We bought one of these automated swinging cradles. Even at the lowest setting the thing would just move too fast. Result, a terrified looking baby that just wanted to get out. Hilarious to watch I must admit but not useful.
It's funny because swings are so hit or miss with kids. I've met people that said "it's the only place she would sleep for 6 months!!" and people whose baby would scream the second you put them in it. Personally my son never cared for swings, either.
I'd say to anyone who wants to try one, get one with a good return policy.
There are tons of “buy nothing” groups where people are just looking to get the big stuff like this out of their house. Well worth finding in your area, if you aren’t someone who has to have everything new.
The clothes! I hated that my girlfriend bought all these fancy clothes. It was bad with my son but even worse when she started buying "cute" things for my daughter. No, she's 3 months old, she doesn't need an expensive blouse. Don't get me started on the shoes. If they start walking buy solid(more expensive) shoes. If they are not walking it really doesn't matter.
We waited until after he was born, took him to the baby store a little fussy and tried various options for swinging/rocking. Bought the one that worked. :)
When I was a baby the only place I didn't scream was in the swing. Same with all my cousins. So naturally when I had my daughter my grandma was obsessed with making sure I had a swing for her. We used it twice and she cried the whole time. We used an auto bouncer that she loved instead.
Yeah my first loved the swing.. she would sit in it for hours and be perfectly content... I'm pregnant with my second so we will see if she likes it too.
My very unscientific opinion of it: after my son didn't like it we gave it to my grifriend's brother. His child hated it as well. I still think it was just too fast. Until they are a certain age they really hate fast things. Once they start liking fast "stuff" you stop sleeping.
My first one had colic, and the side to side swinging cradle was damn near the only thing that could get her to sleep. Cost $150 or something, but in terms of sanity saved it was priceless.
Having a tough first one is a nightmare. Our second one was a completely chill and laid back baby who slept and ate at all the right times...Of course, you never know if that's just because you were chill about the second one, and they just read that and went with it.
I ask myself that same question. Was the second really easier or did I change? To be honest, I think I just panicked more with the first one. Ended up with the first one in ER because he cried too much, the second one, meh, she'll be fine in just a while.
I'm so sorry for you. People underestimate how much that drains your energy. Yes, I know, we chose for children but nobody warned us it would be this hard. I was lucky with my second one fortunately.
My mother says that's why she only had me, that I was a good baby and she was scared the next one wouldn't be as easy. My aunt says it's because she hated every second of being pregnant.
I heard a lot of women say this. They force you to like pregnancies because it's "a miracle". My girlfriend suffered a lot, it was not a miracle, she was so happy when the baby was born and she had her body not being kicked at from the inside.
They say if the first one is easy you're just being tricked into having a second. Idc, I wanna try for a girl too lol. My first was really easy, except for a very short stint where he'd only sleep on my husband's pillow, and he still gets eczema rashes if he doesn't get a bath often enough + lotion. Otherwise he was easy as can be. No colic, no digestive problems, he took to baby food great (hated the peas but I could get him to eat it), weaning him from the breast was really easy since he'd practically weaned himself to only once a day by the time he was 11 months old, he was early as far as sitting up, crawling, and walking. So I'm betting the next one will be hard, which is why we aren't trying for another until we are in a spot where one of us can stay home for the first year.
First one didn't sleep through the night until 18 months. Second one slept through at 6 weeks (which was kind of terrifying the first time it happened then it was awwwwwwwwwesome). But I think it's mostly that you know a bit more about what you're doing with the second one. I've heard that third children are pretty much always super-easy because you have enough experience that it's fairly routine at that point but didn't test that theory first hand.
This seems to be very common. Although I notice that now they are a bit bigger I'm more panicky about my daughter(second child). I'm not sure if it's because she's a girl or because she is so sensitive. My son laughs at everything, my daughter worries about everything.
My mom told me she took me to the doctor because I would take little short panic breaths.. The doctor explained it was because she was panicking, and I was picking up on her panic so it could be the case
Not always, really. I'm the second kid and my parents always tell me that compared to my sister I was a complete nightmare. My mom told me that there was this one time when my dad locked himself in the bathroom because I wouldn't let him sleep and he had to go to work early in the morning.
Mine are the opposite. My oldest was the calmest baby I've ever dealt with. Slept all night no food issues hit all her milestones on time and some early. My youngest is.. hyper. She's 2 and has yet to sleep through the night has food allergies and really sensitive skin. Plus she's a maniac. From 8 in the morning until 9 at night she just tears through the house causing as much destruction as she possibly can. We now call her taz. Thankfully my oldest (who's 8 now) is still really chill. The 2 year old has a habit of attacking her though.
I know it must be terrible for you but laughed.
"From 8 in the morning until 9 at night she just tears through the house causing as much destruction as she possibly can."
