swing question

Hi all!

Just popping in here from the expecting forum--hopefully I'll be joining you for good in a couple of weeks!

As we're finishing up last minute stuff before the babies come, people have highly suggested getting at least one swing. Here's what we've been thinking about--do you have any suggestions/opinions?

1. Power Plus swing
Pros: plugs in (I haven't seen other models that do)
Cons: relatively expensive ($85 at Target), not as portable

2. Graco Snuglider
Pros: less expensive (about $50), car seats can snap right in, very portable
Cons: uses batteries, doesn't plug in

3. Fisher Price take-along model
Pros: least expensive (about $40), portable
Cons: uses batteries, doesn't plug in, bare bones

Any suggestions? I know they don't use a swing for long, so we didn't want to invest a lot of money into a fancy model. But people have told us swings are great, especially if a baby is colicky.

One question I have is how quickly swings use up batteries. And if it would be okay to use rechargable ones in a swing?

Thanks in advance for your input!!!!

 

We had the Fisher Price Aquarium Swing and it went side to side as well as front to back and it was great! My two loved going side to side, it would make them fall asleep very easily. I am so glad we had this swing for them.

 

Mine justs now like their swings a little bit and we are 5 months old... My husband went out and bought these expensive graco swings (2 of them) and it was a huge waste of money. Our batteries last a long time but they never use the swings either. I just disovered though that they have a white noise sound maker on them and I didn't even know about it. My husband knew and just thought that button was broke.... men... I think if I would have known about this button between weeks 4 to 12 my babies would have been a lot easier to deal with. good luck and hope everything goes well and we will see you soon in the first year forum.

Missy

 

Mine didn't start using it til 4months. And still it's not a lot. We've found that if they're awake, they prefer to be doing something - like the activity mat or the jumparoo (also just started this).
I got a pink and brown graco one and if I could do it again I'd get one w/ TONS of different colors. Mine's a little boring - I've acually hung other toys from the thing up top.
Good luck!
Don't feel like you need it before the baby comes - lots of babies don't like them at first.

 

Ours loved the swing. In the early months, sometimes it was the only place we could get them to sleep. Since you never know if yours will be like ours and really need the swing, or like some pp's and couldn't care less, I'd recommend getting one swing so you have the option. Even though ours really liked it, we always got by with just one anyway; it never seemed worth it to spend the money for a second one. They used it from the day we brought them home from the hospital (six weeks old, four weeks before due date) to about 7 months old. Now they sleep in their cribs and would rather be on the floor playing when awake.

We have the Fisher Price Rainforest model, and it is awesome.

The pros:
plugs in, so you don't waste batteries
swings front to back and side to side--this is a very important feature, sometimes only the side to side would soothe them
has a very cute mobile that they loved to watch, and it swings up so you can get them in and out easily
has option for music or rainforest sounds (birds chirping, frogs, etc...they liked that way better than music)

The only cons are that it's expensive and big. We found it to be well worth it though. We'd rather pay $100 for swing that really does the trick and doesn't use batteries than $50 for one that is useless or a battery sucker.

 

2. Graco Snuglider
Pros: less expensive (about $50), car seats can snap right in, very portable
Cons: uses batteries, doesn't plug in

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that's the one we got and we couldn't be happier. It saves us some space b/c the car seats have a place to go. We have 2 of them and sometimes the boys really love them and sometimes, they're just not interested. But for those times that they're into the swings, we're super happy to have two!

We don't go through batteries as often as we'd thought we would. We do not use the rechargeable ones, though i don't see why you couldn't.

 

We also have the fisher-price rainforest swing and we LOVE it. C still sleeps in it at night alot, although we're trying to get her to sleep in her crib more often! Ours liked the swings early on...they had them in the NICU, even, when one of the nurses discovered it did the trick for L when she was fussy.

 

We have two of the Fisher Price Aquarium swings and could NOT have lived without them! Our boys loved them and James would only sleep in his swing for the first several months.

We used rechargable batteries and I thought they lasted a pretty long time. I have three sets and would just rotate them in and out of the swings/charger.

That said, if I were to do it over again, I'd invest in a plug in/electric swing. Much easier and probably a bit cheaper

 

We have a full size aquarium swing (bought used off craigs list) uses D batteries. One twin won't go back to sleep at night unless she is in it so we are going through batteries a little over once a week. I just realized we should have bought the plug in rainforest swing or get rechargables. We also have two travel aquarium swings-take c batteries. last us al ittle longer but not much. Only because the other twin likes to sleep on me. But they love the lights and music on them and it is so nice to be able to take them upstairs or with us when we go visiting.

 

I had two of the travel swings and liked them because they didn't take up so much space.

 

I loved the take along we borrowed from friends. It didn't take up the whole living room (unlike our other borrowed swing - Fisher Price Aquarium swing took up the whole house!) and it was so easy to pop in the car when we went to my mum's place. Invest in a recharger and some rechargeable batteries, for sure - best thing we ever did!

 

I already had a take along swing from my oldest child. The twins loved the swing so much, I bought another from Craigslist (didn't want new since we aren't having more kids) and my mom bought 2 more for her house! The twins would sleep for 3-4 hours a day in the swings so they were definitely worth it! The batteries lasted about 1 week, but the twins were taking their am and pm naps in them every day for hours. Target sells their brand for $1 a pack. I prefer the take along swings since they take up a lot less room and I could easily take them to someone else's house. I could even shove them under the bed if we weren't using them as often.

 

We couldn't have survied without the Fisher Price Aquarium swings. Luckily we were able to borrow one and when we saw how well it calmed the babies we went out and bought an 2nd one. But before I bought the big 2nd one I bought a travel take along and they wouldn't even sit in it for a minute! They only liked going side to side when they were little. My advice would be to try and borrow one first and see how they take to it and then buy one or two used if possible. We used rechargeable batteries and I just charged them over night every few days. Also, ours would fall asleep in the swing all the time but I started the practice of always turning off the swing motion once they were asleep and they would still sleep for several hours for naps that way.

 

The FP dual action (side to side or back and forth) were a godsend to us. We only had one swing originally and borrowed a FP Nature's Touch Rainforest swing. Pretty soon we started calling it the "Magic Swing" because they wouldn't sit in anything else. Sorry to say that the kids are almost out of it, and the FP Bouncer seat (another must have).

Good Luck!

 

More recommendations for the FP Cradle swings. Worth their weight in gold!!!! I was not impressed with many other models because they really needed to be bigger with more head control to use them. The FP ones have snuggly tipped-back seats which did a great job. The twins like the back and forth but my older DD loved side-to-side. My son started using his when he was still around 4 pounds. We just put blanket rolls on either side of him. We have an older (4 years old) FP travel swing which I HATE. It barely moves. In my opinion the faster the better! It also gives little support. Both twins My twins still nap in their swings and we'll be weaning them off that when they reach about 4-5 months adjusted age.