Getting the Most For Your Money- Baby Swings

When shopping for baby, its easy to buy items that aren't all that they seem. This is especially true when it comes to swings. In this blog, I'll tell you what to look for in a swing and what to avoid.

Fisher Price

Graco 

I've bought two swings recently. One was the Graco Lovin' Hug swing with the plug in adapter, and the other was the Fisher Price Cradle n Swing. I originally purchased the Gravo Lovin' Hug swing for my home. It came with an AC adapter, so the swing can be plugged into an outlet instead of requiring batteries. (To be honest, I didn't know that there were ones that only ran off of batteries! Can you tell this was my first swing purchase?) The swing had only one position in which the baby could swing, front to back. The seat reclined as well. There was a mobile attached that was as good as, if not better than, the mobile I use on my child's bed. The Graco Lovin' Hug swing has been a great swing so far.
The second swing, the Fisher Price Cradle n Swing, was purchased for use at my mother's home. The Fisher Price swing was about $50 less, and this was one of the reasons we chose that swing. Well, you get what you pay for.
The Fisher Price Cradle n Swing I purchased ran off of batteries. Because it ran off of batteries, after about an hour of use, we would have to put new batteries in. I don't know about your child, but when I put my baby in a swing she will sleep for hours- if it's still swinging. So the inability to use an AC adapter was con #1.
Because the second swing was a "cradle and swing", it allowed the seat to swing front to back or side to side. Initially, this seemed like a great idea. Unfortunately, there is a down side to that. Because of the way the legs of the swing were designed to suit this feature, the swing pretty much moves a total of 6 inches. Not very exciting for baby. I would place my daughter in the swing, and it basically just made her mad.
There is a small "mobile" attached to the top of the swing. I don't know that it should really be called a mobile as it didn't move. There were two small attachments that barely swung back and forth. It was not exactly enough to entertain or distract my child.

In conclusion, if I saw someone purchasing the Fisher Price Cradle n Swing in the store, I'd probably do my best to discourage them. I hate the thing that much. We ended up using it a total of 4 times, and not for very long. It was a complete waste of our money. I've recommended the Graco Lovin' Hug to several friends, and each has been very pleased with it.