Fisher-Price Papasan Cradle Swing - Nature's Touch N1973
by Fisher-Price
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List Price: Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Fisher-Price Papasan Cradle Swing - Nature's Touch N1973
Customer Review: Sanity saver
Summary: 3 Stars
Thank god for the swing because baby wouldn't sleep in his crib for the first 3 months. He would, however, sleep up to 5 hours in the swing at night and was a total sanity saver.
Sleep deprivation makes people do crazy things, like blow $10+ a week on batteries. Man did we burn through the batteries! More than once my husband or I would stumble in a daze to the swing to swap out the batteries because the batteries had died. We used this swing so much we'd go through four D batteries in 3-4 days. It really sucked.
Now that baby is sleeping in his crib we rarely use the swing. He'll play in it for about a 1/2 hr but he plays even better on a blanket on the floor so why bother with the swing?
Our biggest complaints are these. First why is it that most baby items including this swing run on batteries? It's like Fisher Price etc. are in a deep conspiracy with the Duracell company. Why not make it pluggable? It would last longer I think and not be so hard on the motor. Second... this swing sucked swinging front to back, it'd always die out if baby slumped to the side or whatever. Side to side was okay, but then it made a clicking noise that we were never able to figure out. Really annoying. Third... totally inconsistent with the speed setting. Sometimes we'd have to crank it up all the way and it'd barely move, or on a low setting it'd be swaying so fast I thought the baby was going to fly out. Fourth... the seat is hard plastic. Super hard plastic. And the fleece covering or whatever certainly didn't make up for it. Why not put a little foam cushion for the rump or just make it softer and not grooved plastic.
So I give it 3 stars because it did save us from totally going crazy from sleep deprivation but I just can't give it a higher review because of the problems and complaints with it. I can't wait to pack it away for good. I'll probably get a different swing next time.
Customer Review: Great chair overall
Summary: 4 Stars
The point of this isn't fun so it's kinda difficult to rate that and it has no educational value as that's also not the point. I have had this for 4 months now and it's a godsend at night! In the crib he'll wake up every hour & a half fussing, but if he's in the chair he'll wake up for the first time after sleeping for 4-5 hours straight! Makes a gigantic difference! You can turn the chair so it rocks froward to back of leave it in position so it rocks outwards and back. Have had no issues w/ the headrest. Doesn't squish my babies head or press against his ears as others have mentioned. The upright postioning of the chair is really ridiculous cause it's at such an extreme angle that he'd have to be super strapped in (and very uncomfortable at that!) to not fall right out. The angle is so so stupid and dangerous!Other issues I do have are the 7 min timer (that's not adjustable) for the music and mobile. I have to go back to turn it on all the time and it's really annoying! And contrary to another persons review I read...I motor does make noise and it's really loud! We could never have this in our bedroom cause we wouldn't be able to sleep so we have to only use it in our living room. If the dial is turned anywhere past the first few notches you here the motor going back and forth. Also w/ each swing one side of the contraption at the back of the leg moves slightly up from the floor. Not dangerous as it's just barely but that also causes it to make more noise so we have to place something under it all the time. It's very annoying this thing only runs of batteries as we have to change batteries every week it seems. We just started usign re-chargables cause the cost of D's is far too expensive to keep buyign packs of them constantly. This really should have a plug option. Overall it's great though we are looking for another type of swinging chair that doesn't take up so much room and that's less noisy so we can have it in our bedroom.
Customer Review: Great swing
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great swing. Being able to switch it from swing to cradle and back is wonderful. It seems really comfortable and my baby was completely fine and comfy in it from a couple of days old until present (almost 5 months). Now that moved the seat to the more sitting position and put the toy bar on it, he has renewed interest (he was never much of a swing-lover). He loves the mirror above him (still) and at about 3 months became real interested in the "mobile", too.
