Fisher-Price Cradle 'N Swing, My Little Snugabunny

High-tech swings (the Fisher-Price Snugabunny is but one of gazillions) fall squarely in the "nice to have" department. They're not essential by any means, but chances are that if you are lucky enough to have one, you're going to put it to work during your baby's first few months.

The "My Little Snugabunny" version is named as such because your kid will get cozy in a padded area that looks like a bunny:

There are restraints, of course, because this thing MOVES. When it's on the highest speeds, it's no joke.

It can go both side-to-side (right picture, below) and back and forth (left picture, below), and there's a twirly mobile that makes chirping sounds (and can be turned off, if you want), as well as several other sound/song options.

Baba G LOVED his swing in the sense that he would immediately chill out once he was in it. As you can see from the videos below, we had it stationed in my husband's music room/office. The oh-so-appropriate poster of Eddie Van Halen with a cigarette hanging off of his guitar is the dead giveaway. (No, the rest of our condo isn't similarly decorated.)

Here's Baba G seeming fairly calm but totally alert. This video was taken when he was about four months old and my husband was traveling for a few nights. I had an awful time trying to get BG down for a nap. He'd been crying for at least a half-hour straight... and then I remembered we had the swing. (It was an "out of sight, out of mind" situation.) Warning: if you're like me you're going to get dizzy watching these clips!

Within five minutes he was sound asleep:

I'm pretty sure they say you're not supposed to put your kid in the swing for a nap. Just like they say you shouldn't put your kid in anything but his crib for a nap. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and the swing was a surefire way to get him to doze off if he was tired but fighting it. We were always in the room with him and he was always strapped in, so in my book I don't see the difference between him being awake or asleep in it, as far as safety is concerned.

The bottom line: The Fisher-Price swings take up a lot of room, there's no denying that. So they might not be practical for those who don't have much living space... or for those who don't have a ton of storage space.

What's more, you will have to bid the swing adieu after your baby hits 25 pounds or starts wanting to sit up on his own and resists being in a reclined position (the latter happened first for us), so chances are this is a "five months or less" type of product. Having said all of that, I'm glad we had one because we made nightly use out of it and sometimes Baba G would just chill in it for quite a while and my husband would play acoustic guitar and sing to him.

It costs around $127 on Amazon.