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My Sweet Swing Denial.
written on Saturday, January 12, 2013 @ 3:18 AM +
Before I roll out the red carpet of swings, I'd like to say each of these products are decent. In the short amount of time I had with them, I enjoyed them and often used them. These are only my opinions, as someone who has legitimately tested these products and tried to use them to their full potential. If you choose to purchase them even after reading this, that is entirely your choice. I am not snubbing the name of these companies, only sharing my mild misfortune. Anyway!
While my son was baking in the womb, my Husband and I were extremely lucky- we managed to find a package deal from a friend that consisted wholly of one pack & play, five to ten bags of assorted girls and boys clothes ranging from 9 months to 2T, one play yard, a breastpump (which we could not use, naturally), bottles / nipples / bottlewarmers (again, couldn't use most), blankets / crib bedding, cloth prefolds, a swing, a swimming squishy OH WAIT BACK IT UP... what was that last one? A swimming squishy no no, the one before it. A swing? YES. A swing. Which swing, exactly?
 We bought the entire package featured above (plus more that I'm forgetting) for a whopping $100.00. One hundred bucks? I'll take that. I scrubbed down the different pieces of furniture, washed the bedding, and my Husband put together the swing. Little did we know, since this was our very first swing, that the motor was already burnt out. We happily placed our son in the washed and sweet lamb center, turned on the music, switched the swing on, and waited. And waited. Glanced at one another. And waited. Nothing. Now, we could blame the previous owners for knowingly selling us a dud, but like I said before, the package was one hundred bucks. There's bound to be a problem somewhere with that kind of deal. Plus, we didn't buy it for the swing alone. We honestly didn't even know it had a swing in the pile until we sorted through it many months after the fact. All of this aside, I still continued to use the dud swing and developed a few qualms of my own. Maybe it was just my lack of swing prowess, but the straps were much too small for my son, ... and he was nearly five pounds at birth and premature. That being said, I kept searching for a way to adjust them- back adjustments, hidden seam, anything, but there wasn't a damn thing. So, we couldn't strap him in. Second problem- The seat doesn't adjust backwards. It's perpetually seated upwards and my son is a kicker. He enjoys kicking himself out of the seated position and into a squashed-falling-out-of-my-chair position. Immediately unsafe. The swing comes with a mobile above the chair that turns on its own, which is cute, but with the chair hiked so far forward and the lamb headrest acting as an over-cushioned pillow, my son had to crane his head backwards and arch his back to view the mobile. He definitely tried, but it was just too annoying for him. Eventually, he gave up. There's also a mirror below the mobile. Again, same story. The chair also has a removable center console with plastic toys, but it was just too irritating for him. Pretty useless, in the end. The only thing I ended up liking was the music, but again, something just pretty inconvenient- the music works as a single song, repeat twice. You have to pull the tab across to change songs, they repeat twice, then shut off. Which is great, but the tab is so loud and obnoxious, it woke Mr. Moo up on several naps. The one thing I loved was the ease of transition from side to side and front to back. In the center of the mobile is a button; you press it in, hold it in while you slide the chair either to the front or to the side. It was so easy to transition, I really liked that feature alone.
All in all, this swing gets two stars for the transition button and the music. That's it.
 After our disappointing debaucle with the "My Little Lamb", we decided to invest our money in a more expensive swing that had mixed but bordering great reviews. This swing is a little interesting upon first glance, but I was willing to try something different and something completely unlike the My Little Lamb. The Zen swing is definitely a great buy for several reasons. One, the chair reclines into a more comfortable position. The infant lies basically on his/her back and the seat comes with blankets already built into the chair makeup, which offers a settled mind about SIDS, suffocation risks, and baby being warm during naptimes. The chair also offers an upwards position for gazing around the room. The mobile overhead features soft, attractive animals but it is not a motorized mobile. It dangles by strings, that's it. The music is soothing, zen-like renditions of popular tunes like Fur Elise by Beethoven and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, as well as general nature sounds. The chair can be removed and transported around the house. For the money, it's a pretty swing, but it has a few drawbacks. First of all, the motor is a little loud. I read about it in reviews, shrugged it off, and when I used it for the first time, I really didn't have a basis for comparison since my first swing was already burnt out. Plus, my son didn't seem to mind it. If a loud motor turns you off, this one might bug you, but I got used to it very fast. My son is a light sleeper, so the motor offered a bit of white noise for my clumsy actions. Also, the chair is hard to turn from front facing to side facing. There is literally no button, you're just supposed to push delicately until it pops out of one position and glides into another. It startled my son on several occassions until I just took him out to transition. The big problem and the reason this swing only gets three stars is, the first swing's music buttons pushed into the motor housing. No music. AND the front part of the chair busted forward. When the swing was replaced (with the same model), the motor burnt out after one month of use.
