The Importance of a Good Swing

We have gone through 3 swings with John. I know, this seems a bit excessive, but we only bought two of the three. The first swing was given to us by my Aunt Laura. She had her last baby last March and didn't have any use for it. She doesn't go cheap on baby items (which I have found to be smart!) so I was excited to get this swing! We picked it up when John was a week old after dropping Nathan off at the MCI Airport. At first, I thought John liked it.

Looks comfy right?

Well this swing was in the side to side swinging position when we got it. I had no clue that it went side to side and head to toe so when John would scream every time he went in it, I figured it was because he didn't like that motion. (I now know it's because of the angle the seat was at- it irritated his acid reflux)

So, about a month later when Nathan got another chance to come to Kansas before deployment we went to Babies R Us & bought a simple Graco Head to Toe swing. This swing had much more power than the swing from my aunt which seemed to be good for him. But he wouldn't go in it awake. He'd have to be almost asleep before being set down. Kind of defeats the purpose of the swing but seriously, I wasn't about to get another one.

Somehow his head always ended up like this... even after I took the newborn head support out

Well yesterday this swing finally died. I would have just called the company and asked for a new motor but it had been acting up for weeks. It wouldn't turn on most of the time; it took several tries. Once it was on, it wouldn't turn off. And the speed would slow down to almost not moving after a few minutes. So, I decided to buy him the Fisher Price Platinum Edition "My Little Lamb" swing. I've been so impressed with the Fisher Price sleep & play rocker "My Little Lamb" that I figured the swing would be great... AND... it totally is!!! John l-o-v-e-s it! I can put him in it while he's awake and he just smiles and talks to the mobile; it lights up and has clouds and three little lambs with silver stars hanging down. It is super easy to put together and switches easily from side to side swinging to head to toe and John likes both positions. It's very soft and comforting and the motor is QUIET. This is important ladies! Loud motors are annoying & clash with the sounds/music that the swing has. It always over stimulated John with the other two swings anyway. The big winner here is that the seat has 3 different positions too so that's nice & works well with his reflux.

Head to Toe swing position

Side to Side; John likes this more when he's tired

Anyways, I just had to make a post about this because I've found it kind of annoying that baby items are such hit & miss! It can kind of be over-whelming to find something that works good for your baby. I've learned now to pay attention to the reviews online. I wish I would've done this before buying the Graco swing because I would've learned that almost everyone else had the same problems that we did. Anyways, hope this helps someone out there! It's always nice to hear reviews from people you know verses reading them on a store's website :) Now, I'm gonna go get ready for the day! (couldn't have done that before unless John was asleep because he couldn't stand to be put down! YIPPEE!!!!)