Full size swing

I'm thinking of getting one of those FP cradle swings. Has anybody had any real problems with one, or anybody else have recs?

I've only had a J. Mason swing and didn't really like it.

We had the ocean wonders swing and the ocean wonders portable travel swing. The travel swing I used in the bathroom so I could get a shower. The cradle swing we used pretty much everywhere else in the house. It saved my life. (cooking, eating dinner, folding laundry etc.) DD loved the side to side motion. She never used it swinging front to back. She hated that. I think I cried when she outgrew it and had a terribly hard time getting rid of it.

Oh, we never had any trouble with it. It did suck batteries weekly. We bought two sets of rechargable ones and swapped them out every weekend. Now DH uses the rechargable batteries in his MAG flash lights.

We borrowed the aquarium cradle swing with our 2nd, and it was great, but we changed the batteries constantly.

With our 3rd (and last) baby, I wanted a plug in cradle swing, and the only ones that do that are the rainforest, starlight papasan, and butterfly papasan. I wanted the swing arm to be like the aquarium, not the flip up kind on the rainforest. I also liked the papasan style seat better too, so I chose the starlight papasan.

I ended up finding it on craigslist for $40! I was so excited! It's awesome!
I would buy the starlight papasan cradle swing over and over again, it's handsdown my favorite swing out there. I love the colors, patterns, and the plug in feature is great! I didn't like the weird net thing that hangs around the side of the swing, but luckily that comes off, so I have it off. I love the little starlight show on the globe above the baby, he loves to watch it, and when it's dark in the room, the stars go all over the walls, it's cool!

Here is the starlight papasan: http://www.walmart.com/Fisher-Price-Papasan-Cradle-Swing/ip/5430278

And butterfly garden, if you have a girl: http://www.walmart.com/Fisher-Price-Butterfly-Cradle-Swing/ip/5430279

Oh, and we havent had a single problem with it at all, and we're not even the original owners either!
One time I did think that the motor died because it wasn't turning on, but it turned out that one of my kids had flipped it to battery mode instead of plug in mode, and we had no batteries in it, but I just flipped it back to plug in mode (a switch on top of the swing) and it was back working perfectly!

I had the FP Nature's Touch Papasan (I think that's the name). It didn't plug in, but I didn't mind at all. I didn't go through that many batteries, but I also didn't have my daughter in it for hours and hours at a time either. I actually liked that it didn't plug in, because I could put it wherever I wanted, and didn't have to worry about being near a plug. But my daughter loved it.

marjen said:

I had the FP Nature's Touch Papasan (I think that's the name). It didn't plug in, but I didn't mind at all. I didn't go through that many batteries, but I also didn't have my daughter in it for hours and hours at a time either. I actually liked that it didn't plug in, because I could put it wherever I wanted, and didn't have to worry about being near a plug. But my daughter loved it.

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:yeahthat: I got a great deal on mine through Baby Universe before I even got pg with DD. She napped in it regularly for 5 months, so it got a lot of use, but I don't think we even went through one package of D batteries from Costco. I would definitely recommend the cradle swings over a regular one. We used the cradle action almost exclusively.

My son had the FP papasan cradle swing - we went through two sets of batteries in a little less than six months. I think that is very reasonable.

My SIL had a graco swing and hated it. She already called "dibs" on my swing when she has her second.

I miss my cradle swing. I got it with Johanthon and used it with Seth then sold it when we were "done"....
Now I am using my sis Graco and HATE IT! I want a cradle swing again so very bad

Thanks for all the wonderful replies. I think I'll definately be getting one.

We have the Graco Sweet Peace Soother and we LOVE it. DD always seems happy in it and she'll fall asleep and stay asleep in it forever. It has several different speeds, types of music/sounds, removable toys, and reclining seat...it even has a plug in for an MP3 player to play your own music!

For newborns it comes with a swaddling blanket and head pillow. We used it from birth and DD is almost 6 months and she still likes it.

Oh I wanted to add....the thing I really like about it too is that you can plug it in instead of using batteries. BUT, as long as we've been using it, we have never had to change the batteries.

He have a hand-me-down FP Rainforest swing that had been thru 2 kids before it got to us. We just put it away 2 weeks ago (DD is 11 months) & will save it for the next one. I that it has a plug! We only used it for about 1-2 hours per day, but once in a while she wouldn't sleep anywhere BUT the swing. We never went thru 1 set of batteries. It still works great & DD loved that thing. I miss it actually, but she was sitting up & trying to pull the mobile down, so it needed to go in to storage.

We have the Rainforest swing. It has an A/C adapter. I looked at the other swings that were $60 (we paid $107 for the RF), but honestly, the rechargeable batteries would have bumped the price of the $60 swing up a lot.

The nice thing about the FP cradle swings is that you can have them swing forward to back or side to side. DS strongly preferred side to side.

There were very few times in the first few months that DS tolerated sleeping or lying anywhere but in our arms. He didn't spend a ton of time in it, but honestly, the few hours a week that we had to ourselves was priceless. He didn't like it at first and DH complained to me that we wasted $ on it. A few weeks later, DS fell asleep for an hour in it. I was so happy I told DH that even if it were the one and only time, I would spend the $ again.