Graco swing question

[cynsteele]

We have a Graco swing, it looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002FQVJC/qid=1140200869/sr=1-8/ref=sr_1_8/104-5035371-5255163?v=glance&s=baby

I'm not sure if my daughter is too young to be put in the swing, but we decided to try it today. She's 9 days old and was 9 lbs at birth, and today at the ped office she was 9 lbs 5 oz so she's a big girl and has a very large head...

There are built-in head support things that come with it, but her head seemed to flop forward rather than to the side - almost like the head "support" was pushing her head too far forward and the swing was too upright. Now I wish I had gotten the papasan swing or something where she would be more reclined but I'm willing to give this another try before exchanging it.

She seemed to love it when we held her head a little and had the swing going, just for a few seconds.

Questions:
1. What is a good age to start using the swing?
2. Do you use the head support that comes with the swing and does it actually support your baby's head? Or should I roll up some receiving blankets to each side and ditch the supports that come with it?

Thanks!
Cynthia

[cynsteele]

Okay, as soon as I posted this I looked online at some reviews on amazon, and noticed that there are reclining positions to the seat. This is probably the key to making it work for us! The instruction book was not that great, so I'm going to go check that out and see if we can figure it out!

Cynthia

[Momof3Labs]

I don't like the open top swings (vs. the FP cradle style swings). DS never seemed comfy in there; by the time he had enough head and body support for the positions it offered, he was no longer interested in sitting in the swing.

This time around, I borrowed a cradle swing since they just seem so much more suited to newborns.

IMO, if you can return the swing for a Fisher Price one, then do it now!

[lilycat88]

My first thought was that you might not have the seat in the "all the way" reclined position. I think our Graco had 3 levels of recline and when it was all the way reclined, there was no way her head would be flopping forward because she was nearly flat. We started using the swing from the day we got home and we did swaddle her and then put her in the seat and sometimes used blankets on the side of her head. When she was really little, we swaddled her and put her in with the swing on one of the lower speeds and didn't use the straps.

Jamelin
DD Susanna 6/29/04