My husband and I knew that we ultimately wanted 2 kids, so as my firstborn outgrew his baby-gear we packed it all carefully away for the second child. When I became pregnant again friends and family members kept asking me what we needed for the new baby, but we really didn't need anything! There were, on the other hand, some improvements that had been made to certain pieces of equipment over the years, and since everyone was begging to get us stuff I did go ahead and register for some "repeat" items with those major improvements. My firstborn was a real swinger -- he hated his car seat and bouncy chair, but he loved his swing and we used it frequently. In the years since he was a baby a new line of swings introduced the ability to swing both front-to-back as well as side-to-side like a cradle. That seemed like such a cool idea, so I registered for one. A dear friend of mine saw it on my registry -- her child had just outgrown his Ocean Wonders Aquarium Cradle Swing so she offered to give me theirs. I jumped on the offer, and am now the proud owner of 2 swings. Even though my firstborn adored his swing, I'm grateful that we also have the Aquarium Cradle Swing for my second child...

Product Description:

The Ocean Wonders Aquarium Cradle Swing has a lot of cool features apart from the 2-ways to swing, including a mobile and a light-up water globe. The swing is stable and sturdy, with legs that form an "A" behind the swing's seat and rise up to the motorized control panel at the very top. At the bottom the wide support legs ensure the swing's stability (and take up a footprint that measures 41 inches wide by 28 inches deep). The swing, a mobile, and water globe are suspended from the control panel.

The motor will always swing the same way, however you can rotate the seat (and the mobile and water globe along with it). It's pretty clever really - just press the big red button at the top and you can turn the whole swing arm. In other words, if you stand in front of the swing and your child is facing you while swinging the "cradle" way (side to side), you can push the big red button and turn the seat to swing the front-to-back way, after which your child will now be facing to your right instead of forward looking at you. From your viewpoint the swing is still going side-to-side, it's just that the seat is now facing a different direction entirely. You can turn the seat while your child is strapped in - my husband even turns it while it is swinging.

The seat fabric is blue with light blue and dark blue dots (like bubbles in the ocean). Centered in the middle of the headrest is a cute yellow fish. A blue (with yellow fish) 2-pocket storage pouch is suspended on the legs that support the swing. The seat's cover is easily removed and is machine washable. A thick, butterfly-shaped pillow is attached to the seat cover where your child's head rests. An adjustable 3-point harness (comes up between the baby's legs as well as at fitting around the hips) is in the seat to secure your baby, and a plastic safety horn (that is part of the seat itself) comes up between your child's legs. There are 2 seat-positions -- one is very reclined (good for younger babies) and the other is much more upright.

A mobile is attached above the seat of the swing. The animals that hang down are ocean themed -- a yellow star fish, a pink clam (with pearl nose), a colorful fish, and a green-and-yellow sea horse. You can set the mobile to spin or not on the control panel. At the center of the mobile is the "water globe" - a globe full of water, sparkles, and a few cute plastic water-themed creatures that slosh around as the swinging motion rocks the globe. A light can shine in different colors if you set it to do so on the control panel. Additionally there is a tray that goes with the swing. A toy bar on the tray has 3 cute plastic water-themed pals that your child can spin or move along the toy bar.

The control panel has 4 different controls that you can use to make a number of things happen as your child swings.
1) The Power Dial - This controls the swing itself. The first setting is off, the next allows the water globe and mobile to function without swinging the seat. There are then 6 different speed settings (that also turn the water globe and mobile on if you've set the other controls to do so).
2) Music/Sounds - There are 5 settings for music/sound. The first is "off" (so that no sounds play as your child swings). The second is music, which rotates through a variety of cute little songs (most of which are unfamiliar with the exception of the Brahms Lullaby). Third is the sound of waves, fourth is rainfall, and fifth is a babbling brook. The sounds will only play for approximately 7 minutes, but you can press the reset button for another seven minutes of sound.
3) Volume dial - Pretty self explanatory - the volume can go from barely audible to quite loud
4) Mobile/Water-globe switch - The 4 settings on this control determine how the mobile and water globe will behave as your child swings. The first setting is "off" (the mobile will not spin and the water globe will not light up). The second is both mobile-spinning and water globe-light. The third is mobile-spinning only, and the fourth is water globe-light only. As with the sound, the spinning and light will only last for approximately 7 minutes, but you can press the reset button for another 7 minutes.

The wide legs to collapse down a bit for storage (going from a wide "A" to a thick "I"). It isn't a huge amount, however every little bit helps when you don't have a lot of storage room. For long-term storage you can remove the legs completely, which is handy.

The Ocean Wonders Aquarium Cradle Swing requires 4 "D" batteries. The maximum weight limit is 24 pounds (however the instructions warn that smaller children who are very active and who might climb out of the seat should not be allowed to swing either). Adult assembly is required (the tools needed for assembly are a Phillips screwdriver and an adjustable wrench).

