Fisher Price Rock n’ Play

The best way I can quickly describe the Rock n’ Play is that it’s a lightweight cradle. If this existed when Wagon Jr. was a baby, I sure didn’t know about it!

This is one of the few pieces of baby gear that we purchased for our second baby. I was skeptical as to whether we really needed another piece of baby gear, but I had heard so many good things about this item that I wanted to give it a shot. So when we received a gift certificate to a baby gear website, we ordered one.

As soon as we assembled it (took about 2 minutes!) we could immediately see why people love this item. It can easily replace a bassinet, swing, and bouncy chair. The Rock n’ Play is extremely lightweight (easy to carry from room to room) and folds flat, which is great for storage and travel. The fabric is all removable and machine washable. It features a 3 point harness and a cute bunny toy. The sling-style deep angled seat sits baby at a great angle for those with gas and reflux issues, and it snugly cradles baby with plush fabric all around, which helps newborns sleep better. But I think it’s the angle at which baby sits that is the magical key here. It’s similar to the angle of a swing or carseat, and many babies sleep better at an angle rather than lying flat because gravity helps them with gas and reflux.

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It just takes a light touch of your hand to keep this rocking. On our hardwood floors, we can give one strong push and it will rock for at least 30 seconds. And if baby is struggling, it will actually let the baby rock herself and sometimes that’s enough to rock her back to sleep. I prefer this rocking to a baby swing since once the baby is asleep, you can stop rocking it, so baby will get used to sleeping without motion. It’s at the perfect height for someone to rock easily when they’re lying on a bed or a couch, so you can rock baby back to sleep while half-asleep yourself. It’s also easy to lean over and get the baby out while still lying down, whereas with a pack n’ play bassinet attachment you have to get up out of bed to reach over the bassinet wall.

The Rock n’ Play is supposed to be safe for overnight sleeping and Lil Miss Wagon had her first stretch of sleep over 3 hours in it (she slept more than 6 hours!). But after reading nightmarish reviews about the transition from the Rock n’ Play to sleeping laying flat in a crib, we decided to limit our Rock n’ Play use. We wanted Lil Miss Wagon to get used to sleeping in a crib as quickly as possible. So while our use of the Rock n’ Play diminished quickly after she started sleeping in the crib better, it was essential for the nights and naps when she was struggling a lot, and when all of us needed just a little more sleep. We spent many an hour with Wagon Jr. in our arms when he was a baby and his gut was maturing, and this time around we were able to put Lil Miss Wagon in the Rock n’ Play to minimize gas pain.

I’ve also read reviews about babies who end up with flat heads because of too much time in a Rock n’ Play… but I can’t imagine that this would cause a flat head any more than a swing, carseat, bouncer, or even flat in a crib. Lil Miss Wagon’s head is a little flat on the side she favored as a newborn, and she did not spend extended periods of time in the Rock n’ Play for more than a couple of weeks. To remedy the flat side, we just do as much tummy time as possible, and when she sleeps we turn her head to the other side, and now she doesn’t favor either side.

It’s great to use during awake time– she never fusses in it, and it’s easy to carry from room to room. It’s also fun for older siblings to rock them, and puts baby at a toddler’s eye level so they can interact!

At just 4 months old, we rarely use the Rock n’ Play anymore now that Lil Miss Wagon spends all her sleeping time in the crib and most of her awake time in her Babybjorn Babysitter bouncy chair. But for those newborn days and nights when you’re desperate for both you and baby to get some much-needed sleep, I wouldn’t have given it up for anything! So even though the duration of use is short, I would HIGHLY recommend it, especially if your baby has painful gas or reflux. It was so magical for us that I can’t even bear to give it away or sell it. It sits in our bedroom (which is, thankfully, spacious), and I fondly gaze upon it every day and thank it for its service.

Was the Rock n’ Play a gamechanger for you?