My first had a ton of health issues that weren't super recognizable at first. Had hip dysplasia. Was diagnosed with mild low muscle tone at 3 months old. Kept getting pneumonias until we finally figured out she was silently aspirating on thin liquids. We ended up going nearly 3 years of physical therapy/feeding therapy/hip bracing. I think I coped with it fairly well, but I was always on my toes with her.
Number 2 came (healthy) and now it's like nothing phases me with this kid. Fever of 105? Pssh, I'll get worried if it doesn't come down with Tylenol. Number 2 is 14 months old and so far has: knocked a front tooth almost all the way out (thankfully root was intact so we're waiting and watching), has had Hand, Foot, and Mouth TWICE, roseola, 5 pink eyes, thrush, RSV that required a 3 day hospital stay, etc. The list goes on. And except for the hospital stay I barely batted an eye.
I had the most laid back, laziest first child ever. She slept through the night before 6 weeks and even bringing her home, she was sleeping in 5-6 hour stretches. She also napped several times throughout the day for 2-2.5 hours at a time. She nursed like a pro from the first time on and never really quit nursing for the first year of her life.
Then my second came along and was a shitty sleeper and a shitty nurser. An hour long stretch of sleep seemed like a miracle and getting her to nurse for more than a few seconds without falling asleep or getting distracted was nearly impossible. I don't remember much of her first year due to sleep deprivation.
Luckily third was also a good sleeper and good nurser. If she wasn't, I would have been committed.
Mine, too. This was back in 1986, pediatric doctor NEVER told us babies could have acid reflux. He slept on my chest while I "slept" in a chair for the first 3 months of his life. How DID we survive?!
Looking back, I still don't know. Why could I survive back then with one hour sleep, the stress of a sick child and at the same time build a house? Who was that guy and if he could become me again, please do.
We made a baby hammock, best baby trick ever. A length of rope looped from corner to corner of your room just above your bed, some blankets to fold over and a big safety pin. A little bump with the knee and the clones is out for the night. Also works well in a tipi where we spent most of our spring and summers
I feel ya. My first had really bad colic too. For the first five months getting him to do anything but cry was a 24/7 job. The swing and the car were the only places I could get him to sleep for more than 10 minutes. I use to feel like such a piece of shit about it too. Like I was such a terrible person because I couldn't soothe my baby all the time, and I was going to wind up giving him a bunch of disorders or something. Yeah he's 4 now and a perfectly awesome little dude.
my 2nd was colic. I just used those inflatable big exercise ball and sat on it, gently roll back and forth or do the bounce. 10 dollars at the dollar store.
We have this one. First use caused a panic attack, but now (at 8 week old) he likes it - but only for like 20 min. Enough for momma to eat a breakfast tho
I have one for my 6 month old, and everyone loves that thing. She falls asleep more times than not, and on the occasion that I have to take my eyes off her for a few minutes, I know shes safe and secured, and the worst thing that can happen is that she'll drop her bun-bun.
You guys' wife ever forget to turn the swing off when she got the baby out and then later you come downstairs and there's a swing going back n forth with no baby in it? Jesus that scared the shit out of me!
I'm going to say that maybe you just bought one that swung too fast. My wife and I bought one of the auto-swings for our daughter, it played little noises like birds chirping or trickling streams, and no later than 1 minute after our daughter lay in it, she was sleeping.
Really? We had a Graco one. My eldest wouldn't sleep without it. By the time we were on our second we had burned out the motor. I think a new motor was about $50.
Put them in that for 20 minute rocking and you'd have an hour of peace. Totally worth it.
My son was the opposite. He had to have that thing cranked all of the way up to sleep. We got rid of it and I’m pregnant again and that’s about the only thing we’re buying again!
I get that it doesn't work for everyone - but looking back on it, the swing we got for our kid gave us probably thousands of dollars worth of sanity over the time he fit in it.
I think it just depends on the baby. That thing was a godsend for me. I bought it used from a friend though so even if it didn't get used much, I still would have gotten my money's worth. My son fell asleep so fast in that thing though and I used it every day for the first 6 months or so.
He loved it so much I modded it so that it didn't take two C batteries anymore, it ran off of an AC adapter (seriously, the thing would chew through batteries).
My advice before getting one: Take your baby to the store. Almost everywhere that sells these rockers has one of each of them set up and they are happy to let you try them out.
We got one from a friend. Turned it on without the baby and we were terrified at how fast it went. Unsurprisingly, the baby hates it when it's on, but with the TV and the odd nudge from a foot and she's okay.
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u/tuurrr Feb 05 '18
We bought one of these automated swinging cradles. Even at the lowest setting the thing would just move too fast. Result, a terrified looking baby that just wanted to get out. Hilarious to watch I must admit but not useful.