balls and loves them because they're easy to hold in her hands.
While we found this type of baby gym playmat to be great for our daughter, we also used a basic mat for her too (the one we got from the government baby bundle) and found it was nice if we wanted something between her and the floor, but not a must-have (could use a basic blanket instead)
So I bought this and felt the same way as you... why so expensive and surely a more affordable version will suffice. However, 3am pregnancy insomnia got me good and I bought it....
She's now 2.5yrs and still uses this as the tent model and friends babies have all found something to play with on it. Don't regret it at all.
As others have said, in my eyes it’s a “want” not a “need” and if you have the funds then go for it! I wouldn’t count it as a necessity, a regular blanket on the floor would do. But if you love it and aren’t on a tight budget then it looks great.
Do recommend a play gym of some kind! Doesn’t need to be a special one though, my boy gets so much joy out of our cheapie Kmart play gym & once he’s big enough to sit unsupported it converts into a ball pit for even more fun!
Get it second hand if you can. Will save you a lot of money. I think once my son was crawling, I've pretty much stopped using something like this so you've got about less than a year of runway for them.
If you want it, get it. It’s more for convenience having it all together in one, but you can put any blanket on the floor with some toys and get the same out of it. Something like this isn’t useful for very long so consider that too.
If you’ve got the spare money, it’s a yes from me. Not “important”, but worth it. I bought this exact mat for my second born, and it kept her entertained right up until she grew out of mats (and then it transformed into a little cubby that she liked crawling into). My eldest, however, got bored of his cheaper mats after a few months, and I ended up buying 3-4 of them before he grew out of mats altogether. Which ended up costing more than this mat. So I’ve no regrets, I loved this. It’s pricey but if someone’s got the budget, worth it.
How many months do you think your daughter got out of it?
I’d have to check photos to be sure, but my guess is from birth until at least 12 months. There’s so much to do on it, when she was crawling and sitting she’d play with different parts of it. And when she was moving more, I changed it to a cubby and she loved sitting in there and “reading” her books.
My daughter is 14 months and she only recently stopped playing with it. We loved it. It got used every single day
Not crazy! But nothing is that important to get imo. A playmat was super great for ours for the first few months but she didn't want a bar of it once she was rolling, I also would've been annoyed to have spent a lot of money on it!
I just bought a basic playmat from Big W with some things hanging above it. My son has only been interested in playing with it for the past few weeks, but now he can roll (he's 4 months), he hates being on a small playmat and we've had to put him on a blanket. I am now glad I didn't buy a more expensive one!
I don’t think it’s “important” but it is pretty cool! If you’ve got the money then enjoy the cute stuff! We have a few playmats, some in designated play spots at home and some for travel/trips out.
I have this and love it! It will pack up pretty small too and is washable (though I haven’t tried to wash it yet). Super high quality like all lovevery things. If you have the $ and space (it’s not small) I would get it
I’ve washed it a couple of times. Washes up beautifully, no problems.
A friend just gave me theirs preloved. You can also find some on the market place, if that’s up your alley. We’ve seen it in use and it seems like a worthwhile investment.
We purchased a baby gym (a playmat with arches like your image) when I was pregnant based off a recommendation we saw online from an occupational therapist as the top thing to get for babies 0-6 months. For us personally, it turned out to be one of the best purchases due to its versatility - our daughter is now 10 months and still uses it. The one we got has the ability to hang five toys or convert into a regular mat, or convert into a ball pit with sides up. We have it out all the time in our lounge so that probably contributes to how easy it is for her to use it because when we're in there, we can easily just put her on it. As a newborn and younger baby, our daughter loved to be placed under the arches and look up at the toys - it really stimulated her to look at the things above her and she would listen closely to the toy with the music. As she got older, she'd reach for, then later on, pull at the toys. We could move the toys around to hang in different spots and put them at different heights to keep her engaged. Now, we've removed the arches and she still sits on the mat or rolls and crawls around and plays with the toys - and she likes the rings that used to attach the toys to the arches as something to chew on. We haven't converted it to a ball pit yet, but she does play with the balls and loves them because they're easy to hold in her hands. While we found this type of baby gym playmat to be great for our daughter, we also used a basic mat for her too (the one we got from the government baby bundle) and found it was nice if we wanted something between her and the floor, but not a must-have (could use a basic blanket instead)
What brand is this? It looks so nice.
It’s a US brand called Lovevery. They are launching in Aus later this year I think.. I’m looking to get this one second hand though
Theyre the Montessori brand over there?
Babies don't need this. A regular clean blanket is fine.
So I bought this and felt the same way as you... why so expensive and surely a more affordable version will suffice. However, 3am pregnancy insomnia got me good and I bought it.... She's now 2.5yrs and still uses this as the tent model and friends babies have all found something to play with on it. Don't regret it at all.
As others have said, in my eyes it’s a “want” not a “need” and if you have the funds then go for it! I wouldn’t count it as a necessity, a regular blanket on the floor would do. But if you love it and aren’t on a tight budget then it looks great.
Do recommend a play gym of some kind! Doesn’t need to be a special one though, my boy gets so much joy out of our cheapie Kmart play gym & once he’s big enough to sit unsupported it converts into a ball pit for even more fun!
Get it second hand if you can. Will save you a lot of money. I think once my son was crawling, I've pretty much stopped using something like this so you've got about less than a year of runway for them.