Apart from a few manufacturing errors, this swing isn't half bad. It was just too alarming for me to enter the room with my slumbering husband and son while it smelled like burning plastic. I had to air out the room while they slept, remove the swing, and thankfully, Fisher Price is refunding our money. Lets just say, we won't be buying another Fisher Price swing.
 The next swing I have my eye on is the Graco Sweet Snuggle Swing in Oasis. It's the only swing I've seen get a lot of good reviews, instead of a mixture of good and bad. Plus, it's a different brand name and a different model. Definitely a little scary looking, but I think Mr. Moo might appreciate it. If not, I'll be telling all of you about it! *text photos by SimplyMTC *all swing photos courtesy of Google image search.
Have any of you tried a swing for your child? What brand(s) did you use and did you like them?
Labels: baby, product, review, swing
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My Sweet Swing Denial.
written on Saturday, January 12, 2013 @ 3:18 AM +
Before I roll out the red carpet of swings, I'd like to say each of these products are decent. In the short amount of time I had with them, I enjoyed them and often used them. These are only my opinions, as someone who has legitimately tested these products and tried to use them to their full potential. If you choose to purchase them even after reading this, that is entirely your choice. I am not snubbing the name of these companies, only sharing my mild misfortune. Anyway!
While my son was baking in the womb, my Husband and I were extremely lucky- we managed to find a package deal from a friend that consisted wholly of one pack & play, five to ten bags of assorted girls and boys clothes ranging from 9 months to 2T, one play yard, a breastpump (which we could not use, naturally), bottles / nipples / bottlewarmers (again, couldn't use most), blankets / crib bedding, cloth prefolds, a swing, a swimming squishy OH WAIT BACK IT UP... what was that last one? A swimming squishy no no, the one before it. A swing? YES. A swing. Which swing, exactly?
We bought the entire package featured above (plus more that I'm forgetting) for a whopping $100.00. One hundred bucks? I'll take that. I scrubbed down the different pieces of furniture, washed the bedding, and my Husband put together the swing. Little did we know, since this was our very first swing, that the motor was already burnt out. We happily placed our son in the washed and sweet lamb center, turned on the music, switched the swing on, and waited. And waited. Glanced at one another. And waited. Nothing. Now, we could blame the previous owners for knowingly selling us a dud, but like I said before, the package was one hundred bucks. There's bound to be a problem somewhere with that kind of deal. Plus, we didn't buy it for the swing alone. We honestly didn't even know it had a swing in the pile until we sorted through it many months after the fact. All of this aside, I still continued to use the dud swing and developed a few qualms of my own. Maybe it was just my lack of swing prowess, but the straps were much too small for my son, ... and he was nearly five pounds at birth and premature. That being said, I kept searching for a way to adjust them- back adjustments, hidden seam, anything, but there wasn't a damn thing. So, we couldn't strap him in. Second problem- The seat doesn't adjust backwards. It's perpetually seated upwards and my son is a kicker. He enjoys kicking himself out of the seated position and into a squashed-falling-out-of-my-chair position. Immediately unsafe. The swing comes with a mobile above the chair that turns on its own, which is cute, but with the chair hiked so far forward and the lamb headrest acting as an over-cushioned pillow, my son had to crane his head backwards and arch his back to view the mobile. He definitely tried, but it was just too annoying for him. Eventually, he gave up. There's also a mirror below the mobile. Again, same story. The chair also has a removable center console with plastic toys, but it was just too irritating for him. Pretty useless, in the end. The only thing I ended up liking was the music, but again, something just pretty inconvenient- the music works as a single song, repeat twice. You have to pull the tab across to change songs, they repeat twice, then shut off. Which is great, but the tab is so loud and obnoxious, it woke Mr. Moo up on several naps. The one thing I loved was the ease of transition from side to side and front to back. In the center of the mobile is a button; you press it in, hold it in while you slide the chair either to the front or to the side. It was so easy to transition, I really liked that feature alone.
