Fisher-Price-Rock-N-Play
Momma's Product Reviews

Fisher Price Rock N Play- An In-Depth Review

 

Fisher-Price-Rock-N-Play

Product: Fisher Price Rock N Play

Price: $55.99 –$74.00 Retail

Where to Buy: Amazon.com

Personal Rating: 9.5 out of 10

What is A Rock N Play?

The Fisher-Price Rock N Play is an innovative sleeper with a hands-free rocking feature. This rocking sleeper has saved my life as a new mom on multiple occasions. The sleek design allows it to rock back and forth smoothly gently helping your baby drift into dreamland. It’s built at a slight incline, which has soothed my baby to sleep on the nights I’ve desperately needed rest.

The baseline model Rock N Play comes with an assortment of different features, rather than just simply self-rocking. Other features include:

  • Vibration Settings
  • Easy-to-remove fabric cover which is machine washable
  • 2 Cozy rocking settings
  • 2 auto-rock presets (30 minute nap time & 6 hour night time)
  • 12 musical tunes & soothing nature sounds
  • Compact fold-up feature for easy traveling

Aside from the baseline model of the Rock N Play, is an upgraded model which comes with a Smart Connect feature allowing you to control various settings from the palm of your hand, on your smartphone. Along with the SmartConnect feature, this upgraded model comes with a few more features than the base model.

Rock N Play with SmartConnect features include:

  • Vibration Settings
  • Easy-to-remove fabric cover which is machine washable
  • 2 Cozy Rocking settings
  • 2 Auto Rocks (30 minute nap time & 6-hour nighttime)
  • Compact fold-up feature for easy traveling

Additional Features of the Rock N Play with Smart Connect:

  • Soothing light show
  • Option to save settings with convenient presets
  • 20 musical tunes and nature sounds with volume control
  • Removable overhead canopy with two dangling toys

Is It Safe For Sleeping?

Fisher-Price-Rock-N-PlayThe short answer, in my opinion, is yes. There is a lot of controversy with this, so I will share my personal experience, and advise you to use your own judgment in making this decision.

Before having my daughter, I had driven myself crazy with the fear of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). I had spent most of my pregnancy doing countless google searches on ways to prevent it. After conducting my research, everything had suggested, that one way to prevent SIDS, is to keep your baby flat on their back when they sleep. So, my mind was made up, I was not having my baby sleep in anything other than a traditional bassinet, flat on her back.

During this time, my aunt had reached out to me to ask if she could get us a gift for the baby. My due date was drawing near, and I told her I had everything we needed except for a bassinet. So, I said, “if you would like to help, that is the last thing we need.”Fisher-Price-Rock-N-Play

She then shared a story with me about her youngest daughter and told me the only way she could ever get her daughter to sleep was by using a Rock N Play. Upon hearing that that it was built at an incline, I protested and told her I only wanted my daughter sleeping flat on her back.

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After hearing my protests, she insisted on sending me one anyway and told me I could always return it if it didn’t work. She shipped it to my house and it arrived the day before I went into labor. Looking back, I am so glad my aunt insisted on sending me that lifesaving sleeper.

About after a week of having my daughter, we discovered that she was colicky and had reflux. No one can prepare you for the dread and anxiety that comes with that. The idea of getting any sleep is basically nonexistent, your ears become permanently damaged from the high pitch screaming, and if you’re anything like me, you begin to lose touch with reality from the insane amount of sleep deprivation.

Fisher-Price-Rock-N-PlayIn our desperate attempts to soothe our baby, we placed her in the Rock N Play beside our bed, and after about 10 minutes of rocking, she had not only stopped screaming but was drifting off to sleep! In our eyes, this was a miracle because, before laying her in this sleeper, nothing would soothe her hysteric cries.

So, for us, the Rock N Play became the only thing my daughter would sleep in for the next 3 months. Turns out the incline that I was so firmly against, was actually the saving grace we needed. I soon realized, that my daughter was in fact laying flat on her back, but the Rock N Play was set at just enough of an angle to prop her up, and keep her reflux from sitting in her esophagus. This is what allowed her to sleep peacefully out without any disturbances.

My daughter is now 7 months old and just recently caught a terrible virus that was going around, which then lead to an ear infection. Anytime we would place her in her crib on her back, she would let out blood-curdling screams, and we knew there was no hope of ever falling asleep. Reaching that feeling of despair, we pulled out the Rock N Play, and lo and behold, she slept through the night without a peep.

So basically, allowing your child to sleep in a Rock N Play is completely up to you. For my daughter, sometimes it was the only hope we had of getting any sleep at all. For us, it has been a game changer and we will continue to use it in place of a bassinet for all of our babies to come.

Pro & Cons

As I explained earlier, the Rock N Play saved my life when it came to getting some sleep. However, there is more to this rocker, than getting your child to sleep.

Pros

My favorite features are :

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Fisher-Price-Rock-N-PlayIt folds up– The slender design allows you to take it anywhere without taking up a lot of space. You simply push a button and the entire sleeper folds almost completely flat, making it easy to slide into a small space when packing.

