Tuesday, October 5, 2010 Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium Cradle Swing Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)My wife and I just retired our Ocean Wonders swing now that our son has outgrown it and I think that we all felt that it was tough to see it go back into the box. We found that a swing is invaluable for a baby for several reasons:
1. The swing really soothed our son and helped him fall asleep and establish a daily nap schedule.
2. Sometimes you need to restrain your little one while you do something frivolous for yourself like, oh I don't know - eat. But if he or she isn't strong enough to sit in a pack n play, then a swing fits the bill well.
3. If the swing has a mobile or some other point of interest attached, then your baby can begin learning to focus on, follow and reach for objects while playing in the swing.

So now that we've established that a swing is mandatory baby gear, how does the Ocean Wonders rate? Very well except for a few minor points.

PROS
* Very sturdy and durable
* Really good activities above and in front of baby keep him/her happy and interested
* Multiple seat settings, both in terms of recline and in terms of the swing direction, i.e. front-to-back vs. side-to-side. This second point is surprisingly rare in swings, but you want to have all options when your feeling out your baby's preferences.
* Good battery life - we went almost two months between changes using it daily

CONS
* LOUD motor - you get used to it after a while as it's almost hypnotic, but when we first turned ours on, I thought that we must have gotten a defective one. After going back to the store and hearing the display (it hadn't had batteries when we initially bought), we realized that that's just how it is. It's comparable volume-wise to an average dishwasher running.
* Baby will have to grow into it. Like so many baby items, this one goes too far on the low end of the recommended age. Smaller babies will be moving too fast even on the slowest settings.
* The sturdiness comes at a cost in terms of size - it takes up a pretty good size footprint. We recouped some space by storing baby items underneath it where there was plenty of clearance space.

All in all, this was a great swing. I suspect that even the cons that I've noted above would apply to many of the other models on the market.

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Product Description:
Fisher-Price Aquarium Cradle Swing If your child loves a gentle swinging motion, the Fisher Price Aquarium Swing is a must have.It has all of the features which parents look for in a baby swing.It features 6 different speeds and plays 8 soothing songs to help relax a fussy baby.The cradle swing features a motorized mobile with four aquatic characters.The soothing comfort of the baby is enhanced with the Fisher Price baby swing. The cradle swing is part of the Fisher Price Aquarium collection.It goes front to back like a traditional swing and side to side like a traditional cradle swing.It features a water globe with bright lights on it to help entertain baby and keep him amused.The baby swing folds compactly for storage so parents can have it out of the way when not in use.