All in all, this swing gets two stars for the transition button and the music. That's it.
After our disappointing debaucle with the "My Little Lamb", we decided to invest our money in a more expensive swing that had mixed but bordering great reviews. This swing is a little interesting upon first glance, but I was willing to try something different and something completely unlike the My Little Lamb. The Zen swing is definitely a great buy for several reasons. One, the chair reclines into a more comfortable position. The infant lies basically on his/her back and the seat comes with blankets already built into the chair makeup, which offers a settled mind about SIDS, suffocation risks, and baby being warm during naptimes. The chair also offers an upwards position for gazing around the room. The mobile overhead features soft, attractive animals but it is not a motorized mobile. It dangles by strings, that's it. The music is soothing, zen-like renditions of popular tunes like Fur Elise by Beethoven and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, as well as general nature sounds. The chair can be removed and transported around the house. For the money, it's a pretty swing, but it has a few drawbacks. First of all, the motor is a little loud. I read about it in reviews, shrugged it off, and when I used it for the first time, I really didn't have a basis for comparison since my first swing was already burnt out. Plus, my son didn't seem to mind it. If a loud motor turns you off, this one might bug you, but I got used to it very fast. My son is a light sleeper, so the motor offered a bit of white noise for my clumsy actions. Also, the chair is hard to turn from front facing to side facing. There is literally no button, you're just supposed to push delicately until it pops out of one position and glides into another. It startled my son on several occassions until I just took him out to transition. The big problem and the reason this swing only gets three stars is, the first swing's music buttons pushed into the motor housing. No music. AND the front part of the chair busted forward. When the swing was replaced (with the same model), the motor burnt out after one month of use.
Apart from a few manufacturing errors, this swing isn't half bad. It was just too alarming for me to enter the room with my slumbering husband and son while it smelled like burning plastic. I had to air out the room while they slept, remove the swing, and thankfully, Fisher Price is refunding our money. Lets just say, we won't be buying another Fisher Price swing.
The next swing I have my eye on is the Graco Sweet Snuggle Swing in Oasis. It's the only swing I've seen get a lot of good reviews, instead of a mixture of good and bad. Plus, it's a different brand name and a different model. Definitely a little scary looking, but I think Mr. Moo might appreciate it. If not, I'll be telling all of you about it! *text photos by SimplyMTC *all swing photos courtesy of Google image search.
Have any of you tried a swing for your child? What brand(s) did you use and did you like them?
Labels: baby, product, review, swing
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about simply mtc
“How glorious it is - and how painful - to be an exception" : Alfred de Musset
Amanda is a seasoned musician of 15+ years, focusing primarily on vocal performance and opera. In her spare time, she crochets hats for children and scrapbooks. Writing has always been a secret passion, as well as vocabulary. She is currently in the process of writing three novels and pursuing an English degree.
As a first time Mother, Amanda is also learning the ropes of peaceful parenting and organic cooking. She is a cloth diapering enthusiast (addict) and a firm activist for Greenpeace and feminism.
Movies and literature have remained a passion for Amanda since childhood. Her favorite book to date is "Self Reliance and Other Essays" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Her favorite movie, on the other hand, is impossible to name. She loves far too many movies to make a choice.
1. What does MTC stand for?
A lot of things! MTC can be whatever you like it to be, but I happened upon it in a very personal way. For that reason, I won't be sharing the exact meaning, but I will secretly delight in throwing my own enigma variation in your lap. The cheesy musician has finally stepped up to the plate; pause for crickets and stunned silence. Seriously though, make it into whatever you'd like. Make The Cake, Music Theory Champ, Master The Coffee, Moving Tomorrow Colin, ... Be creative.
2. What do you do for a living?
I am a seasoned writer and aspiring novelist. Which basically means I collect an income of oppression and angst. Hey, oppression and angst are pretty tasty - you should try them on for size sometime. I am also a stay-at-home Mother of one and resident Beethoven (testy temperament with a large heart).