It’s lightweight– Since having my daughter, I have watched my belly shrink and my biceps grow. Let’s be honest, us mommas, constantly have our hands full. Whether it’s a heavy car seat, a diaper bag, or you’re simply carrying your baby, we don’t need any more heavy objects to lift or carry. The Rock N Play has a hollow yet durable metal frame making it light and easy to carry.

40 pound weight limit– Like most items we buy for our little ones, they have their limits, meaning your child eventually outgrows it. The thing I love about the Rock N Play is that I can still use it with my 7-month-old. Like I mentioned earlier she had an ear infection recently, so we plopped her in the Rock N Play and she slept no problem. I am happy to still be getting use out it, even now.

SmartConnect– Although I do not have the Rock N Play with the SmartConnect feature, I wish I did. I will be upgrading to this model for my next baby because I see it as a huge benefit. Being able to control the rocking and vibrations without having to risk waking my child is a big plus for me.

Cons

Now, like most products, it’s not perfect and it has its downsides. Although I haven’t found many, there is one downfall specific to the model we have.

No Auto-Rock– The model we have lacks the hands-free rocking. So, in order to get our baby to sleep, we had to manually rock the sleeper. The Rock N Play we have does have the option for vibrations, which helped soothe our baby, but the missing auto-rock feature was a downside for us.

Luckily, this isn’t a huge con. There are now many different models to fit every momma’s needs.

Overview

I give this product a 9.5 out of 10 simply because of the model we have that lacks the auto-rock feature, aside from that, this sleeper is perfect! Overall, I love the lightweight, compact design, which makes for easy traveling. But, most of all I love that it helped us get some much-needed Zzz’s!

You never know what you have until it’s missing, and in our case, we were severely deprived of sleep. The Fisher-Price Rock N Play helped us get that sleep back, and I would recommend this product to all my momma friends!

I hope you found this review helpful. If you have any questions, or personal experience with this product and would like to add your own review, feel free to leave it in the comments!

Fisher-Price-Rock-N-Play


10 Comments

  • sharriv

    Oh how I do remember those days when I had a little one. So stressful and the fear of SIDS left me with months of little or no sleep. I do think that this is a great product and to me whatever it takes to get some rest. I did use a rocking chair, but this seems better IMO.
    great review and will recommend.
    regards

    • Madysen

      Hi Sharriv,

      Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your story! As mommas we all know the feeling of sleep deprivation too well, and this definitely helps with that. A rocking chair is great, but like you said this product is better because it takes it one step further by doing all the rocking on its own, while you get some rest.

      I appreciate you sharing this!

      Madysen

  • Ken

    First, let me say anything that keeps a colicky baby down is a lifesaver. I have 3 boys ages 20, 17, and 11. My oldest was a colicky baby. OMG, I never thought he would sleep. We tried everything from the old wifes’ tails of running a vacuum to running a hair dryer on the back of his swing. The things I rigger up. If I only patented one I may not have to be working now.

    One thing that did work well, was a Fisher Price chair that vibrated. Which I believe was an early version on the Rock-N-Play chair. It was priceless for mom and dad to get at least a few hours sleep. My only complaint was we went through a lot of batteries. But it was worth every dime.

    I would highly recommend this product for any new parents.

    • Madysen

      Hi Ken!

      You hit the nail on the head with how colic goes. It was one of the hardest things I have ever experienced as a parent! I was the same as you and tried so many tricks before finally just placing her in the Rock N Play to sleep. If only I would have tried that first!

      Much like the Fisher Price swing you mentioned, the Rock N Play vibrates too, which I think was a big component of getting my daughter to calm down and sleep. It’s an awesome feature! As far as the battery replacement goes, the newer Rock N Play’s come with an electric plug-in option which saves the hassle of batteries.

      I appreciate you sharing your experience and for sharing this with others!

      Madysen

  • Alexandria H.

    this product sounds amazing, i had one the same but it has less features. i wish i would of found this earlier

    • Madysen

      Hi Alex,

      I am the same as you and have the Rock N Play with less features and it still saved my life, but like you I wish I had found the newer Rock N Play model earlier. The hands-free rocking and SmartConnect sounds amazing. I can’t wait to use it for my next baby.

      Madysen

  • Jen

    Great review! When I first came home with my newborn I went through weeks with no sleep because he just wasn’t comfortable. Finally I found the Rock N Play and I ran out and bought it. I was able to get the one with the auto rocker and it was a life saver. My little one slept in it every night and napped in it till he was about 16 months. I know that’s long but he loved this thing and would not nap any where else. I highly recommend this product to every new mom, it’s a must have. Thanks for sharing!

    • Madysen

      Hi Jen!

      Thank you for sharing your experience! Isn’t the Rock N Play the greatest thing ever? And I think it’s awesome that your son napped in it so long! That is one of my favorite things about it, is the weight limit, because it allows you to use it for a long time.

  • TheeeStayAtHomeDad

    I agree the Rock n Play is a must have. That article is spot on. Sloan falls asleep so easy in that thing and I have never worried about SIDS with her. I couldn’t imagine not having one. I would go insane trying to put Sloan down for naps

    • Madysen

      Yes. I couldn’t agree more, the Rock N Play has totally saved our lives. Back when Hayvn was small enough to be swaddled, she hated laying on her back, and would never take naps. Putting her in the Rock N Play for naps changed the game for us.

      Thanks for sharing!

      Madysen

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