Using car seat as baby rocker?

Lustrum

As the title suggests I'd like to get opinions on this. We live in a small enough apartment so space saving ideas is what we're after. If a rocker is a must, would using the car seat suffice (obviously not for hours at a time) or is it worth getting a rocker?

Has anyone done this or have other ideas?

staticdoor71

Lustrum wrote: »

As the title suggests I'd like to get opinions on this. We live in a small enough apartment so space saving ideas is what we're after. If a rocker is a must, would using the car seat suffice (obviously not for hours at a time) or is it worth getting a rocker?

Has anyone done this or have other ideas?

Im not sure.. but I can tell you I spent a frickin fortune on one and the little rip hated it.. so defo not a necessity. My munchkin much prefered lying on a mat with a mobile over her. Ya know those baby gym things.
Dunno if that helps but defo not a necessity

nikpmup

My lad loves lying on a beanbag! He also has a swing which is on the kitchen table most of the time - he hates the car seat.

pwurple

Not sure how you can spend a fortune on a rocker?
A baby bouncer is about 25 quid.

http://www.toys.ie/Bright-Starts-Sunnyside-Safari-Bouncer-!116447-prd.aspx


I don't think a car seat would be good for this... bouncer folds flat and can go behind a couch. car seats are bulky, and you've to haul them in and out of the car to do this. Just leave it in the car?

They wouldn't be designed to be rocked either, I'd say you could tip them over easily enough.

Also, vomit is much harder to clean off a carseat than a bouncer. Bouncer cover gets chucked into the washing machines, carseat has crevices. We tried to keep carseat time to minimum just for this reason alone. Our baby was a bit of a puker.

A2LUE42

Read something recently that it was recommended not to have babies in that position when not on a car.

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/parents-warned-not-let-babies-sleep-in-car-seats-5510875

Lustrum

Thanks for the replies. We certainly wouldn't be thinking about using the car seat as something to sleep in, it was more for mammy having somewhere to put the baby down so she can have her hands free for a couple of minutes to give me a foot rub!

I've been reading a bit about the bouncers and there seems to be some indication that they can have a detrimental effect on muscle development and motor skills (presumably if baby is left too long in them) so am thinking now that a playmat and cushions might suit us, especially in a smaller space, and if we feel the bouncer could come in handy we could always pick one up later

pwurple

Yeah, you never know really until baby arrives what they will like.

If you put our little girl down flat anywhere for the first few months, she pretty much just threw up within a minute. Slightly sitting up position suited her much better, which a bouncer did easily, while I got a chance to go to the toilet! Wouldn't be in it all day or anything, but 15 mins here and there was ok, and she napped in it the odd time.

sillysocks

Depends on your budget but the Babybjorn bouncer is brilliant. We got it as space is a problem here too - it folds totally flat when you're not using it or at night (and takes 2 seconds to fold). Handy if you're going visiting people to be able to throw in the car too. It is expensive though, although worth every penny in my opinion!
Our older child still used it every day up until she was 2, and we had to start weaning her off it cause baby2 was on the way!

Moonbeam

We could not have survived with out the bouncer ,we brought it everywhere incl restaurants and they napped in it during the day .
It went flat or they could sit up and cost about 30 euro .we used it for all 3.

Rachineire

Lustrum wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. We certainly wouldn't be thinking about using the car seat as something to sleep in, it was more for mammy having somewhere to put the baby down so she can have her hands free for a couple of minutes to give me a foot rub!

I've been reading a bit about the bouncers and there seems to be some indication that they can have a detrimental effect on muscle development and motor skills (presumably if baby is left too long in them) so am thinking now that a playmat and cushions might suit us, especially in a smaller space, and if we feel the bouncer could come in handy we could always pick one up later

keep in mind all babies are differnt. We had two bouncers around the house and found them invaluable. You wont be home 24/7 and she willneed to have places to safely lay baby while she eats, uses the bathroom,makes bottles etc. Even so baba can nap or she can snag 5mins to.herself!! Our little boy was in his a ton and napped.loads in it-physically it did not slow him.down a bit! He was rolling over by 3months crawling by 6 months and walking at 10/11 months!

yellow hen

Our baby hated the playmat so we got so much use out of the bouncer. I definitely wouldn't buy a very expensive one and personally I wouldn't bother worrying about the foldability of it as its likely you'll be using it several times a day. Removable covers for washing would be handy though.

Rachineire

Lustrum wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. We certainly wouldn't be thinking about using the car seat as something to sleep in, it was more for mammy having somewhere to put the baby down so she can have her hands free for a couple of minutes to give me a foot rub!

I've been reading a bit about the bouncers and there seems to be some indication that they can have a detrimental effect on muscle development and motor skills (presumably if baby is left too long in them) so am thinking now that a playmat and cushions might suit us, especially in a smaller space, and if we feel the bouncer could come in handy we could always pick one up later

keep in mind all babies are differnt. We had two bouncers around the house and found them invaluable. You wont be home 24/7 and she willneed to have places to safely lay baby while she eats, uses the bathroom,makes bottles etc. Even so baba can nap or she can snag 5mins to.herself!! Our little boy was in his a ton and napped.loads in it-physically it did not slow him.down a bit! He was rolling over by 3months crawling by 6 months and walking at 10/11 months!

Hello Lady!

We used the maxicosi car seats for a day or two just to sit the babies in until we assembled their rockers.
The main thing you will notice is that they are quite heavy and cumbersome and not easy to rock - you have to actually sit there and propel the car seat back and forth because it is not designed to gain momentum. So if you get what I am saying, it means that you can't just give the car seat a nudge and it will rock and as baby gets older they will not be able to make the car seat rock themselves.

We got two rockers in Smyths reduced from €49.99 to €24.99 and it vibrates and plays music and also has a flashing light on it. The babies still can't make it rock themselves, but there is a bar on the bottom where you can place your foot to rock it, and once you give it a push it will rock for a few minutes.

It is also really light so easy to move from room to room whereas the car seats are quite heavy.

Finally, you the way you strap the baby into the car seat is quite restrictive, but on the bouncers they have more room and it is more comfy for them.

So although I totally get what you are saying about space, a car seat as a rocker won't really help - in fact it will be more in the way if you use it as a rocker as it is twice the size of the rockers.

Lustrum

Many thanks for all the replies. As it happens, we actually were given a rocker yesterday so that takes care of that! Hopefully the bambino likes it now!