My only 2 problems with this are:
--As others have said, it stinks that this turns the music and/or mobile off after 7 minutes. I know it's a battery saver, but give me the choice as to whether I want to save batteries or save my sanity by not having to leap up every 7 minutes and "reset" the thing so the music and/or mobile keeps going. (When my very colicky baby would finally fall asleep to the music/sounds, he would wake up IMMEDIATELY and for good if they went off. So I had to watch the clock and every SIX minutes - so as not to miss it - have to turn the music off and back on really quickly so he didn't wake up. Lots of fun.) Let me set it so it just plays continuously -- I'll deal with the batteries later.
--Very light (young) babies may find that even on the slowest setting, the swing/cradle goes too fast. When he was newborn, I had to prop a big stuffed bunny in front of the thing so it hit it on every swing, thereby slowing it down. (That can't be great for the motor.) I felt like he was going to get catapulted out of the thing otherwise.
Aside from how nicely the swing works and how comfortable he's been in it all this time, I'll say one more good thing: my baby is nearly 5 months old and we've been using this since we brought him home. We have yet to have to change the batteries. It's amazing.
We love this swing and highly recommend it!
Customer Review: Life Saver with twins, but....
Summary: 4 Stars
We have two of these and one of our twins will ONLY go to sleep in this swing! Funny, because she didn't care for the swing in the beginning and my son LOVED it. Now it's the other way around, so I think it depends on the age and child's preferences too. Both will sleep completely through the night in their swings (yes, hubby has spent a few nights on the couch so they could be in their swings all night when we're desperate for sleep!). My son loves the birds, but they only last 15 minutes. He'll be completely asleep then wake up when the birds stop, so I have to keep walking by and turning it on and off to get them to restart. I wish there was an option to keep them on. My daughter loves staring at herself in the mirror (go figure). With twins, we have to have ways to set down babies often, so these have become life savers. I can't give it 5 stars though...we have to replace the batteries at least once a week, and with two, that gets costly. Both swings we have are totally different, even though they are *supposed* to be the same. One is taller than the other, one's batteries last longer than the other even though they are usually used at the same times, one swings too high on the lowest setting to the point that the feet come up off the ground and the other won't swing at all until we put it on the 3rd setting and even then, it barely budges. One seems to have "electrical issues" as it has a mind of it's own sometimes...the birds turn on when their turned off sometimes, the music comes on at weird times, etc. I don't like the fact that it doesn't sit up more and wish it had more reclining positions. My son has really bad reflux and needs to be upright more, especially when he's sleeping in it for hours. Apparently the manufacturing was inconsistent. Other than that, I would recommend them. My twins love their swings and that's what counts!Customer Review: I wish I would have bought it sooner!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
My son LOVES this swing. He won't sleep in his crib at all. We bought this when he was almost 2 months old (he's 4 months now) and it has been a lifesaver!!! He loves to play with the tray that comes with it - and you can add other toys to it too. We just take the tray off when it is time for a nap or bedtime. I like the choice of sounds you can play - music or nature sounds. He loves the rushing water sound to sleep to. I like the recliner seat feature so he can lean back to sleep and the fact you can change the direction of the swing. Sometimes he likes one direction over another, then switches his preference later in the day or at bedtime. He also loves to gaze at himself in the mirror up in the mobile.
I am not so thrilled about the fact that he can slump over to the side and has a hard time righting himself (if he can do it at all). Perhaps a 5 point harness would have been a better harness choice for this swing? I do wish that the timer for the music was longer and that the music would fade before it shuts off - it woke him up a few times, but he usually doesn't notice anything once he is fast asleep.
It does use up batteries about every 3 days or so (we use it A LOT), and we decided to try rechargable batteries. The rechargable batteries only last about a day and they are initially more expensive, but they save you a lot of money in the long run (a 4 pack of regualr D's run about $7 in the store here). We replace them every night just before bed and this seems to work for us. One night I forgot and I woke up at 1 am with a VERY unhappy little boy! It was pretty hard to find the D size rechargables in the stores by us. and we always keep a set of regular batteries just in case!
I highly recommend this swing!!! If you have a little fussy one, you should get it - it helped our little guy through colic.