In-depth reviews guided by a Pediatrician

4moms Breeze Review

Easy to use option that is harder to lift and carry
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Price:   $300 List | $300 at Amazon
Pros:  Easy to use, nice quality
Cons:  Heavy, large, harder to transport
Manufacturer:   4moms
By Juliet Spurrier, MD and Wendy Schmitz  ⋅  Oct 3, 2017
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56
OVERALL
SCORE

RANKED
#3 of 8
  • Ease of Use - 35% 8
  • Portability - 30% 2
  • Comfort - 15% 5
  • Quality - 15% 9
  • EcoHealth - 5% 1

The Skinny

The 4moms Breeze is a high-quality, easy to use travel crib with an included bassinet. This travel crib is easy to set up and fold but the carrying case doesn't fit the bassinet and the straps are almost too long to carry by hand. This product is the second heaviest option in the review and the largest when folded, making it hard to use for traveling. We suspect most parents will avoid carrying it and that it won't fit where you'll want to put it. The lack of eco-health efforts is also a concern and the high price puts it at the top of the pack for expense. With average or lower scores in every metric, the performance of the Breeze sealed its fate as a non-award winner.

Update — January 2018
4moms has released 3 new versions of the Breeze playard. The Breeze GO, the Breeze Classic, and the Breeze Plus. All are basically the same version of the crib with different included accessories. The GO being the most basic one only coming with a travel bag. The Classic comes with a bassinet attatchment, and the Plus comes with all this and a changing station. Other changes from the crib we reviewed include new color and pattern options on all the cribs.


Compare to Similar Products

Our Analysis and Test Results

The 4moms Breeze earned a higher score overall than four competing products in this review.
The 4moms Breeze earned a higher score overall than four competing products in this review.

4moms was launched in 2005 by Henry Thorne and Rob Daley, a roboticist, and businessman looking for a new business venture. After researching various industries, the friends settled on the juvenile product industry as a good opportunity. Established under the parent company Thorley Industries the 4moms moniker comes from the first focus group for the company that helped provide insight that led to the development of the first product, an infant tub. Today, 4moms is a quickly growing company offering a variety of baby gear with a unique edge.

Performance Comparison


This comparison chart includes the overall scores for each travel crib we tested in this review including the 4moms option (in blue).


The sections below include details on how the 4moms performed in relation to the other products we tested.

The 4moms is very easy to set up and the included bassinet only adds a small amount of time.
The 4moms is very easy to set up and the included bassinet only adds a small amount of time.

Ease of Use


The Breeze earned an 8 of 10 for ease of use. This is the second easiest option to set up and take down in the review. It took us just over 8 minutes to set up the Breeze and just over 9 minutes with the bassinet. After multiple tests, we whittled that down to an average time of 2:22 minutes.

4moms is easy to set up with a center button you push to lock the frame in place.
The mesh and fabric cover that creates the walls clips in place over the frame and really only needs to be done once unless you remove it for cleaning.

This crib is easy to set up with one button (above left) and snapping the bassinet in place over the top rails if you plan to use it (above right).

The hardest part of setting up the 4moms is attaching the mattress and pulling the mattress Velcro through the holes in the bottom to secure the mattress to the crib.
The hardest part of setting up the 4moms is attaching the mattress and pulling the mattress Velcro through the holes in the bottom to secure the mattress to the crib.

Affixing the mattress to the bottom is the hardest part as the Velcro tabs want to attach to the wrong place when you slide them through the bottom.

The 4moms is the largest folded package made harder to manage with the addition of the bassinet that doesn't fit in the carry bag.
The 4moms is the largest folded package made harder to manage with the addition of the bassinet that doesn't fit in the carry bag.

Portability


The Breeze earned a 2 of 10 for portability. This travel crib is the second heaviest one in the group with a folded carrying case weight of 22 lbs and 12 oz, if you add the bassinet, the weight becomes 23.9 lbs. This weight is heavier than many parents want to carry for very long and could make traveling with the Breeze difficult. It is the largest folded option measuring 12.1"H x 30.7"L x 12.2"W in the travel bag. Fitting the crib in the carry bag is hard, and there are no directions. The bassinet doesn't fit at all, so you'll end up with two things to carry instead of one which decrease transportability. The carry bag handles are long so you could sling it over your shoulder, but the weight will prohibit most parents from doing so.

The 4moms mattress is somewhat disappointing compared to the similarly priced competition that has thicker more supportive materials.
The 4moms mattress is somewhat disappointing compared to the similarly priced competition that has thicker more supportive materials.

Comfort


The Breeze earned a 5 of 10 for comfort. The Breeze has a standard one-inch mattress. It is polyurethane foam it is on the firm side and stiff compared to the competition. However, it doesn't compress as easily as some others, and it was more comfortable as a result. It is one of the easiest to get baby in and out of without discomfort to caregivers.

Even at a quick glance you can see the quality in the design and materials of the 4moms compared to the competition and it earned one of the top scores for quality in this review.
Even at a quick glance, you can see the quality in the design and materials of the 4moms compared to the competition, and it earned one of the top scores for quality in this review.

Quality


The Breeze earned a 9 of 10 for quality. The 4moms shines in the quality department with durable material and a sturdy frame. The mesh is very tight but scratchy, and the frame doesn't shake or move no matter where you push unlike most of the competition we tested. We didn't experience any issues related to quality, but at least one Amazon reviewer remarked that the bassinet began to sag after a few months of use.

The mesh and fabric cover that creates the walls clips in place over the frame and really only needs to be done once unless you remove it for cleaning.
The mesh and fabric cover that creates the walls clips in place over the frame and really only needs to be done once unless you remove it for cleaning.

Eco-health


The Breeze earned a 1 of 10 for eco-health. 4moms doesn't make any claims offering information on what their materials include, besides meeting both the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) requirements. However, this has nothing to do with flame retardants which are not legally required and have been proven harmful to baby's health. The Center For Environmental Health (CEH) maintains a list of major brand manufacturers and their use of flame retardants. 4moms is not on this list.

Manufacturer Video




— Juliet Spurrier, MD and Wendy Schmitz
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