It's a Sad, Sad Day. Graco Open Top Swing

I knew this day would come, but there was just no way to prepare for it. The extra room in the main area of my house was no consolation for the loss, but it was time take the Graco Open Top Swing back to the basement from which it came.

Even though I'd read all about the five Ss (swinging, shushing, sucking, swaddling and . . . um, the other one), I never would have purchased a swing for my newborn baby. I didn't want my house to be overtaken by plastic and could not conceive of ever needing to put my baby down. I naively thought I'd wear her in my Baby Bjorn or hold her during every waking second of every waking minute of every waking hour. Thank God for experienced mothers who know what new mothers need.

My co-worker's wife gave me the Graco Open Top Swing in the Bancroft pattern shortly before my daughter was born, and it was a staple for five solid months until my daughter started grabbing at the side mid-swing. It provided me with hours of peace and sanity so that I could do just a few simple things, and served as a wonderful calming tool for those times when she was still too wound up for bed but too sleepy to play.

No Assembly Required

. . .when you get it secondhand, that is. This swing was fully assembled when I got it, and I've never flirted with disaster by disassembling it so I'm afraid I can't comment on how this swing comes out of the box or the assembly process. My swing was also missing the activity bar shown in the picture here and while I wish I'd had it to hang her toys on, I really didn't miss it that much. I actually would have preferred a simple bar over that ornate-looking thing. Instead, I hung a few wrist rattles on the top of one of the swinging arms, but my daughter never paid too much attention to them. The stripped down swing worked better to calm her, I believe.

I really liked the fact that the swing was so lightweight. My doctor never used the term "high-risk" to describe my pregnancy, but I was on bedrest twice and tried not to lift anything heavier than a laundry basket. I was able to get this swing upstairs and around my apartment while pregnant and a scant few weeks after a C-section without a problem. I don't recommend moving the swing with a child in it though. First of all, there's just no safe way to do it and secondly, the formerly mobile swing suddenly becomes way too heavy even to scoot it just a few inches with an infant that only weighs 10 pounds.

The swing's footprint is equivalent to that of a medium-sized chair, and the design minimizes scratches on floors.

Form and Function

The swing design is sage green and beige with a plaid, machine washable cover that reclines at four different angles. The cover does shrink after drying, so I wouldn't recommend drying it regularly. I usually wiped the cloth clean with a damp rag as opposed to taking the entire cover off.

A three-way adjustable belt secures your child at the legs and tummy and a plastic tray clips down over her lap. My daughter has some serious thunder thighs, so I was always careful to make sure that blood was circulating through her lower body while she was strapped in and swinging. Once when she was very small, a blanket layered over her legs cut off her circulation and her feet started to look discolored. For this reason and many more, I have to state the obvious: Always, always, always supervise your child while in the swing. The sensible design can give you a false sense of security and the sleep deprivation can impact your judgement, but the swing is not a babysitter.

One of the most important qualities of any product for small children is the ability to be manipulated with one hand. I found it extremely easy operate the tray and buckle, though the tray can sometimes crash down when the seat lifts up while you're lifting a sleeping baby from the swing. The motor was also a little louder than I expected, but that typically helped to calm her.

Unlike hand-cranked swings, the Graco takes DD batteries but they last forever. I only changed the batteries once in six months, and it saw a LOT of use during the first four. Your desired speed will vary as your child gains weight, but I used both the high and low speeds throughout the duration of my use. The control panel on the upper left-hand bar allows you to adjust speeds easily and quickly, with a 2 groups of 3 buttons that represent various speeds. The low is a very soft rocking, even with very small babies. The high settings were too much for my daughter until she had better head control, but they were all I used once she was over 15 pounds. You can easily see what setting the swing is on by looking at the lights on the control panel - green lights connote low settings and red lights connote high settings.

The Music Is Maddening

The most useless and annoying feature of the swing is the music. It's tinny and exemplary of the worst kind of music that emanates from children's toys. What I hate most about it is that it too has a series of volume settings, and the lowest one is barely perceptible. Many times, I heard some faintly annoying tune in the distance and realized what it was. Usually, someone had accidentally hit the music buttons when they meant to hit the speed setting. In my mind, this wasted battery life and what little patience I had left to expend on mechanical glitches.

Thanks, Graco Open Top Swing!

I recommend this swing with four out of five stars. My daughter had hours of enjoyment in this sweet little swing, though she did outgrow it before I expected. Even after adjusting the recline of the seat, she can't sit quietly or comfortably in the swing without reaching out for the bars and interrupting the swing. I suppose that I could try it again in another few weeks, but I'd rather pass it along to a friend who's having a baby girl of her own. This swing works best for babies between 1 and 4 months old, particularly with babies that are tall and heavy like mine.