Review: Chicco Lullaby LX Playard

The Chicco Lullaby LX Playard (pictured in “Romantic”) is a heavy-duty, feature-rich pack and play. We used ours as a bassinet for the first few weeks of our daughter’s life and have taken it as far as Panama. Along the way, we have discovered strengths and weaknesses about the Chicco Lullaby.

Strengths:

• It’s substantial. So many pack and plays feel garbagey or like they’ll fall apart. This one is legit. The materials feel good. There are ample security snaps and hooks; you never worry that something will shift out of place. It’s a serious piece of furniture.
• The quilted bassinet level. For our baby’s first few weeks of life, we kept her on the bassinet level of this pack and play, and it has a nice quilted pad which we probably cared more about than she did.
• The built-in activity gym. When we take this on trips, having the little activity gym (aka dangly toy animals that hang off the arches) built into it is highly convenient.
• The night light, music/sounds and vibration. These little extras were really helpful as we figured out what works for our baby. The heartbeat function was especially nice.
• Storage. There is tons of storage available on this thing, but we never use it because we want to be able to pack it up quickly.

Weaknesses:

• The weight. The Chicco Lullaby LX Playard is huge and unwieldy. When I carry it all packed up, I worry it’s going to bust out of its bag. To be fair, though, I’ll note that it hasn’t, even when checked on airplanes.
• The assembly. I have a college degree and I can’t put this thing together. Or take it apart. My husband has it down to a science and can do it very quickly, but there is definitely a learning curve. His first attempt was no walk in the park.
• The changing table. The changing table is really clunky. In the picture, you can see it hanging conveniently off the left side of the playard. We have never used it. It seems like an unnecessary thing to assemble, ever. We stopped taking it with us. I wish this came with a little napper like some of the Graco models instead.
• Sheets don’t fit it well. It’s annoying, but not a deal-breaker. You can get them on there, it’s just obviously not the shape the designers had in mind.

All in all, I’d recommend this playard to a friend, especially if they were looking for one they intended to keep and use mostly at home. For a regular traveler, I’d say find something lighter.