ark76's Full Review: Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium Bouncer
I wanted to title this the 84th review, but decided that would not make sense! So here it is, the review on the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium Bouncer.
And a bouncer is? Once you have a baby, suddenly your vocabulary expands and you realize there is such a thing as a bouncer. It is the equivalent of a life-saver when your baby just refuses to go to sleep and needs to be held or rocked all 24 hrs of the day. It also helps keep baby busy when you have some chores around the house. This is not important if you have house-elves who miraculously do all your house chores. If not, you know what I am talking about. This contraption basically is a soft seat for your baby which vibrates with the flip of a switch and also has some entertainment for baby when he is not sleeping.
The Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Bouncer- Why you and baby will like it: While nearly every single bouncer bounces, what makes this one different is that there are lots of people who write rave reviews about it! There must be a reason. And that reason is your baby usually will end up really liking it. So that is the main reason you will like it.
For a real time experience on what this bouncer exactly does and looks like, visit the Fisher Price website. They have a demo and 360 degree view of this which is very helpful. The seat: The seat itself is made of soft cottony fabric which has aquarium characters on it like seahorses and fishes, which are pretty cartoony and bright. The rest of the bouncer seat structure is supported by flexible but very strong metal which is also a bright blue. So if you want this to match a particular decor, that decor would have to be a bright blue. These characters have really started getting my baby very interested. His first 3-4 months, he did not care what he was sitting on as long as it vibrated, but now that he is 7months old, he is very curious about it.
The seat is controlled by a single switch on the front of the seat - either on or off. There is no level control for vibrations. Just one level - on. This is a bit of a disadvantage because the smaller your baby, the stronger these vibrations feel. There are times when it feels like too much. And now that my baby is almost 17lbs, I feel the vibrations could've been stronger.
The seat is extremely user friendly. All you have to do is unhook a strap underneath to access the battery compartments to change batteries. Easy. It is also machine washable and dryer safe.
When baby moves in the chair, the metal parts are constructed in such a way that it rocks which is even more soothing for baby. This is a nice feature that is sort of in-built.
The inclination angle of the seat is just right. It keeps baby at about a 45 degree angle which is great for reflux and baby can sleep in this without any discomfort, and play in it without any problems either. The toy bar:
Then comes the entertainment part of the bouncer. It has an arch-like thing which they call the 'toy bar' that fits into the sides of the bouncer, which lights up and plays music and even blows water bubbles true to its 'aquarium' name. It plays 4 types of sounds and musical tunes. It has lullabies, ocean waves, summer rain and babbling brook. All of these are a little loud on the high volume setting but it can be helpful if your baby is wailing and needs to be distracted into stopping. It works almost every time. It also helps when your baby is older at about 5-7 months [like mine], when they are extremely curious and need something to grab their attention before they take a bottle. Yes, I feed my baby on this bouncer too, if he is very distracted. And it works. I just have to be very vigilant to make sure he is drinking properly and be very quick if he makes any signs of swallowing the wrong way.
The music comes on in two modes on the toy bar. Baby activated mode and mom activated mode. The baby activated mode does not make much sense to baby until about 4 months or so, when they start to understand cause and effect and also have some motor skills to put that understanding into practice. Till then, you can just use the mom activated mode or continuous mode.
While in the bouncer, baby can push at the seahorse and fish on the toy bar to activate music, lights and fun sounds- this is the baby activated mode. Or he can just sit back in the chair and watch the bubbles, fish and lights in the aquarium in the continuous mode. My baby stays fascinated for a long time if the toy bar is turned on. He has not become bored with it and he is now 7months old and we used it pretty much since he was a month old.
Oh, and the toy bar is detachable. This is a really nice feature which makes the bouncer very portable and versatile. There are times when your baby might fall asleep on the bouncer and you don't want that bar around. Or maybe baby just needs to sit quietly slightly upright - this is helpful if your baby has reflux and you need to prop baby up for a bit after each feed. Or you could sit your baby in this and give him other toys to play with rather than the toy bar. So the options are limitless.
The toy bar has buttons all over the top to control its various features. There is a volume control [high or low] button, a button to choose baby or continuous mode, and another button to select the tunes.
And this thing uses batteries or...? The bouncer uses a total of 4 D batteries- 1 for the bouncer part and 3 in a separate compartment for the toy bar. A lot of batteries but so worth it for your peace of mind. The bouncer batteries are used up quickly- I use this bouncer every day for about 2-4 hours and I need to change batteries once in a month or a little longer if I use it less. You will know you have to change batteries soon because the vibrations get weaker as batteries get weaker. Key selling points: >Lightweight - I can carry it around the house with one hand with the toy bar on it >Versatile- with or without toy bar, just as a seat or as a bouncer >Very useful to soothe baby or seat a baby with reflux >You could easily put it in the trunk of your car for travel use >Quality of the product is great- I have had no problems with it with 6 months of continuous use > Durable fabric and parts- I have washed the fabric seat several times and dried it in the dryer, and the parts have survived all these months as well- the only problem is the sticker around the vibrate on off button which came off pretty quickly and messily.
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