3. What's your Son's name? Can we see him?
I will not be sharing his name. I'm sorry! I definitely want to post pictures of him, but in moderation.
As a protective new Mother, I want to keep my baby from internet trolls for as long as humanly possible. One day he'll stumble onto the otherworldly internet, but that day will hopefully be many years from this point. I will refer to him as Mr. Moo, so keep your eyes abreast for future references!
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We bought the entire package featured above (plus more that I'm forgetting) for a whopping $100.00. One hundred bucks? I'll take that. I scrubbed down the different pieces of furniture, washed the bedding, and my Husband put together the swing. Little did we know, since this was our very first swing, that the motor was already burnt out. We happily placed our son in the washed and sweet lamb center, turned on the music, switched the swing on, and waited. And waited. Glanced at one another. And waited. Nothing. Now, we could blame the previous owners for knowingly selling us a dud, but like I said before, the package was one hundred bucks. There's bound to be a problem somewhere with that kind of deal. Plus, we didn't buy it for the swing alone. We honestly didn't even know it had a swing in the pile until we sorted through it many months after the fact. All of this aside, I still continued to use the dud swing and developed a few qualms of my own. Maybe it was just my lack of swing prowess, but the straps were much too small for my son, ... and he was nearly five pounds at birth and premature. That being said, I kept searching for a way to adjust them- back adjustments, hidden seam, anything, but there wasn't a damn thing. So, we couldn't strap him in. Second problem- The seat doesn't adjust backwards. It's perpetually seated upwards and my son is a kicker. He enjoys kicking himself out of the seated position and into a squashed-falling-out-of-my-chair position. Immediately unsafe. The swing comes with a mobile above the chair that turns on its own, which is cute, but with the chair hiked so far forward and the lamb headrest acting as an over-cushioned pillow, my son had to crane his head backwards and arch his back to view the mobile. He definitely tried, but it was just too annoying for him. Eventually, he gave up. There's also a mirror below the mobile. Again, same story. The chair also has a removable center console with plastic toys, but it was just too irritating for him. Pretty useless, in the end. The only thing I ended up liking was the music, but again, something just pretty inconvenient- the music works as a single song, repeat twice. You have to pull the tab across to change songs, they repeat twice, then shut off. Which is great, but the tab is so loud and obnoxious, it woke Mr. Moo up on several naps. The one thing I loved was the ease of transition from side to side and front to back. In the center of the mobile is a button; you press it in, hold it in while you slide the chair either to the front or to the side. It was so easy to transition, I really liked that feature alone. 
After our disappointing debaucle with the "My Little Lamb", we decided to invest our money in a more expensive swing that had mixed but bordering great reviews. This swing is a little interesting upon first glance, but I was willing to try something different and something completely unlike the My Little Lamb. The Zen swing is definitely a great buy for several reasons. One, the chair reclines into a more comfortable position. The infant lies basically on his/her back and the seat comes with blankets already built into the chair makeup, which offers a settled mind about SIDS, suffocation risks, and baby being warm during naptimes. The chair also offers an upwards position for gazing around the room. The mobile overhead features soft, attractive animals but it is not a motorized mobile. It dangles by strings, that's it. The music is soothing, zen-like renditions of popular tunes like Fur Elise by Beethoven and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, as well as general nature sounds. The chair can be removed and transported around the house. For the money, it's a pretty swing, but it has a few drawbacks. First of all, the motor is a little loud. I read about it in reviews, shrugged it off, and when I used it for the first time, I really didn't have a basis for comparison since my first swing was already burnt out. Plus, my son didn't seem to mind it. If a loud motor turns you off, this one might bug you, but I got used to it very fast. My son is a light sleeper, so the motor offered a bit of white noise for my clumsy actions. Also, the chair is hard to turn from front facing to side facing. There is literally no button, you're just supposed to push delicately until it pops out of one position and glides into another. It startled my son on several occassions until I just took him out to transition. The big problem and the reason this swing only gets three stars is, the first swing's music buttons pushed into the motor housing. No music. AND the front part of the chair busted forward. When the swing was replaced (with the same model), the motor burnt out after one month of use. 