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Baby Swings
Your Child's Way to Unwind
By Laura Cone
From swings that vibrate to help calm a fussy child to swings with removable seats you can carry from room to room in your house, baby swings have come a long way. But even though baby swings are more sophisticated and elaborate, the cardinal rule of adult supervision has not changed.
Brian Kincaid, product team director for swings and activity centers for Graco, based in Exton, Penn., says no manufacturer would recommend leaving a child unattended in a swing, even if the infant falls asleep.
"Primarily, what is new and popular with swings right now is the ability to perform multiple functions both in terms of multiple ways in which to soothe the child but also multiple ways to give moms more hands-free time," Kincaid says. "For example, some products can swing in multiple directions, and certain swings have vibration on them and that can be another way to soothe a child. They have visual stimulation with overhead play. They have auditory with music and sound, and all those have been improving over the past few years in terms of the quality of music."
This year, Graco introduced swings that play different nature sounds such as heartbeat noise, white noise and water running. "They are sounds designed to imitate the sounds the baby heard in the womb, which for the first three months of a child's life are very soothing sounds for the baby because they were safe and protected there and they like having that association," Kincaid says.
When seeking a new baby swing, parents have the option of a battery-operated or wind-up swing. However, most manufacturers don't make wind-up swings anymore. Kincaid says Graco stopped producing wind-up swings two years ago because battery-operated swings are more convenient. Because the life of most swings ranges from 6 months to a year, most people only need to change the battery once, possibly twice.
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