Fisher-Price Rainforest Open-Top Cradle Swing
by Fisher-Price
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List Price: Our Price: $103.95 You Save: $41.04 (28%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $89.97 (click here) Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Fisher-Price Rainforest Open-Top Cradle Swing
Customer Review: A decent product for a limited time
Summary: 4 Stars
We bought this swing the day we brought our son home from the hospital. For a new baby, it is perfect. It reclines far so that a wobbly-headed baby can lay comfortably. The gentle rocking relaxes baby and puts baby to sleep. At that age, he wasn't at all interested in the mobile.
As he has gotten older, the swing has grown fairly well with him. We haven't had issues with the swing petering out, the music stopping, or any of the other technical issues parents have mentioned in previous reviews. We have never used the tray, so I don't really have any opinion on that feature. I can say that from about 6 weeks through 3 months, our son LOVED the mobile and he has always loved the music, especially the natural water one with the animal sounds.
Now that he is 4 months old, he is almost 26 inches long and he takes up almost the whole swing. I can't sit him with his bottom in the actual dip because his head nearly touches the metal bar that holds the swing. He also likes to sit upright now and this swing does not have a totally upright setting, so he gets frustrated in it unless he is tired. The swinging motion is starting to go a little slower at this point, so I think that at 16 lbs he is already outgrowing it. It is supposedly good up to 25 lbs, but I don't think it will make it past 20. It has been great while it lasted, though.
We retired the swing when my son turned 5 months old at about 18 lbs. It could have gone longer, but it had started squeaking as it went back and forth, so it is definitely not good up to 25 lbs. It was difficult making the conversion from the swing, but we got through it! He REALLY loved his swing! Despite this not being good through the maximum weight limit advertised, I still feel that this product was worth the money.
Customer Review: Overall great buy, but comes with some problems
Summary: 3 Stars
We bought this swing for our second child after she developed colic and the travel, front to back swing just wasn't working for her. After a night of hours of crying, my husband sent me from the house to pick one of these up and I can say that overall, I am glad that we did buy this.
First off, the swing is very cute and my daughter does love it. She doesn't sleep in it as much anymore, but is getting to the stage where she actually likes looking at the mobile on the swing. I also love that the mobile arm lifts up and out of the way, making it easier to get baby in and out. The price was a little much for me, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and colic makes purchasing a $[...] swing seem reasonable. The AC plug is also very convenient so I am not having to replace batteries once a week or more.
Now on to the cons. I gave this swing only 3 stars because the music didn't even last 2 weeks on this thing. It gradually got quieter and quieter until the sound just died completely. And Fisher Price's solution for this was to buy a whole new motor section for the swing for 60-some odd dollars. Another thing that annoys me about this swing, and I don't know if it was a defect on mine but I doubt it, is that the arm holding the seat to the motor is off set, so when my daughter was lighter, every time she swung to the right, she would hit the frame bar. I could not run the swing at a very high speed at all with out the metal pieces clanking together.
I am glad that we bought this swing because it did help my daughter with her fussiness, in turn allowing the rest of the family to sleep, but I was just so disappointed that something that cost so much had features that didn't hold up well at all. Be wary about the music box going out relatively quickly and hopefully Fisher Price might fix this problem.
Customer Review: The Envy of Mommies Whose swing DOESN'T plug in!
Summary: 4 Stars
We have had this swing for 3 months. I like how the seat reclines in different positions, and that you can turn it front to side, to the other side! this allows our baby to look all over the living room and dining room. She can watch the couch, the dining room table, or even the TV.
I have a small issue with the tray. I think it could latch a bit better. My daughter started putting her toes under the tray ledge at about 2 months and pushing up or kicking at it, and is able to unlatch it. This bugs me. She was not even 11 pounds yet and she could kick the tray open. Makes me wonder what will happen when she is older and stronger. Even if it is latched she can kick it open.
I love how the swing is portable because with an (actually easy!) push of the button, the legs fold in and I can move it to another room, which I have done a few times with no issues.
Of course I LOVE that it plugs in.
I have had a scare or two where the swing wouldn't swing. I panicked, but was able to use the reset button and fix the issue. I am not sure why this happens. We probably only use the swing once or twice a day for about 20-30 minutes each time, because she isn't a huge fan of being in one place for too long. I often wonder why they don't make a swing that vibrates like a bouncy seat?
My only other complaint is the VOLUME of this thing. The lowest volume is too loud. Although my daughter has no issues sleeping through it, the rest of us do. Sometimes my husband and I would try to take shifts, but whoever was trying to sleep would be instantly woken up by the swing music... even clear in our bedroom when the swing was in the living room.
We found that annoying and have a "rule" that if one person is taking a nap, we don't turn the swing music on.
Customer Review: It's ok...
Summary: 3 Stars
LOVE that it can be plugged into a wall instead of using batteries all the time.
LOVE that it has an open-top design - no more interesting maneuvers to get baby in and out, especially while sleeping!
LOVE that it's not completely hard-bottomed - from the seat up, it's like a sling.
LOVE that it swings both side-to-side AND front-to-back.
Here's what I DON'T love:
1.) The swing power does seem to be less than other models. Our old Fischer Price Cradle Swing evidently has some good velocity to it (which our daughter favors) and this one is a much tamer swing.
2.) The mobile moves sooooooooo slow that it doesn't hold my daughter's attention at all.
3.) It's lower to the ground than our old model (might be a pro for most, but my back prefers it to be a little higher with our big girl!)
4.) The music/sounds are pretty loud, even on the low setting. (You can forgo sounds altogether, if you choose.)
5.) I wish the tray had some toys on it - not really sure what people do with the trays - suction cup toys maybe??
6.) I like that it has a 2 position recline, but there's barely a difference between the two.
OVERALL
It's a good swing, but I wouldn't purchase it again and I still might return it. I'm disappointed because I can tell my daughter misses her old swing, which still works - maybe she prefers the hard-backed seat or maybe the high velocity. The reason we bought a new one is because the mobile stopped working, we were tired of using so many batteries, and we plan on more kids. We also wanted a swing that went both ways. But now I'm kicking myself for not getting an Evenflo swing so we could use our Exersaucer toys on the swing tray...
Customer Review: This has been a life and money saver
Summary: 4 Stars
We had the fisher price open top rainforest swing with my first child. We were going through so many batteries with my second child that it was breaking our budget.
My premie baby is an acid reflux baby and needs to sit up to sleep, hence the massive usage in batteries. We bought this one based on reviews and the fact that it has a power adaptor.
Now then, I pretty much love this swing. However, I cannot easily move it to another room--it's a bit cumbersome to move. The legs do "squeeze" in to make it easier to move through doorways--it's just still very annoying to move around.
We noticed that if the swing legs are not fully out, the swing makes a horrible squeaking noise. It stops when the legs are placed the way they are supposed to be.
If the swing is swinging at the quickest, it rocks a little. So, we usually start it off fast and once the baby is asleep, we slow it down.
My baby adores the mobile on it when he is just sitting there before he gets too sleepy. I love that we can turn this off or on as it is very noisy. I would not recommended using it while on battery power.
My husband and I love the choices we have for music. 4 options! I really, really like this feature.
Also, make sure the swing is in place when you rotate it to the position you want it to swing. Otherwise, it doesn't swing well.
The only thing I don't really like--and it is because of the way my baby sleeps in it--is that the whole head area is not cushioned. My baby likes to sleep diagonally, that is, his head is in one corner and his feet in the opposite foot holder. The headrest does not cover this little corner. He doesn't seem to mind, but I just cannot imagine how he doesn't mind.