Prior to my son being born I had heard from a number of friends with babies that a good swing was an absolute must have. I was given the My Little Snug a Bunny Cradle n’ Swing prior to his arrival and for the first few weeks of his life it did the trick. However, when my son turned a month old he no longer liked to be in the swing and left alone in a room. The way the Fisher Price mobile was situated in the swing was no good for helping him go to sleep as he would have to crane his neck in order to watch the birds moving up above. I have to admit I was somewhat relieved that he didn’t love the swing as we live in a small apartment and it took up a huge amount of space. I also hated the look of it. So, we were without a swing for the last 2 months until the 4 Moms Rockaroo came.
We’ve been following the Babywise method for sleep training (basically following the Eat, Play, Sleep cycle and feed baby when hungry). He’s been sleeping through the night from 11pm to 7am since he was 9 weeks old and while we are lucky to have a great night sleeper, he isn’t as good of a day napper, which is why I wanted to give the swing another try. At 3 months of age, it’s sometimes difficult to transition him from his awake state to a sleepy state. For a while I was resorting to going out on a walk in the stroller every time I needed him to fall asleep. He loves the motion of the stroller. However, that got to be a bit too much walking for me and I needed an alternative. I’ve found that when I follow our bedtime routine steps of changing his diaper, putting him in his sleep sack, dimming the lights, reading a book, putting on his white noise, and then placing him in the Rockaroo swing, he didn’t fuss. How did that happen? The Rockaroo designers created a swing that mimics the rocking motion of a horse. It also was designed to create more motion at the baby’s head in a safe manner by bringing motion where it counts.
He seems to find the swing and its upright position most comfortable. While the swing has 5 settings, I use the highest one to get him to a sleepy state and then turn it down when I see his eyes drooping. I do this because when I think ahead to how I will need to wean him away from the swing, I think it will be easiest to do so when he is used to the slowest setting. I’ve used the swing every day for his late morning nap, which seems to be the one he is having the most difficulty with, and it has worked like a charm!
I also love the portability of this swing. The Fisher Price one was too big and bulky to move around. This swing allows me to move it to another room as it only weighs 19 pounds and is quite compact. The design is much more sleek and modern than other swing choices, which I also appreciate. There is an MP3 hook-up, although have to say I have not used it as we prefer to have white noise playing in the background for naps. There are removable toy balls, but they don’t really move and I think that is a plus as they don’t distract the baby from his sleepy state. I haven’t had to wash the seat yet, but I like that the cushion is machine washable.
I’m thankful we found the rockaroo. It’s been a huge help with our nap time issue!
This sample was provided by PishPoshBaby.com, which was born out of a desire to find the more reliable baby products and advice available to real moms just like you.