The Peapod is a small protective and portable tent for your baby that can be used anywhere. We’re not sure why they are not more widely available - like, sold on every street corner - but as soon as we saw our friends pull one out at a picnic we could see how great it was. Our friends started using it as a portable sleep place when their boy outgrew his Moses basket. We love it for outside use to keep our nine-month-old boy protected from the sun, the sand and the insane mosquitoes in our yard, and quickly discovered the joys of using the Peapod indoors - in the living room, at friends' houses, in hotel rooms...

Kidco makes a couple different kinds of Peapods -the P100, P101 and P201. We have the P100. The main difference between the P100 and P101 is color (blue versus red) - there appears to be a minor design change, but otherwise they are nearly identical. The footprint is 4 feet long and about 2.5 feet wide, and it's about a foot and a half high; the product is labeled for infant use (through 12 months). The P201 is a bit bigger (nearly 4.5 by 3 feet) to accommodate toddlers and comes with a sleeping bag. The P201 also has some additional features that appear to allow for more shading and wind protection.



All Peapods come with an inflatable mattress, but we haven’t ever needed ours. It would be useful if we wanted our kid to sleep on a very hard surface, like concrete, but on grass, sand or carpeting we’ve found the sleeping pad that comes with the Peapod is padding enough. The front panel of the Peapod opens wide (from the bottom to the top) and the two side mesh windows also have zippered panels that you can open (from the top, midway down).

Peapods come with their own carrying bag, but our P100 also fits easily into a small suitcase (standard carry-on roller bag) so we took it with us on a couple of trips recently. On our first trip we spent all day, every day, for a week on the beach of Lake Michigan. While our friends and family members schlepped back to the house to give their kids a nap or pushed their strollers over sand hoping that their kid would fall asleep, we tucked our little boy into his Peapod, sang him a song and watched him sleep comfortably, lulled by the sound of waves and seagulls, while we continued to enjoy the sun and beach.

Our second trip was to Portland, Oregon for the wedding of a close friend. Since we are East Coast transplants, we knew that the West Coast evenings were going to be a challenge for our little one, who would be up way past his bedtime. Sure enough, soon after the ceremony, but hours before the reception would be over, little L started showing signs that he was done with the evening. We found a spot just steps from the festivities and with a little coaxing, he was able to crash out, allowing us to continue enjoying valued time with our long-distance friends.

Peapods retail for about $50 for the "standard" size and $80-$90 for the Plus edition, so which is the better buy? Well, the Peapod Plus is about 5" bigger in every direction (L,W,H), which means your child can use it well into toddlerdom, but the tradeoff includes an additional 3+ pounds carrying weight (9.5 lbs. for the Plus vs. 6 lbs. for the standard). Additionally, the UV protected mesh does not provide enough shade for baby’s eyes in direct sunlight. We are constantly trying to rig additional shade by draping towels or blankets over the top, which isn’t always an easy feat if there is any wind, and the Peapod Plus' design includes window and door shades. For a detailed comparison of the two styles, check out Baby Toolkit's great review.

You can buy the Peapod and Peapod Plus at many online retailers, including Amazon.com. Peapod manufacturer KidCo also offers a searchable database of brick and mortar retailers which carry their products. - Sylvia