Cribs

Fixed cribs, convertibles, mini cribs and the colecho side-car:

a fixed-side crib is only ever a crib, and it is usually the cheapest and sturdiest frame. Convertibles are sold by a number. A 3-in-1 becomes a toddler bed with a short guard rail and a daybed with the front rail off, while a 4-in-1 adds a full-size bed built from the headboard and footboard, but only with a set of side rails that is often sold separately and goes out of production long before the child needs it. A mini crib is shorter and narrower, fits a small bedroom or a corner of the parents’ room, and takes its own mattress size, so check crib mattresses against it. The colecho side-car crib has one low side that sits flush with the adult mattress and straps to the bed frame, and it only works if its height range matches your bed.

Mattress heights, fixed sides and the crib’s sticker:

the base that carries the mattress should set at more than one height: high in the newborn months, so you are not bending deep into it, and at the lowest setting once the baby can pull up to stand. All four sides should be fixed. Older cribs with a side that slides down on plastic tracks were withdrawn from the American market after a run of recalls, and second-hand ones still turn up. Slats should be evenly spaced with none turning in its hole, corner posts should sit level with the end panels. Cribs made for the American market carry a sticker with the model and the manufacture date, and that is what lets you look the model up for a recall.

A flat-pack convertible against a used crib:

an imported flat-pack convertible comes to around ₡200,000 by the time it reaches the house, and that is the figure a used crib gets measured against. A complete used crib with its mattress changes hands around ₡75,000 to ₡110,000, and the discount has little to do with wear: a frame that held one child until the toddler bed is close to how it left the box. Missing side rails on a 4-in-1, a base hook replaced with wire or a crib the buyer has to dismantle and carry down from a second floor all come off the asking price, while one with its manual, its sticker and every height setting sells near the top of the band.

A used crib’s base, slats and top rail:

start underneath. Lift the mattress out and look at the base: a cracked board in a slatted base, a spring base that dips in the middle or a hook bent out of shape means the mattress is not sitting where it should. A slat that has been glued back, or one that spins, will come loose again. Run a hand along the inside, because a screw head standing proud or a decorative finial on a corner post is exactly what catches a sleeve. Teething marks on the top rail are normal, but where they have gone through the paint, or the crib has been repainted, ask what was used and when. If any side moves up and down, let it go however good it looks.

A crib listed with its sticker, its heights and its rails:

photograph it assembled in daylight, then the base at its highest and lowest settings, then the sticker with model and date if it has one. Say what it converts to and which pieces you still have, because to a buyer a 4-in-1 without its side rails is a 3-in-1. Give the outside length and width so people know it fits the room, say whether the mattress goes with it and in what size, and mention any matching baby bedding. A couple in Desamparados setting up the room before the due date will ask whether the full-bed rails are in the box or were never bought, so check the cupboard before you reply.