REASONS TO BUY
Easy to move
Lower price
Changing station
REASONS TO AVOID
Not good for travel
Hard mattress
Breathability issues
Graco Dream Suite Review
Flimsy feeling with mattress and breathability issues
Credit: Abriah Wofford
RELATED: The Best Bassinets
The Skinny
The Graco Dream Suite is a two in one product with a changing table under the sleeping surface. This useful feature requires flipping the bassinet upside down and results in a design flaw of a chronically tilting sleeping surface. This tilt could result in rolling babies, and the mattress is so firm it adds insult to uncomfortable design. While this bassinet has an attractive price and a cute look, it has too much fabric and not enough mesh surrounding the sleeping area, which potentially impacts breathability. Overall, the disappointing design choice and lower quality materials make the Dream Suite a bassinet we think needs improvement.
Our Analysis and Test Results
In 1942, Russell Gray and Robert Cone co-founded Graco in Philadelphia, PA. They began by fabricating car parts, but years later, Gray decided to leave the company, and Cone hired an engineer to produce gear for babies. With inspiration from a coworker's outdoor glider used to soothe their crying newborn, the new Graco developed its first product; an infant swing. Graco quickly became the world's leading manufacturer of baby products with various strollers, high chairs, walkers, and more.
Performance Comparison
The flip to changer mechanism on the Dream Suite takes some practice and never moves as smoother as we think it should.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Ease of Use
The Suite Dream earned a perfectly average score for ease of use. This bassinet can also become a changing station when you flip the sleeping area upside down. The flip is done with a handle at the foot of the bed and moves smoothly without much effort.
Accessibility
The smaller footprint means you can use this bassinet close to the bed, but the lower sleep surface height means you'll need to sit up in bed to access the baby. This bassinet is not a true cosleeper where you can access the baby as you lay down in bed.
The Graco Dream Suite wheels are on the smaller side which makes floor transitions harder to traverse.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Portability/Mobility
This product is small and light with four locking wheels. These features make it very easy to move from room to room and potentially up or down the stairs. However, it is not suitable for travel and requires disassembly to transport.
Do NOT move bassinet with a baby on board. Given the potential for injury related to moving accidents, you should never move the bassinet with your baby still inside. Even if your baby is sleeping, we recommend resisting the temptation to relocate the bassinet with your baby inside.
Additional Features
This bassinet includes the underside changing table (above left) that can be used by rotating the bassinet upside down (above right). It offers two levels of vibration designed to help soothe the baby into sleep. It also comes with a light-filtering canopy that has two soft toys hanging from the edge.
Ease of Setup
This product took about 26 minutes to set up. Set up isn't tricky, but the directions are hard to follow. Despite pictures with captions, it still isn't clear what is happening. Because it has a reversible changing station, it is crucial to assemble the product correctly. We had the hardest time connecting the final rod in the bottom basket and felt there should be more details on how to do this in the manual.
Cleaning
The mattress cover is removable and machine washable. The rest of the bassinet and frame wipes clean with mild soap and water. Spot cleaning could make it tricky to get the mesh and sleep area truly clean should the baby have a blowout or vomiting issue.
The Dream Suite quality and functionality did not impress during testing.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Breathability
The Dream Suite earned one of the lowest scores in the group for breathability. The majority of the sleeping area has fabric sides with only small panels of mesh near the baby's head. This design mimics crib bumpers, which are a potential SIDS risk. This makes the Dream Suite less breathable than the competition with full mesh sides. We think it would be better if the entire sleeping area were surrounded by a mesh with no fabric just in case the baby moves in the crib and ends up with their face pressed against the fabric areas.
While the Dream Suite has panels of mesh, it isn't entirely mesh and has almost as much fabric as mesh which is a disappointment in our opinion as it can potentially impair breathability.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Sleep Surface
The Dream Suite earned a slightly below-average score for the sleep surface. Our compression test results indicate this mattress compresses more than most of the competition.
The Dream Suite has one of the most compressible pads in the group.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The flimsiness of the mattress means the baby is likely to feel the base of the bassinet, and won't be very supported. The sleep surface isn't as stable as some given the flip-ability of the sleeping area.
The pad of the Dream Suite is secured to the bassinet floor with Velcro to help avoid shifting.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The rotating nature of this product means it somewhat tilts to one side, and the baby could potentially roll into a corner. However, it is a snug fit on the frame with no gaps and doesn't shift or move.
The Dream Suite has a divided storage bin under the sleeping area.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Quality
The Dream Suite earned one of the lowest scores in the group for quality. This product isn't as stable as the competition with the ability to tilt the bassinet with pressure on the side and the flipping action, causing a continuous tilt. The base is a V pattern and will rock back and forth, which might be good for soothing the baby but might also put stress on the plastic connectors damaging them over time. The fabric and stitching are the best parts of this product with a good fit to the frame and soft feel. The mattress is hard compared to the competition indicating poor quality that isn't as comfortable.
Eco-Health
The Dream Suite is at the bottom of the pack for this metric. Graco makes no comment on their website about the use of flame retardant chemicals in their products, which leaves us to assume they potentially use them. This bassinet uses 95% Polyester Fiber and 5% Polyethylene Foam. This kind of foam traditionally contains flame retardants and off-gases. The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) has given Graco a "fair" rating because they haven't responded to inquiries concerning chemicals despite customer service responses indicating they don't use them. Given that most companies brag about not using them, we find it odd Graco isn't, and it makes us wonder if they potentially use flame retardants in some of their products. This bassinet is JPMA certified. We failed to receive a response from the company when directly contacted.
Manufacturer Video
—
Juliet Spurrier, MD and Wendy Schmitz
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