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.
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?
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
I’ve been wandering what a good solution is for putting two newborns near our bed for the first couple weeks. This has almost fully persuaded me that a couple RNPs are the way to go. Can you remove the fabric part to wash? I was thinking of seeing if I could find a couple of used ones since they’ll only use it for a short while.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Mrs. Blue: I think two RNPs for your twin boys would be GREAT!! Yes, the fabric is removable to wash, but the mesh underneath is not. Although mine came with a plush insert for newborns (to make it fit better for smaller babies) so that’s 2 layers of washable cloth between the baby and the mesh. When they’re real small I don’t think you need to really buckle the harness (we never did with LMW, it would be REALLY tough for her to climb on out of it because the angle is so deep) so if you’re worried about spitup or blowouts you can just line it with a receiving blanket.
Buying used will definitely save on this!! Especially since people don’t use them that long. I’m definitely going to sell mine… but not for a while… I love it so, even though we don’t use it anymore. Haha.
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
Great post! I have this on my secret registry for Baby #2…the only item on there!
squash / 13199 posts
We received this as a gift and we love it! It is so awesome
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
We used it for DD but then I got worried about her legs never being straight out in it? Seems like a silly worry now but this 1st time mama worried about it! I think it is so cute that a toddler can rock the baby in it. I still have it so we’ll definitely do that. DD will love rocking her baby sis!
hostess / wonderful grape / 20803 posts
Game changer.
My son wouldn’t sleep flat on his back at first (literally would cry and cry…turns out he had reflux). He slept in this thing at night until he was 3.5 months old. The transition to crib wasn’t that bad (anxiety over it worse than actually doing it). His sleep had gotten worse around 3.5 months so we decided to transition then….took less than a week for his sleep to return to normal and get better.
Didn’t use it after 4 months though….once he got used to his crib, he liked the freedom of sleeping on his side/tummy and rolling around.
guest
Word! This is the by far the best baby item we’ve purchased so far. My baby was very gassy as a newborn and hated sleeping flat on his back. We purchased this when he was a couple of weeks old and he slept in it until he was about three months old and outgrew it.
pear / 1672 posts
Don’t have a db yet, but I want this. We don’t have room for a bassinet anywhere, so I’m hoping this baby will sleep in this. I’m glad to see so many people like it.
coffee bean / 32 posts
I have twin boys and these were a life saver for us! Having two babies takes up alot of room as is, and these were very compact and easy to fold and take with us when we traveled! Also great because they were level next to our couch and bed that we could easily roll over and see or rock the babies if need. One on each side of the bed worked great and they slide around the house from room to room easily too
do think we used them too long though, and it made the transition to the crib more difficult. At 16 months they still don’t fully sleep through the night and I think waiting too long because it was so convenient is part of the issue.
They also had a flat spot that we had to turn their heads when they slept too, and make sure they didnt favor the one side.
Overall, I would highly recommend
coffee bean / 32 posts
@Mrs. Blue: I highly recommend for a twin mom!!
pomegranate / 3053 posts
I don’t think this thing existed 3.5 years ago when my first was born. I can totally see why it would be a great thing to have. I rocked both of my boys the first few months of their lives. It was so hard. I think that’s what’s causing my right hip problems. I will definitely be recommending this when my friends ask!
blogger / pear / 1964 posts
“It can easily replace a bassinet, swing, and bouncy chair” Hummm…maybe buying a snugabunny rock n’ play, swing, and bouncy chair was a little overkill?
I think I made a rookie parenting mistake and just got everything . . . Hopefully they’ll all see at least a little use!
cherry / 187 posts
If these existed before my daughter was born, I totally missed them. If we have #2, it is definitely on my list. My daughter had bad reflux so we used the bassinet on the pack n play until she was way too big for it and used her swing since they both were at an angle. This would be awesome to save some space.
blogger / pear / 1964 posts
@Mrs. Blue: I found mine on http://www.nobetterdeal.com for like, half price, so if you’re persistent about checking there, it might be an option
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
This is the one baby product I wish I knew about when I had N… I’m so glad @Mrs. Checkers is going to let me borrow hers for the 2nd baby because this is the only baby item I feel I MUST HAVE this 2nd time around.
pomelo / 5178 posts
I thought about getting one for our second, but we already have so many baby items… I’m not sure I want to add to our pile!
kiwi / 640 posts
Total gamechanger. Love this thing! We bought it when he was about 7 weeks old.; DS had some reflux/gas issues and this got him to sleep through the night. About to make the transition back into the crib….hopefully it goes smoothly!
persimmon / 1329 posts
i never got this because some of the horror stories on Amazon I read about having some babies developing issues with their neck etc. but maybe it was a fluke since so many folks seem to love it!