Our Thoughts and Experiences as Baby Grew:

~~ Newborn ~~

The first time we tried putting our newborn in the swings he was just 6 days old. He was not a big fan of the forward-and-back rocking of the old swing, but didn't mind the side-to-side swinging of the Aquarium Cradle Swing (at the lowest setting) at all. I appreciated the fact that the chair could be leaned back far enough to support him, and the butterfly-wing-like pillow gave his head a comfortable place to rest during swinging. We had tried the swing because Mommy had run out of milk, and baby was having trouble sleeping with his big-mouthed older brother running around. The cradle-swing was just what we needed - he enjoyed looking around for a few minutes, then promptly fell asleep. After a short while we were able to move him back to the bassinet without waking him at all.

-- Young Infant --

The side-to-side swinging continued to be the ticket for our little guy in his early months, although if he was grumpy side-to-side he did enjoy the change to front-to-back occasionally. The mobile attached to this swing was one of the first mobiles he paid attention to, and it would hold his attention until he drifted off to sleep. The swing was the perfect place to stick him if I needed a moment for a bathroom break or time to grab something to drink from the kitchen -- the mobile and light would keep him entertained long enough for me to get a moment away. I appreciated the fact that I could run the mobile without running the swing itself (especially if I wasn't trying to put him to sleep).

-- Older Baby --

I'll be sure to update this section after my son gets older, but for now I'll use my friend's experiences with her son as a guide. After her son had decent head and neck control she moved the seat up to the more upright position. She continued to alternate between swinging side-to-side as well as front-to-back, but rarely used the tray attachment (neither do we). She did use the back pockets more than I do - although my older son likes sticking toys in them. She has nothing but good things to say about the swing, and continued to use it until her son completely outgrew it (apparently he really didn't want to give it up).

-- Overall Observations --

I won't try to tell you that this swing is noise free, however it is much, much quieter than our older swing. Our other swing made a terrible racket, but it provided a white (or gray) noise that helped our firstborn drift off to sleep. The Aquarium Cradle Swing is so much quieter (but stills make a little noise).

To further compare and contrast our two swings, there are a few features on our old swing that I prefer. Our old swing's seat had a total of 4 different recline positions, whereas the Aquarium swing only has 2. Our old swing's seat extended down to support our child's legs (which was nice when our firstborn was taller and slept in the seat), whereas the Aquarium swing's seat is considerably shorter and would cut-off behind the child's knees (which doesn't affect us just yet because our baby is still so young). Lastly, our older swing had an open top so removing a sleeping baby was a breeze. The water globe and mobile are great features on the Aquarium swing, however it is hard to remove a larger sleeping baby without one of the dangling toys whacking him in the face (and at 1 month my baby was large enough that we had a bit of trouble with it). It isn't like a soft toy in the face would hurt him, but it does tend to wake him up.

My 6 week old is a tall, hefty little guy and the first setting is still just-right for him. As baby gets older and heavier you've got to up the setting to get the right swing speed. My friend's son never did make it all the way to the highest setting, so it looks like Fisher Price got it just right.

As the batteries go dead the first thing affected are the sounds. We usually set ours to play music, and a note would lag or lose time when the batteries started die. I was surprised that the swinging action wasn't affected at all (then again, our son was young - we were using the batteries left-over from the swing's previous owner). As the batteries continued to drain other functions were affected -- one time the mobile didn't stop spinning after the usual 7 minutes, and eventually the music wouldn't come on at all. Still the swing kept swinging, and the hubby and I were interested to see when the swinging itself would be affected by the slowly dying batteries. Eventually the mobile wouldn't move, and since that was my son's favorite thing to watch in the swing we went ahead and changed the batteries, however I should mention that the swing never did stop swinging, which I found interesting. The battery life is pretty good, considering how often we used the swing.

If I could make one improvement to the Aquarium Cradle Swing, it would be the addition of a remote control for the parent. You see, sometimes the music will cut out just as my little one is drifting off to sleep. When the sound cuts out it can wake my little guy up. If I'm across the room (or in bed) it can take me a little while to hit the reset button and start the sounds and mobile up again. If I had a remote I could do it from bed or from across the room fast enough that maybe my little guy wouldn't notice as much.

Quickie Summary
Pros:
+) Can swing side-to-side as well as front-to-back
+) Switching between the 2 swinging modes is very easy
+) 2 seat recline positions
+) Attached mobile and glitter-filled light
+) 4 music/sound settings
+) Multiple swing speeds
+) Can run mobile & music/sounds without swinging
+) Handy pocket behind the swing's back
+) Pillow-support for baby's head
+) Folds slightly for storage
+) Seat cover easily removed and can be machine washed & dried
Cons:
-) Music sometimes cuts out right as he's drifting off to sleep (resulting in him waking back up again)
-) Mobile's toys can make removing a sleeping baby from the swing a bit of a challenge
-) Only 2 seat recline positions (our older swing has 4 recline positions)

Final Thoughts:

I am so grateful to my friend for handing this swing down to us. So far it has been our second-most-used baby item (second only to the bassinet he sleeps in at night, yet fights sleeping in during the day). I'm surprised that more swings don't have the side-to-side as well as the front-to-back swinging action, because it is simply fantastic! The mobile, while making it a bit difficult to remove a sleeping baby, is something my son really loves, so it was a welcome addition too. I am so glad we have the Ocean Wonders Aquarium Cradle Swing!



Recommended: Yes