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
Didn’t have one! We had the swing that looks just like this, though and that was our game changer.
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
i didn’t know about it with charlie, but i just gifted one to a friend!
pomegranate / 3452 posts
I keep seeing warning stories like these http://kckidsdoc.com/dear-fisher-price.html when I look up reviews of the RnP. I guess it’s like anything else – moderation is important? I’m still not totally sold.
grapefruit / 4400 posts
@Mrs. Tricycle: oh, we had all of those, too! And we still use our swing and bouncy chair… I think it can replace those items if the baby never got used to them. LO totally loves the swing, so I don’t think it would replace it for her.
grapefruit / 4669 posts
I’m considering trying this instead of a swing or bouncer because it’s cheap and people seem to love it!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
I’ll put this on my list of things to register for one day.
persimmon / 1165 posts
Thank you for this post!! I just took the rock n play off of our registry because it seemed like we had too much gear (swing, bouncy chair, pack n play) but I think it would be great to use this as a bassinet in the beginning. Back to the registry!!
coffee bean / 29 posts
My two month old son is currently napping on it. Needless to say I love the RNP! We haven’t even used the swing someone gave us.
cantaloupe / 6669 posts
I’ve always thought the RNP seemed awesome, but then I’ve also read questionable stuff about its safety. @mrs. wagon: You say that it is supposed to be safe for nighttime sleep… Can you let us know where you read that?
clementine / 814 posts
Loved but wont use with second baby due to flat head on DD.
We loved the rock and play for our daughter, she slept great in it and right next to me. We didnt have any troubles transitioning her to her crib either.. however we will not be using this for our second baby because she did develop moderate plagiocephaly which we are still going to monthly physical therapy evaluations at 7 months of age. I can’t say it was the RNP that caused this, but after reading others with similar reviews… I do question it. So maybe I do suggest it for moderate use but not as a bassinet and overnight sleep.
kiwi / 538 posts
For us yes- my son was in it until 5 months. I don’t really understand the comments about the RNP creating flat head- why would it be any different than sleeping on their back in a crib?
coffee bean / 26 posts
I love the RNP. My LO slept all night in it for about two months and that’s the only way she would sleep for longer than 45 minutes or so at a time. I was worried about the transition to crib, but we transitioned her last week when she turned four months and it was no problem at all. My only complaint about the RNP is that it restricts movement so much. Now that my LO is four months, I want her to be free to move her arms and legs around at night, so that’s why we transitioned to the crib.
coconut / 8472 posts
@DpeachLu: Out of curiosity, do you think the same thing wouldn’t have happened in a bassinet or crib?
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@daniellemybelle: I read it on the box!! I think there’s still some debate about it because it doesn’t say anything about nighttime sleep on the fisher price website. Honestly I think when parents are at the end of their rope and just desperate for some sleep for both themselves and baby, it’s good to know that this has been deemed somewhat safe. Like many commenters said, I think it is fine in moderation (naps and a nighttime here and there, but only for the first couple months of life) but of course I wanted to put her in her crib as soon as possible.
As for the flat head / torticollis issue, I think the concern is that the way the baby’s head is cradled in the RNP, there’s less range of motion for baby to move head from side to side like there is when they are laying flat in a crib. However, I found that as a newborn the baby wouldn’t turn their head in sleep no matter what, so positioning their head either lying flat or in a reclined position was the same deal. We just made sure to always put her down facing the opposite way than the way she favored so that there would be somewhat equal time on both sides. Still her head is a bit flat to one side!
Also, I wasn’t terribly concerned about this issue with LMW because from the first day we put her in the RNP, she would move her head from side to side very easily. We would find her sleeping on both sides (but more on the favored side). So I knew the less range of motion issue wouldn’t really apply to her. She had a strong enough neck (and was restless enough in sleep) to have enough movement.
cantaloupe / 6669 posts
@mrs. wagon: Thank you for your explanation! Personally, I feel a bit iffy about it, but I don’t have a LO yet, so I’m just doing that thing childless people do.
Thanks for the awesome blog post!
clementine / 814 posts
@MrsCB: I’m more than sure it could have, however since she started sleeping in her crib we have seen improvement without having to wear the helmet. Honestly I think as a first time parent this was something I was def not aware of. I didn’t know to make sure that she was turning her head and not just preferring one side for sleep all night long. When we switched her to her crib she started moving a lot more and all over the crib! I am not sure if that’s because she wasn’t cradled like in the RNP or just because she was older and was able to move more?! That’s why I said I can’t say it was the RNP but I do question it.